On a snowy, stormy February night at Ottawa’s Bronson Centre Music Theatre, Ottawans flooded the venue, ready to witness Canadian phenomenon Goldie Boutilier’s vivid and cinematic performance she has become known for.
The evening opened with Minnesotan born singer songwriter Anna Graves, who created a striking contrast to the show to come. Taking the stage barefoot and bathed in soft backlight, she performed alone with her guitar. Her songs were delicate and atmospheric, delivered with a quiet intensity that gradually silenced the audience chatter. The simplicity of her set, no band and no theatrics, made the melodies feel intimate and unguarded, setting a reflective tone for the night.
The audience was buzzing with anticipation when, after a short wait, the lights first turned down. Boutilier’s soft voice came through the speakers as she stepped onto the dramatically lit stage carrying a bouquet of red roses. Clad in striking snake skin pants and matching boots, it was clear this was not going to be a conventional singer songwriter show. The visual drama set the tone. This was a night that felt like the opening scene of a noir film colliding with a dusty, heart worn soundtrack.
With only a drummer and a guitar player behind her, Boutilier commanded the room with magnetic focus. The sparse instrumentation worked in her favour, giving her voice smoky, smooth, controlled, and emotionally deliberate with plenty of room to breathe. Each song unfolded like a scene change, tension building in the drum swells, then softening into intimate, almost confessional moments. The minimal lineup created a sense of closeness in the theatre, but the emotional scope of the music felt widescreen.
Part of what makes Boutilier such a compelling presence is the layered path that led her here. Before fully embracing this chapter as a roots leaning songwriter, she worked as a model and actress, spending time in fashion and film circles while navigating the music industry in earlier pop incarnations. That background in front of the camera is evident in how she moves, with every glance and gesture intentional and every pause weighted. Yet nothing about the performance felt artificial. Instead, it felt like the product of reinvention, an artist who stepped away from the expectations of the mainstream to carve out something more personal and narratively rich. There is a sense that her current work pulls from lived experience, balancing glamour with grit and vulnerability with strength.
By the time Boutilier closed her set, bouquet long since set aside, the crowd had been carried through something more immersive than a typical club show. It was a performance rooted in mood and storytelling, elevated by strong visuals and disciplined restraint. In a room known for its closeness to the stage, Goldie Boutilier in Ottawa managed to make everything feel both personal and cinematic, a rare balance and one that lingered well after the house lights came up.
