News Flash: Heppner’s Human

When Ben Heppner made his much-anticipated return to Toronto last week, his voice faltered and he cut short his performance, causing some critics to declare that his much-touted comeback from vocal injuries is already a failure. But the reality is that many concertgoers hadn’t even noticed Heppner’s faltering until he apologized for it, and Kate Taylor thinks that the whole episode is being way overblown. “We continually parrot the cliché that in a live show anything can happen, but most of the time, at least from the audience’s perspective, the experience is safely controlled. Heppner has reminded us that the performer is not a machine; he’s a man who can have a great night — or a bad one.”