Music

Who: Daniel Caesar
Where: History, Toronto
When: Thurs., April 13
Vibe: Chill, snuggling with your sweetie while vibe-ing to romance guy.
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Highlight: Transform performed with Charlotte Day Wilson.

IT’S A LITERAL LOVE-IN for hometown hero and romantic modern R&B troubadour Daniel Caesar as he kicks off his tour in support of his excellent new album, Never Enough, with a mega-mellow, sold-out show at Toronto’s History.

Couples excitedly clutch each other and gal pals dressed for a night giggle, check their phones and hit on their vapes but nobody’s complaining as the massive, good-natured line files into Drake’s rec room to celebrate the latest megastar to emerge from The Six.

How pumped is this crowd? The Daniel Caesar merch sells out before the first note is played, leaving only the stylized DC crest projected on the stage screen as a reminder of the wares once on sale.

Smiles are relentless throughout the crowd and will be on display all night from this satisfied audience, all of whom seem like they just want to snuggle.

When Caesar bursts on the stage like an excited partygoer, the crowd explodes into shrieks, exchanging more smiles and settling in for a chill, romance-espousing set that never really breaks a sweat.

Caesar spends the night mostly alone on stage, singing to tracks while gently dancing in front of a screen that occasionally highlights scenes from The Six in a show that routinely celebrates the singer’s roots.

Toronto is becoming the features capital of the world with Drake having joined his buddy L’il Wayne on this stage just the night before.

Rising Toronto legend Mustafa joins Caesar for his second song, Toronto 2014. And later in the night, Charlotte Day Wilson will be on the stage for a duet of their classic Transform, from Caesar’s Grammy-winning release, Freudian.

Caesar has no trouble coaxing the crowd to join him in singalongs, and his routine audience query, “Are you with me Toronto?” is always met with enthusiastic cheers.

Caesar only breaks the gentle groove vibe once for the distinctly up-temp track, Shot My Baby, from the new album. He sort of apologizes as he gets the crowd dancing to the track closest to a banger that he’s ever released. It’s a Weeknd-worthy number with incredibly catchy hooks, but do we really need another song exploring violent “revenge” against a woman who “cheats” and her lover?

While an apology for the subject matter rather than the sweat-inducing beats might have been more in order, it was kind of charming to see him saying sorry for getting the crowd riled up, as if Caesar was apologizing to his parents for playing music too loud in the basement after hours.

After about 40 minutes, Caesar disappears briefly, only to reappear coyly declaring, “You didn’t think I’d just leave you, did you?”

He’s affectionately carrying a guitar and takes a seat on a stool to sing some crowd-pleasing vintage tracks, including the previously mentioned Transform, which has Charlotte Day Wilson greeted with howls of delight from the crowd as she joins him on stage.

Caesar has smiled almost as much as his audience all night, and when he finally wraps up the show, it feels like the sensible thing to do and everyone files out sated.

On the sidewalk outside History, three young women in front of me stop abruptly and the one in the middle drops to a squat as she hugs herself and says, “Wait! Let me have a moment, he’s my fucking hero.”