Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Brandi Carlile, Wellmont Theater

Brandi Carlile's tour came to the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ this past Saturday and thankfully I was able to attend this one (after having tickets to a previous one that I had to miss).

Here is the set list for the concert:
  1. Oh Dear
  2. Looking Out
  3. Late Morning Lullaby
  4. Throw It All Away
  5. Dying Day
  6. I Will
  7. Caroline
  8. You Belong To Me (cover of a Patsy Cline song)
  9. The Times They Are a Changin' (I shouldn't have to tell you)
  10. Dreams
  11. Bend Before It Breaks
  12. Turpentine
  13. The Story
  14. Mad World (cover of a cover of a Tears For Fears song)
  15. Sounds of Silence (by the twins, Tim and Phil Hanseroth)
  16. Jackson (cover a Johnny Cash song)
  17. That Year
  18. Pride and Joy
A spirited cello intro signaled the start of the concert, and the entire band crowded around a microphone to sing Oh Dear with them all providing harmony to Brandi's soaring vocals with only a single ukulele providing accompaniment.

Dying Day is one of my favorite tracks off her newest album and was one of the most impressive of the concert as it was performed without any amplification. Brandi was able to fill the large theater with her voice without a microphone and it allowed the song to take a life of its own.

That Year gave me chills: the subject matter combined with the emotion that Brandi can bring to her singing is a powerful combination. It was made all the more powerful by the abrupt change from the energy that pervaded Jackson, the song that preceded it.

The concert was a good mix of full band and Brandi alone, electric and acoustic (and as mentioned above unamplified). Brandi is a rare talent that sounds as good, if not better, live than in the studio. If you have a chance to see her live, do it. I was happy I was able to introduce a friend to Brandi's music through this concert and she now has another fan. But I won't stop until every one is a fan... of course, that will make getting tickets to future concerts harder but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Welcome back, of sorts

It is important to have the ability to laugh at yourself in order to survive this life. If you can't do that you will be miserable because the chances of having a fully charmed life without anything going wrong is practically nil.

In my life this ability is particularly useful as my life so often goes to shit. But luckily I can find humor in myself and my situation as I would if I were observing some movie covering the same events. I laugh at myself and the things I do not so much because they are funny "ha-ha" but because they are ludicrous. Luckily, this keeps me sane although it does little to keep me happy.

It seems to me the universe decides our life, we control only how we deal with it.