36 posts tagged “reviews”

"Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get what you deserve."

Head Like A Hole - Nine Inch Nails

I admit it;  for all of my griping about my last Nine Inch Nails show, the announcement of the NIN/JA tour and Trent's ominous "after this, Nine Inch Nails is going away indefinitely" blog had me glued to my computer on presale day, determined not to miss what might be my last chance at seeing a band that shaped my musical landscape from my teens forward.  As much as I like to think that Trent's choice of words indicates that he will continue to make music, albeit released from the box of expectations associated with the NIN brand, I fear Trent has grown tired of the bullshit of the industry and fickle fans unwilling to embrace anything new.  This astonishes me, as I'm of the opinion that The Slip was one of Trent's strongest albums to date;  it delivered hard rocking tracks with biting lyrics, danceable tracks for nights at the rock club, and haunting melancholy pieces.  Its one weakness perhaps is Corona Radiata, which isn't terrible, but is not up to par with other instrumental works he's done.

With this tour, a co-headliner with the reunited original line-up of Jane's Addiction, Trent has been treating fans to more varied sets night to night, a ban on the omnipresent Closer (a shame, since there are other songs far more in need of retirement, like Hurt), and breaking out songs that have been scarcely/never seen live.  With minimal instrumental tracks, a plain stage show without visual effects typical for NIN tour set-ups and NIN NOT headlining, it was a very different animal from recent tours.  That said, I'd have to declare this the best of the three shows I've seen.

This show, with a few set insertions/switches (Somewhat Damaged in lieu of March of the Pigs; The Wretched in lieu of I Do Not Want This; Dead Souls in lieu of Burn, which I love but have heard), was custom-designed from my dreams.  Sure, I could have easily embraced other songs not played, but all of them have been done for me before, so I very easily will live.  There were no instrumentals, no long periods of Ghost tracks, no weak songs.  The set was incredibly hard and up-tempo.  Best of all, I was graced with my favourite track of all, The Fragile.  My set staples (Terrible Lie; Head Like A Hole; Gave Up) all made it that night, and the brain-dead clapping spider monkeys that ruined Hurt at my last show did not attend, it seems.  Trent threw down microphone stands and his keyboard, tripped and fell in his angsty vigor, and generally belted his heart and soul out, with an extremely poignant whispered "Goodbye" as he left the stage.  I truly feel the lack of restriction and repetition that comes with more elaborately staged tours did wonders for the performance in Toronto.  If Trent is to return, with a new project or with NIN, I hope he leans towards a loosely structured stage show in the future.

The entire show was pretty much a highlight, but I'll point out a few tracks here that really stood out for me:

1,000,000:  This track is stellar, classic Broken-esque NIN.  How anyone can slag The Slip with this brilliant song being on the disc, I do not know.  Coming off Terrible Lie into this track made for vicious headbanging delight.

Heresy:  I'd never heard this one live, and it was incredibly good, a great crowd sing-along for the chorus in my area of the theatre. 

I'm Afraid Of Americans:  Despite my assuming that the earlier appearance of Metal would be our only cover of the night, in hindsight, this song's appearance shouldn't have surprised me at the one Canadian date of the tour.  Trent really poured himself into this Bowie track, pretty much blowing the minds of the entire audience.

The Fragile:  This song has an inredible significance to my own life, and did not disappoint me.  The vocal delivery was appropriately soft at the start, growing in strength towards the peak at the end.  Why oh why did I not see the tour for this album?  It made for an incredible transition from I Do Not Want This, the contrast sharp between it and "Don't you tell me how I feel..."

Mr. Self-Destruct:  This song was too hot for words.  I'd never heard this either, and it's a favourite from The Downward Spiral for me.  I think this was the track where I completely screwed the muscles in my shoulders and neck rocking out.  It was worth it.

Head Like A Hole:  Way back in grade ten, on the bus for a school trip next to my oblivious History class crush, said crush offered to share his headphones with me after I said I had never heard Nine Inch Nails.  His mix tape of personal favourites began with this song, and from moment one, I was hooked.  This needed to be in my goodbye show as a full circle moment.  I actually found myself rather emotional, knowing the set was closing as my fandom had begun.

Hurt:  I'm kind of tired of this song overall, but in the context of a goodbye tour, with such a fragility to Trent's vocals (and no off beat clapping), this moved me. 

Well done, Mr. Reznor.  Well done, indeed.  Please don't go away for good.  Enjoy your break, renew and revive your creativity, and I'm sure I speak for every fan who's attended this tour when I say I hope we see you again soon.

For the record, opener Street Sweeper Social Club was incredible, and I highly recommend you hit ninja2009.com and download the sampler for this tour, which includes all three bands on the bill.  Due to work constraints I had to bail halfway through Jane's Addiction;s set but I have to say Perry Farrell is an incredible showman and their performance was tight.  Check them out too!

SETLIST

Now I'm Nothing
Terrible Lie
1,000,000
Heresy
March of the Pigs
Metal (Gary Numan)
The Becoming
I'm Afraid of Americans (Bowie)
Burn
Gave Up
I Do Not Want This
The Fragile
The Way Out Is Through
Wish
Survivalism
Mr. Self-Destruct
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Hurt

With the release of Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Tori Amos' 10th album, fans and critics fall into two loose camps, dependent on their impression of her previous outing, American Doll Posse:

I personally lie in that latter camp, having embraced American Doll Posse, Pip and all, so wholeheartedly that it's currently sitting comfortably in my number two slot in the realm of Tori's discography, behind my long-time love From The Choirgirl Hotel. While I was somewhat more open and forgiving with The Beekeeper than many fans (it was certainly an album that brought about a mass exodus from the fanbase), it was still an incredibly weak album overall. With American Doll Posse, my faith was renewed in Tori's ability to deliver a song more rocking than a case of downers dissolved in Ovaltine.

My first impressions of Abnormally Attracted to Sin weren't exactly warm. Welcome To England seemed like a slightly more rocking Sleeps With Butterflies; 500 Miles was an utter piece of wretch that somehow topped out the fail quotient of Secret Spell (a song I not-so-affectionately refer to as Secret Suck); and Fire To Your Plain seemed passable. I was then hit with Ophelia, Curtain Call and Flavor, and promptly decided that this was not promising, given that only Curtain Call truly excited me.

This all explains why I am so relieved to report that upon complete and – this is key – repeated listens, the album holds up well overall, although it suffers similar production issues to those fans have been griping over since The Beekeeper as well as an inability for Amos to edit an album down to its strongest tracks. Granted, this may be partially due to the diminished popularity of CD singles, a format Amos enthusiastically contributed numerous B-Sides to over the years; I always feel the reason her albums stretch so long now is because she wants to give her fans every song she can, as she has always done. The trouble is, weaker tracks distract from the gems, and diminishes her concept for the album, killing its effectiveness. Somewhere in here lies an album born of the best elements from To Venus And Back, American Doll Posse and The Beekeeper, but you have to dig for it. The trouble is, disgruntled and more casual fans simply won't bother doing so.

Thinking back to early interviews and comments by Tori with regards to the direction for The Beekeeper, I have to say that this album is a lot closer to what I and likely other fans expected to hear upon that album's arrival; I'd anticipated something with an 'earthy' feel, something dark but sensual, what with all the talk of organs and pianos mating. Instead, we were treated to The Sleepkeeper and the Hooked On Valium tour. Lyrically, it pales compared to her first five albums in most places, but Tori can still craft a gorgeous song or string together a metaphor that is both potent and perplexing.

Is it as good as American Doll Posse? In an edited form, perhaps – but I found American Doll Posse needed scant few edits. Overall, I'm inclined to say this: if the more adult contemporary tracks of Scarlet's Walk didn't make you hand in your fan card immediately and you've found something to enjoy on each album since (even the dreaded disc The Beekeeper), then this album will offer you something to enjoy, particularly if To Venus and Back blended with the Southern sass of Boys For Pele's vocals sounds tasty to you; if A Sorta Fairytale and Bouncing Off Clouds made you homicidal, you're probably going to walk away fairly unsatisfied here. That said, Tori Amos is never going to make another album identical to one before, so if you're holding your breath for an album full of harpsichords and guttural wails, it's not coming, ever. Tori's made it pretty clear in her choice to make a different sort of album each and every time. I may not love everything she does, but I respect that she changes things up each and every time – for better or for worse.

That all said and done, let's give this a spin and do the track-by-track:

Give: This opener wins my approval, keeping Tori's track 1 record with me intact (I have never disliked any track 1 on an album of hers, ever, although Yo George isn't high on my charts). It reeks of the sultry edge of the Pip persona, tapping the eerie feel and simmering rage of Smokey Joe. The melody sounds like the result of TVAB and BFP mating and allowing SW to raise their offspring and teach it to speak. Despite being simplistic, the lyrics work for the message, and the more 'live' sound to the vocals provides the perfect edge to a brooding melody. 5/5

Welcome To England: This song has been one that has grown on me, although it's still not top-notch. The main detraction from this piece is the same issue I have with Crazy: the lyrics are edgy, but the bland music (especially during the choruses) and pacing of delivery just don't support them. The guitar is also overkilled, as 'Mac' is brought too much to the front in the mix. 4/5

Strong Black Vine: Choirgirl-era Tori, is that you hiding in there? Because you sure sound like you're not from his tribe (and methinks this is your rallying cry to others to become 'recovering Christians'). I'm not sure what surprises me most: the powerful vocals reminiscent of Professional Widow, the bold musical accompaniment, or the just cryptic enough to feel 'Tori' lyrics. This song feels, in some senses, like it could fall as a prequel to Witness – her attempting to save someone, only to be left condemned and thinking, 'Wait – I thought I had a witness. Didn't you hear me?'. 5/5

Flavor: This track is suffering from two major issues: 1) it reeks of a stripped-down Give crossed with Lust's live incarnation (blech) and 2) the lyrics are incredibly dull and repetitive. Was Tori staring at LOLCats with Tash all day? 'I has a flavor!' Coupled with Ophelia's use of the word flavor, it's overkill and makes me want to fetch Tori a thesaurus. In general, it recycles ideas we've heard numerous times from Tori already. Makes for great background/cleaning music. 3.5/5

Not Dying Today: This cannot be coincidence. Tori simply must realize she's almost blatantly ripped off the melody of her own track Dolphin Song for this one. It's as if she said, 'Fine. You don't like 'Smoo like doooophin'? Fine, try these lyrics instead!'. My answer: MUCH better, Tori. Such a fun, upbeat track on an album that mostly broods and simmers in rage and rejection of societal control and mind games, it feels jarring and loosely on theme. That said, it's a favourite of mine on this disc and I cannot stress how much I want to hear this live, if only to hear the spoken word bit. 5/5

Maybe California: This reeks of adult contemporary, and yet, I'm utterly in love with it. It may be due to personal experiences that leave me completely understanding the feeling of staring down the cliffs of California and being too tired to go on. It may also be the strange brainwave that leads me to hypothesize this: Maybe California is a continuation/relative of Mrs Jesus. While the lyrics state "Hey Mrs, see – please don't jump", when has Tori not felt free to play on sounds? What a strange mirror it would be to see Tori/Scarlet move from being in despair and unable to understand how to live in the world with so much hate and use of religion as justification for violence (a concept close to this album's heart) to being 'saved' by the wisdom of Mrs. Jesus as she carries her unborn child... to Scarlet on the cliffs of California, urging a fellow 'mother' to remain strong for her 'children'? Whether it is a direct mirror of despairing mother to a nameless woman later met by a wiser Scarlet, or Scarlet speaking straight to Mrs Jesus (who despairs at those going astray from the real essence of his teachings), it's fascinating me to consider. Add in also the lyrical connections (Mrs. Jesus - "Lifelines and suicide crimes, he found me in a state..."; references to stars, angels/heaven in both pieces) and it's food for thought. 5/5 (really!)

Curtain Call: This song is the most personal of the album, for anyone with a decent knowledge of Tori's career will tell you it's painfully autobiographical, depicting Tori's trajectory through the music business. This ground was well covered in Tori's book Piece By Piece, but here, it's moving and corn mother free. I'm going to go right ahead and declare this the strongest track of the album, if only for its earnest nature and the lyrics that catch my eye as clever nods (references to China's wall, looking-glass and 'shade' – concepts in Tori's songs; the fact that music is 'spiritual' for her). 5/5

Fire To Your Plain: My first reaction to this track was a 'this is alright', but the combination of the visualette and allowing it to grow on me is moving it upward. This song would be strong single material, if only because it doesn't betray Tori's usual style of songwriting like, say, Sleeps With Butterflies, but it's more accessible than, say, Professional Widow. I have a terrible feeling this will blow live, in that Tori will perform it too slow. 4/5

Police Me: This is such a strange and quirky piece, I can't help but enjoy it. It's not her strongest outing, lyrically or musically, but it's got that little sass of My Posse Can Do. I think it's not very effective for her concept, even if the notion of being policed seems bang on. This song would have made a fantastic b-side. 4/5

That Guy: Oh, god. This song is so terrible, I've only finished listening to it once (and I've played everything else 3 times or more). Boringm tedious music coupled with plodding, over the top lounge delivery kills what are actually lyrics containing a few decent lines (stress on few). The endless use of 'That guy...' and the 'will we break-up' makes this sound like bad emo teen poetry though. This will be a torture session live far worse than Jamaica (fucking) Inn. 2/5 out of pity.

Abnormally Attracted To Sin: The title track of the album delivers some of the more cryptic and visual image-centred lyrics of the album, and this coupled with the sultry electronic feel of the piece make it incredibly strong. However, for some reason, I don't quite love it yet. I have a feeling it will be a grower. 4.5/5

500 Miles: UGH. Dear God, it's like Secret Spell and Ireland (without the funny parts about Saabs and amusing sha-na-na-nas) rammed into one epic failure of a song sent from hell to make my ears bleed. Seriously Tori, why not just ram on some gospel singers singing about a sweet sting and add in a slow bridge featuring 'looooooooook I'm standing naked before you' repeated twenty times and complete this ultimate suckfest you apparently aimed for? The only people ever allowed to sing 500 Miles in a song again are the Proclaimers. STAB. 1/5 strictly because it's Tori Amos and therefore still better than the Jonas Brothers by default.

Mary Jane: This song wins at loungey cabaret where That Guy fails, and is a clever little song about marijuana. How can I not adore it? And to boot, the lyrics definitely tip their hat to Reefer Madness and its related hysteria, which makes it on topic. This one probably would have been a b-side in the Atlantic records era rich in CD singles, which makes it look a little weak here. 4/5

Starling: I like this track the more I hear it. It conjures up the creepy sort of feeling drifting about the Choirgirl-era tracks like Liquid Diamonds and Black-Dove, and the percussion noises I describe as 'horses trotting' just give me shivers. The lyrics themselves remind me of Choirgirl/Venus Tori, which pushes this song right up the list of tracks towards the number one slot. Tori, take a memo: more of this, less 500 Miles. Love, your fan. 4.5/5

Fast Horse: When you load a song titled after the name of a bird that can mimic sounds from its surroundings, a song with horse-type noises, into the playlist before a song called Fast Horse, I giggle. It's even more amusing in light of Black-Dove (bird in title) having a lyric about "I have to get to Texas" and Fast Horse referencing Tennessee. The energy and music remind me of Code Red (rocking and angry) but the southern feel to the lyrics and delivery conjure up SW and Pele a la Little Amsterdam. Nice. I can't say I find it perfectly on theme, but it's a strong song that merges old style and new. 4/10

Ophelia: The sentiment of this song is moving, and feels like a letter to the numerous troubled women in Tori's fanbase. I'm a huge fan of Hamlet and also the books Reviving Ophelia and Ophelia Speaks, so it connects with me on a level. I just find the melody to not stand out from other tracks on the album, and that damn use of 'flavor' crops up again. It may grow on me more over time (perhaps as I skip Flavor and avoid that repetition). 4/5

Lady In Blue: This song creeps along, a jazzy cabaret number with mysterious haunting lyrics and a building up at the end that is dynamite, reminiscent of live versions of songs like Waitress. That said, it feels a little too slow to get going, and could stand a trim of 45 seconds maybe to make a better song. This song is probably one that is closest to 'classic Tori' (I'm thinking UTP-era) and will likely be the one traditional fans latch onto to. Unfortunately, played solo live, it will be lacking its strongest element (the bass and build-up) and will therefore be a letdown. But maybe Tori will surprise me. 4.5/5

Overall:  80/100.  With trimming, this could be 90/100.  Tori, please edit and release b-side digital eps.  Your fans and wallet will thank you.

"I try and just kick it, but then what can I do?

We've all got our junk - and my junk is you."

My Junk - Spring Awakening

Every generation has its musical, it seems, that one musical that either dared to express the feeling of a time or place, or presented itself in ways that forever changed the landscape of musical theatre. Hair was one such piece; Rent was the most recent, daring to bring modern music surging onto Broadway accompanied by a gutsy and realistic portrayal of the lives of the bohemians of the 90's set loosely within the familiar framework of Puccini's La Boheme. Moving one step further in its shattering of the fourth wall, Spring Awakening is undoubtedly the musical of this generation.

This isn't to say that the musical's appeal lies solely for those whose adolescent plights the work details in sympathetic light are fresh and ongoing, for its story, taken from the original late 1800's work by Frank Wedekind, is one that rings true for anyone who struggled with sexuality and parental expectations. But it is today's sociopolitical climate – one in which abortion still remains illegal in many places, where abstinence education is still touted by some misguided leaders as effective in preventing teen pregnancy, where children are still abused and where we still, to some degree, refuse to talk about any of it – to which the musical speaks. My proverbial hat is off to Steven Sater for striving to achieve what Wedekind sought to do in his time: creating a societal change towards empathetic discussion and open acknowledgment of the struggles of youth.

For me, Spring Awakening is charged with scenes and songs that underscore my own experiences in life. From parental harshness to butting heads with authority, from questions of morality and shying from organized religion to find a new path, from sexual confusion and mistreatment to the beauty of first intimacy, and from mental anguish and despair to the loss of dearly loved ones, each scene finds me captive with raw empathy for the characters on stage. I return again and again, to marvel at a cast that so gracefully and earnestly embraces the material, bringing it to life with a love for the characters that shines through in each line's delivery and each lyric sung.

To individually review the 8 (and counting!) shows I've seen on the tour of this production (my comments on my Broadway shows and a brief summary of the plot can be found here) would be time consuming and repetitive. Instead, I'll pause here to reflect individually on actors seen in a non-ensemble capacity.

Christy Altomare:

Blake Bashoff:

One of the few Broadway alumni joining the tour, Blake Bashoff easily steals scenes throughout the production, winning over even the hearts of those more conservative theatre-goers aghast at the more explicit and frank action that takes place. Having enjoyed his Broadway take on the role of a character I find lovable and bipolar, with Blake having stepped into the enormous shoes left vacant by Tony winner John Gallagher Jr., his performance of Moritz has shifted to one that is both hilarious and soul-crushingly sad, one that surpasses his already strong Broadway performance only a year ago and leaves one certain that, were he to have originated the role, Bashoff would be the one with the Tony. Part of me feels that the poignancy in particular that shines through during his character's tragedy in Act 2 is partly in thanks to his interactions with Steffi D.'s Ilse. The ever-changing delivery that Steffi provides each night as Moritz converses with Ilse keeps Bashoff on his toes, allowing him to perhaps enact an even truer sense of disappointment and regret when she departs the stage, and consequently, a more heart-rending goodbye to the audience.

Julie Benko:

I had the fortune to not only nearly lose my eye as Ms Benko rocked out as ensemble during rousing number Totally Fucked, but to also witness her slip on stage as an understudy for Thea. Thea is a character that can be played in a variety of ways, although a certain spunk must be there for her to play off the more serious girls in the group. I found Julie's take adorable, a sort of midway point between the exuberant and almost conspiratorial Remy Zaken approach and Kimiko Glenn's hyper determined girl in mad crush. I would love to see Julie in a larger role in this production, because her voice is gorgeous and her stage presence strong.

Steffi D.:

I have always been a tremendous fan of Lauren Pritchard's Ilse, although I've yet to see a performer I didn't love play the part in this musical. Steffi, however, is a scene-stealer in this key role. I will always be attached to Lauren's particular vocal style, but in terms of portrayal and personality, Steffi creates such a multi-dimensional character from so few lines. And given that her big scene is set alongside the phenomenal Blake Bashoff, whose every nuance is finely tuned to elicit the right laugh or sympathetic tear, it's something she must do to hold the balance. She does it brilliantly, each night spinning her inflections and tone in a different direction, forcing an improvisation from Bashoff that she, in turn, responds to. It's one of the highlights of the peformance to see what she'll do on a given day, which makes her my favourite Ilse now overall.

It should be said that Melchior is a crucial character for me, in that he can be portrayed in several different ways that are all valid interpretations of the source material. However, as is said in the piece, "all roads end in you", which means, to me, that the audience should be able to sympathize with and care about Melchior. While a more cynical portrayal of his character, evoking a more stand-offish or aloof nature, is believable and legitmate, I find actors whose Melchior treats Wendla in a predatory or dismissive manhner much less appealing. When Melchior is lying in the graveyard at the end, I need to believe that he is genuinely sorry and broken-hearted over his losses. To believe that, I must believe in Melchior and Wendla's love. Cold Melchiors simply do not make me believe. Matt Doyle is not, by any means, a cold Melchior. He is certainly somewhat emotionally detached, his intellect suppressing his more emotional reactions, but you feel a sense of concern and care in him throughout his performance towards both Moritz and Wendla, which sells his devastation in the final scenes of the show. Striking an incredible balance between 'wise beyond his years' intelligence and equal parts emotional confusion and uncertainty, Matt Doyle succeeds flawlessly in this role for me. I wish him tremendous future success.

Gabrielle Garza:

Without question, Gabrielle has a wonderful and strong singing voice, pipes on par with original Anna Phoebe Strole. She also plays a wonderfully sympathetic but strong friend to Martha when she reveals the terrible truth of her father's abuse, firmly declaring her character's more Liberal views with a passionate zeal. She's unfortunately stuck with the one line of dialogue in the entire musical that is a complete clunker, which is a shame. I'm actually very curious to see how she would take on Ilse in the show, simply because I feel she's almost too strong of a presence for Anna, who for all her speech is not as worldly as Ilse. Anna seems tricky to play, in a sense, because one could play her as a more angry/firm character or play her with a more childlike energy that suddenly shifts to indignant anger at revelations of abuse. I'm not certain which I prefer, but I wish Anna had more lines to flesh her character out and allow Gabrielle to shine more.

Kimiko Glenn:

I really love Kimiko's take on the character of Thea. Her take on her leaves one feeling she is at once very young in mind, but also the most hormonal, perhaps rocketing through puberty in a manner similar to Moritz, only with a more relaxed 'go with the flow' feel for the situation as opposed to Moritz's overanalysis. She brightens the entire stage with her tremendous energy and spirited delivery, and absolutely steals the boy talk time prior to My Junk. Her facial expressions are particularly evocative and endearing, and she certainly has everything it would take to be a lead in a production. With any luck, this will be her launching point for a larger role in her future.

Sarah Hunt:

Sarah had tremendous shoes to fill for me, as Lilli Cooper's performance devastated me on Broadway last year in every way possible. Her challenge was on par with that faced by Christy after my sole Wendla experience being Lea Michele. What strikes you at first is that her vocals during The Dark I Know Well seem almost shaky at points - not in the sense that she cannot hit her notes, but rather, that she is simply that overcome with the emotion of what is a powerful song that I personally hold dear. My appreciation for her heartbreaking performance only grew as she sat beside me on stage that first night, and I realized that Sarah was full-out crying. That complete immersion in her role, in the world of her much mistreated character, makes her performance so charged, she will be a near impossible act to follow for any actor I see in the future. I am in awe each time I see her.

Anthony Lee Medina:

I could tell you in words how much energy Anthony pours into his role as Otto. I could attempt to convey how much he plays up to the on stage audience and house seating, with his smiles, gestures, cartwheels and so on. I could point out his incredible voice that delivers a beautiful solo during Touch Me that you wish were longer. Words would never truly do him justice, though. He has to be seen to be believed. For such a supporting role, he, like Kimiko Glenn, steals scenes with even a simple facial expression that just fits so perfectly with his character's generally happy nature (even if Mariana won't call him back). Several friends have agreed with me that his brand of exuberance would be well suited to a dynamic crowd-pleaser role like Angel in Rent, as an example. He, like so many of the supporting cast, seems destined and made for a larger role; I'm sure one will find him soon enough.

Andy Mientus:

There is a particularly fine line to balance with the character of Hanschen, who comes off as harsh or predatory in many scenes of Spring Awakening. The crux of it is this: in my mind, the audience should still wish to root for him in his pursuit of Ernst, or the all too brief Vineyard scene in Act 2 becomes another spot of negativity in the sense that the audience may walk away thinking, "God, poor Moritz, poor Melchior, and now Ernst is falling victim to this cruel boy?" What Andy manages to do beautifully is create moments of vulnerability in the bravado and conviction that make you want to love Hanschen in spite of his previous comments and actions. He brings more humanity to the role than I have seen before, in careful little ways. A stellar performance all around.

Angela Reed:

Angela is easily my favourite Adult Women portrayer, hands down. Moreso than anyone else I've witnessed, Angela truly makes each women she portrays distinct in spite of few changes in costume, and delivers certain lines with such hilarious touches that I laugh until it almost hurts. She also plays Wendla's angry mother in a way that is so enraged and self-centred, it makes Wendla's defiant Whispering even more charged on its heels. Her ability to shift easily and quickly from furious mother to heartbroken and defeated in the face of the letter Melchior's father presents as support in his argument to send Melchior away always blows me away.

To perform the demanding schedule that a musical such as this entails is hard enough on a young actor, but to do so while moving constantly from city to city, unsure of how audiences will receive the controversial material is also a daunting task. It is to their credit that this, the first touring cast of Spring Awakening, does so while smiling and enthusiastically giving their all each night, with a calibre of cast that honours the original Broadway ensemble's hard rock in making Spring Awakening the success that it is.

For information on performances in London and the touring cast, click to visit the official site.

For some fun, look up the cast's behind the scenes videos on YouTube via the TotallyTrucked channel.

Last Saturday, a friend treated me to the Paramore show at Kool Haus (a venue that is anything but Kool as far as I'm concerned), along with the perk of attending a pre-show meet and greet with the band at the Hard Rock Cafe.  With the exception of the venue security staff and their piss-poor attitude towards anyone who was not an underage skanky-dressed girl, the entire day was an incredible experience.  It's been a long time since I've attended a show and enjoyed all of the openers and the band with enthusiasm and gusto.  Thus, settle in for a bit of a long haul, as I espouse on the virtues of Paper Route, Phantom Planet, Jack's Mannequin and of course Paramore.

Let's kick things off with the meet and greet shindig:  Paramore offers fan club members access to tickets that are not only cheaper than Ticketbastard, but also come with the perk of either entering early (and thus securing the best spot on the mosh pit rails) or a meeting with the band.  Paramore actively follows along with their Livejournal community as well, which makes me happy, being as I'm a long-term LJ addict.  Having selected the band meeting, Jared and I assemble just after 2pm and await being beckoned upstairs, where an enormous tray of food (including the ZOMGbest brownies ever made) and the band awaits.

Kudos to the young foursome of Paramore for being so gracious and humble with their fans.  Autographs, photos and then a mingle session comprised our gathering, and at no time does one get the sense that the band feels 'better' than the fans.  It feels like a big house party with a group of teens chowing down on munchies.  Hayley Williams, the singer-songwriter driving the group, was only 16 when their debut disc All We Know Is Falling dropped, and none of that fame has gone to her head.  She's the bouncy youth eagerly snatching a brownie from a plate and genuinely touched to hear one of her songs is beloved or comforting in sorrow.  She has zero egomania, and neither do the boys who rock out at her side (Jeremy Davis, Josh Farro and Zac Farro).  It's refreshing to see and fairly rare, to be honest.  Photos and signatures collected, brownies devoured, we launched into the trek to the venue to secure spots in line and swelter in the heat until the doors opened.

The show featured a four-band line-up, with each opener delivering a half-hour set before Hayley et al. arrived to rock the place down.  The calibre of openers was astonishingly good and well-suited to the bands style, unlike some openers I've seen (Deerhunter, Trent...  WTF?).  First up were Nashville's Paper Route, a band that blended ethereal electronic sounds in the vein of M83 with standard indie rock, dashed with a helping perhaps of Pulp (minus the super-cool stage persona of Jarvis Cocker;  that was the singer of Phantom Planet's M.O., but I digress).  From the first song, the audience devoured their offering eagerly.  I was impressed enough that I made a mental note to grab their EP later from iTunes.  In the first of several on-stage collaborations for the night, members of Phantom Planet and Paramore played back-up to the set-closing jam.  The ethereal feel is best captured in this quote from Chad Howat about the band's beginnings:  "There was just this lingering sense of exhaustion in the summer of 2004. I was tired of false starts. Tired of dreaming. Tired of being jaded. Tired of being tired. So it seems fitting that this story begins underneath my bed. You may picture me crawling below my mattress, but in reality my bed is about 6 feet above the ground-enough space for a small iBook and some cheap monitors. When I couldn't sleep, I'd descend my steps and make music all night. Some bands have LSD, others have cocaine, and our drug of choice seemed to be insomnia."

Second up to bat was Phantom Planet, a band based out of California.  Musically, their moody alt-rock didn't stand out as much in terms of quality when placed alongside Paper Route, but frontman Alex Greenwald carries the show with marked charisma and showmanship, with a Brit-Rocker flavour a la Jarvis Cocker or Liam Gallagher.  In any case, it made for an enjoyable set, particularly tracks from their disc Raise The Dead, which Greenwald describes as coming to him thus: "I studied a lot of the twentieth century cults and their music - from Charles Manson, David Koresh, and Jim Jones to Ti and Do of Heaven’s Gate, Shoko Asahara of Aum Shinrikyo, and Father Yod of Ya Ho Wa 13. What I realized was that if you listen to the songs apart from the circumstances that surrounded their eventually horrific outcomes, their music takes on a completely different, and actually hopeful, joyful meaning...In writing the lyrics for this album, I tried to force the listener to interpret them as saccharine on one listen and sinister the next."

Third up to bat was the delicious and energetic Jack's Mannequin, fronted by Something Corporate's Andrew McMahon, who near-skipped onto the stage in a frenentic burst and began rocking the hell out of his Baldwin piano, bringing the audience to a perfect fever pitch to greet Paramore.  In fact, I know some of us would have been content to enjoy a headliner set from the group.  I know I would have.  Being a fan of Something Corporate, I had a feeling I would love Jack's Mannequin and I was most certainly right.  I strongly urge you to check them out.  The piano and moving lyrics take their work beyond the alt-rock standard to a much better place (see tracks like Dark Blue), and hey, any cancer survivor who whoops this much ass live deserves to be on my special pedestal next to Melissa Etheridge. 

At last the main event slid onto the stage, youthful enthusiasm in full force as Paramore proceeded to rock the faces off a predominantly teenage crowd, making this reviewer feel rather old and out of place.  However, that was soon forgotten as high-energy, rocking set descended upon the crowd, loaded with tracks from sophomore disc Riot and peppered with a few selections from the (in my opinion) slightly superior debut disc All We Know Is Falling.  Hayley and company deliver a rousing set, with plenty of moshing and encouraged crowd sing-alongs, lapped up eagerly by fans young and old.  If there is one complaint to be said about the set, it would be that the selections from their first album were, with one exception, lesser tracks not worthy of a select spotlight.  Gems such as Brighter, Conspiracy, and All We Know were sat aside for Pressure and Here We Go Again.  At least Emergency made the cut.  I would also take Franklin over My Heart any day.  Regardless, the entire set was a solid effort, with Hayley in good voice and the boys giving it their all, making for a fun night that ended with a high note.  Yes, Hayley kinda sounds like Avril Lavigne.  YES, their fanbase leans young due to the pop-tinged rock delivered.  But Paramore is a thoroughly enjoyable act worth checking out.

Paper Route have an EP available for sale on iTunes.  Check out their music on MySpace.

Phantom Planet have a couple of discs available;  check out their official site.

Jack's Mannequin has their official site here;  check it out!

Paramore's official home online awaits you here, complete with cute band bios. 

SETLIST:  PARAMORE @ KOOL HAUS, TORONTO 8/23/08

Born For This

That's What You Get

Here We Go Again

Fences

Crushcrushcrush (featured snippet of Low by Flo Rida)

Let The Flames Begin

When It Rains

My Heart

Decoy

Pressure

For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic

We Are Broken

Emergency

Hallelujah (With Leonard Cohen opening)

Misery Business

"I can paint my face, and stand very still

It's not very practical, but it still pays the bills..."

The Perfect Fit - The Dresden Dolls

I wasn't certain how last night's very intimate solo show with the singer/songwriting force behind The Dresden Dolls would go last night at the Rivoli.  My one prior experience with Amanda solo was the event known as Fuck The Back Row, which was meant to be primarily a showcase of Amanda's favourite songs from films, and it featured Brian Viglione, her drumming partner-in-crime anyway.  But Brian is off gallavanting and drumming his sweet heart out elsewhere, leaving Amanda entirely solo on the tiny stage, without a compatriot should the crowd prove unkind (an event that would hearken the End of Days, really, since Amanda's words and piano-smashing are what make most of the wannabe-goth-punk girls squeal with delight, anyway).  I have not been reading setlists from previous dates on this mini-tour, nor have I been keeping up with Amanda's blogging.  In the end, I came away pleasantly surprised, somewhat confused at setlist choices, but overall tremendously satisfied with Ms. Palmer's outing.

The first pleasant surprise of the night was the opening duo Vermillion Lies, two Toronto-area girls who made their way, as many do, to California to seek their fortunes.  Billed as a cabaret duo, the best way I can describe their antics is to provide the following recipe:

1 Part Amanda Palmer wordplay

1 Part Quirky Canadian Humour a la Kids In The Hall

2 Parts Ditty Bops charm

Combine all ingredients in a blender, give 'em a whir, and pour out onto a stage before a group of audience members who eagerly embrace shrieking, "What's In the Box?" (alas, not Gwyneth Paltrow's head). 

I am absolutely in love with these girls.  Their songs ranged from humour-filled love songs to descriptions of Planet Porn, to a celebration of Global Warming ("It's hot!" or "It's not cool!", depending on where you stood in the venue).  Their charm and wit make for excellent audience engagement, and their lyrics will elicit healthy laughter and joy.  Add in their talent for percussion from the everyday object (BBQ grills, marionettes tapping their feet...) and you have yourself a versatile and fun night.  You will also be invited to join the circus by becoming a zombie and anyone with zombie humour is full of win in my books.

The mood was light and festive when Amanda Palmer took the stage, approaching a standing mic and lip synching her way through Ben Folds' song Cologne, while holding up bristleboard messages, one word at a time that said hello, thanked us for coming, told us Ben was singing the song and that he'd helped on her solo disc Who Killed Amanda Palmer (reviewed previously here by myself) and also, in a candid admission that was very genuine given her body language and shy warming up for the beginning of the set, "It's hard being up here alone."  I can imagine so, given the years spent touring with Brian as a unit.  Dressed in a bra and a bee-adorned corset that made me wonder if her time recently with author Neil Gaiman had led to an inadvertent connection with Tori Amos (long-time friend of Neil), Amanda settled into the keyboard before her and launched into long-time solo track and now album cut Ampersand. 

The entire night was an intimate sort of sharing, with banter between Amanda and the audience, an "Ask Amanda" portion of the show where questions were taken from the audience, and unfortunately, some people who felt the need to sing louder than Amanda to staples like Mrs. O and Half-Jack.  I'm just grateful said Bright Eyes-obsessed girl did not know the words to the solo songs that comprised a bulk of the set.  The questions ranged from the interesting ("Did you ever sell your Volvo?") to the dishy ("Did David Lee Roth ever see the Shores of California video?") to the silly ("Will you have my babies?", to which Amanda declared, "No!  No babies for me right now.  I'm too busy playing a piano!", and another boy asking, "Should I be a top or a bottom?", to which Amanda first said, "How the hell should I know?", then suggested an audience vote, then finally settled and said, "I'd have to say you're a switch.  If you have to ask...").  Stories recounted included the tale behind haunting song Strength Through Music and how her friend Kate asked her to bring a gun from Chicago to NY via Toronto, to Neil Gaiman phoning Amanda during the day and asking her to say hi to his fans at the Toronto show and to tell them he loves them, "because he is that fucking awesome." 

In terms of setlist choices, I have to say I was a bit puzzled.  Fan favourite Astronaut from the solo album had to be begged for in the encore, Oasis was a lucky moment brought on by a "you pick something" whim borne of "cheating" by "playing so many covers", and rocking track Leeds United was nowhere to be found.  Coin-Operated Boy fell flat solo, namely because anyone who's seen more than two shows is tired of the track live and its only saving grace is the interaction between Amanda and Brian on stage.  The plethora of covers was confusing, and seemed to be a case of Amanda not knowing whether it was "right" to play Dolls' material solo (even though she wrote it!) and not wanting to just play the entire new solo disc live and call it a night.  Don't get me wrong;  the covers were all solid and throroughly enjoyable, but I come to see Amanda to see Amanda's lyrical magic at work.  If I were to peg a few songs from The Dresden Dolls' catalogue as strong choices for solo play, I'd suggest The Perfect Fit, Slide, Truce, First Orgasm, Delilah, Me & The Minibar, Boston, Glass Slipper....   See Amanda?  Plenty of better choices than that radio-loved song about that boy of plastic and elastic!  For a cover, try Emilie Autumn's Gothic Lolita! 

One of the things I appreciate about Amanda is her willingness to collaborate live with her openers, and the guest vocals with Vermillion Lies on encore Radiohead cover Creep (whilst standing in the audience) were wonderful.  Amanda strumming that tiny Uke cracked me up.  Another thing I have to express is that, this being my first time hearing Amanda perform after surgery to address her vocal cords, I was astonished at how clean and powerful her voice sounded.  She almost sounded better than prior to the surgery.  Kudos to her surgeon!

More information can be found about Amanda at her solo MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/whokilledamandapalmer

Vermillion Lies is also on MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/vermillionlies

SETLIST:  AMANDA PALMER @ THE RIVOLI, TORONTO 8/9/08

*Entrance - lip synching to Cologne by Ben Folds*
Ampersand
Icarus (Jason Webley cover)
Blake Says
Mrs. O
I Google You
Runs In the Family
Coin-Operated Boy
Strength Through Music
Guitar Hero
Look Mummy, No Hands (Dillie Keane cover)
Oasis
Apres Moi (Regina Spektor cover)
Half-Jack

Encore:
Creep (Radiohead cover with Amanda on Uke! Guest vox by Vermillion Lies as she walked through the crowd singing)
Astronaut

"I wake up
On the floor
Start it up again
Like it matters anymore
I don't know
If it does
Is this really all
That there ever was?
Put the gun
In my mouth
Close your eyes
Blow my fucking brains out
Pretty patterns
On the floor
That's enough for you
But i still need more..."

1,000,000 - Nine Inch Nails

Oh Trent.  You and your angst are so pretty to so many.  Your new album is a surprising throw-back to the days of Pretty Hate Machine and it pleases me with its strange danceability.  And yet, something has gone wrong with our love affair, Trent.  I walked away from your show Tuesday night feeling unsatisfied, like a lover brought nearly to climax after hours of foreplay, only for the man to shoot off, roll over and sleep, leaving me fumbling for a vibrator.

This isn't to say that Trent has lost his live touch in terms of performance;  despite being under the weather, the man whispered, growled and screamed his way through a long set of songs with gusto, complete with an incredible visual display of lights and projected images true to the NIN tradition.  What was lacking in this show was proper setlist placement, resulting in a show that packed on the ferocity towards the end of the main set, only to chill to near-lounge mellowness for the entire encore, including the audience-ruined classic Hurt (can you people NOT clap in rhythm, if you feel the need to clap?  It's Hurt, not Heresy.  Oi.).  I've delayed this review for several days, mainly because I walked out with such a nasty taste in my mouth from the lacklustre finale that I began to wonder whether I was "getting over" Nine Inch Nails, music in general, or perhaps just suffering from a basic concept in Psychology known as the Recency Effect (i.e., we remember well what we heard/saw most recently).  After several days (and an enthusiastic listening of Somewhat Damaged last night), I've concluded that the encore, being the last thing I heard, overshadowed the rest of the show, thus doing the precise opposite of what an encore is meant to do:  send you onto the streets happy and wishing for more, full of energy (and usually the band's latest kicking single). 

I have to say that opening band Deerhunter failed completely.  Very few people in the pit were impressed, and that went double for the stands.  I was completely unimpressed with their failure to effectively use multiple lead guitars, their contrived sound that felt like a bastard child of Nirvana on Ritalin...  Ugh.  No words.  Completely cliched and awful.  Did Trent pick them?  How could he go from openers like A Perfect Circle and The Dresden Dolls to that?  But enough of them;  on to the main event...

I should have sense a strange disturbance in the force when Discipline, the lead single from Trent's latest offering The Slip emerged early in the set in a rapid-fire assault of tracks from that disc, including the delicious track 1,000,000 which feels in a way as a "fuck off" to fans wanting more 'emo' Trent since his addiction recovery ("That's enough for you...").  Trent and company rocked the show nicely at first, and then the pattern of the night became more apparent:  he was going to conduct mini-concerts for each release lacking a proper tour thus far in Canada.  An extended instrumental sequence featuring multiple tracks from Ghosts went on just a little too long, to the point where I nearly dozed off despite the beautiful staging and my general like of the double-disc set (perhaps it was second-hand pot from the people in front of me blazing up?). 

Then began a primarily 'old' set of classics, heavily laden with material prior to The Fragile, which leads me to my next complaint, and one that holds from their last outings here for With Teeth:  what the hell is up with the complete ignoring of The Fragile, which is one of my favourite NIN discs?  Seriously, between two shows, I've heard three songs, one instrumental, and none of them major singles.  Where are Starfuckers Inc, We're In This Together, The Fragile, The Day The World Went Away or Somewhat Damaged?  Late in the set, while talking to the crowd, Trent noted this was the beginning of the tour and that the band had spent "four months locked ina dark room, trying to figure out what the fans wanted to hear".  Appearently Trent couldn't seet the cardboard casing of The Fragile in his little mortuary of practice space.  I know the album sold well;  where are the tunes, goddamn it?

Sliding in towards and through the encore, we were primarily showered with tracks from Year Zero, which was not toured in Canada, and again felt like an overkill mini-set.  What's worse, after Hurt, Trent went out on mellow track In This Twilight instead of something with oomph like Capital G or, hey, for a mellow-ish outro, how about the single My Violent Heart?  Of four encore tracks, 3 were down notes.  That's NOT how to wrap a show.  If you swapped the last four tracks of the main set with the encore, I would have had a much more favourable impression of the show.  I left half-asleep and annoyed instead of pumped and enthused.

Please don't get me wrong;  I love mellow tracks as well.  But you really need to keep a set mixed, and usually Trent is solid for it.  The albums weren't mixed, the set went through distinct up and down periods, and it just felt disjointed in a very bad way.  Perhaps with feeling ill, Trent kept the ending easy, avoiding vocal acrobatics?  It's the only excuse I can think of.  Then again, the main set closed HARD.  And why were the albums not blended together?  Why separate the albums in the set?

Overall, the show, especially the main set, was a solid outing.  But having come from my last show, where I had no idea what track would be next, where the encore rocked, this paled dramatically in comparison.  Amazing what setlist order can do...  I've never experienced disliking a show almost strictly on set order before. 

SETLIST:  NINE INCH NAILS @ ACC, TORONTO 8/5/08

999,999

1,000,000

Letting You

Discipline

March of the Pigs

Head Down

The Frail

The Wretched

Closer

Gave Up

The Warning [play it]

Vessel

Ghosts 5

Ghosts 6

Ghosts 19

Ghosts Piggy

The Greater Good

Pinion

Wish

Terrible Lie

Survivalism

The Big Come Down

Ghosts 31

Only [play it]

The Hand That Feeds

Head Like A Hole

ENCORE:

Echoplex

God Given

The Good Soldier

Hurt

In This Twilight

“All is love
All is choice
Everyone and every voice
All of life that you see
All are possibilities
As above so below
To wed the sense into the soul
This is truth I believe
I believe I believe

Truth is of the people, by the people, for the people..."

 What Happens Tomorrow - Melissa Etheridge

Several months ago, a friend announced that he was treating me to a Melissa Etheridge show, insisting I had to see her perform live.  I accepted out of nostalgia, mainly;  growing up, I can recall days of driving around in my father's truck with him blaring Melissa's first two albums at high volume, espousing her talents.  I was in agreeance with him, but somehow never really bothered to buy any of her future albums, nor did I keep track of her beyond the radio singles (all of which I enjoyed) and the story of her battle with cancer.  Her vocal talents conjure up the bluesy rock of Springsteen and the soul of Janis Joplin, two artists that were part of the broad musical background of my youth.  

In recent weeks, cancer has crept into my life undesired, laying seige to a dear family member, and under the dark clouds of that knowledge, listening to a sampling of Melissa's music, namely her 2007 album The Awakening, has been a tremendous comfort that resonates to the core.  By the time the day of the show actually arrived, I would say I almost needed to attend.   

I was greeted with a pleasant surprise at the pre-show dinner my friend had arranged:  an autographed ticket, courtesy of a fluke signing in the afternoon at the venue.  A very nice souvenir of what became one of the most awe-inspiring nights of music I've witnessed.  The women I spoke with prior to start time who, upon hearing I was a "Melissa virgin", insisted I would be blown away to the point that I would be "lucky to make it out alive", weren't lying.

As the lights dimmed and the band began filling the stage, Melissa's guitarist Phillip rocked the place he grew up with O Canada on electric guitar, which brought the crowd to an even louder roar.  Melissa rushed on stage as he wrapped up, playfully kicked him in the ass, and launched into her song All-American Girl with gusto. 

Two things are striking and key about Melissa's live performance:  her incredible stage presence and warmth, and her endurance in the performance department.  Clocking her set in at 2 hours and 55 minutes (minus encore applause break) and her voice holding strong until the bitter end, Melissa Etheridge is the Energizer Bunny of live performances, outdoing even Tori Amos (an artist whose fans can vouch for her staying power live).  She smiles, laughs, runs around stage and belts out powerful notes, revelling in the enthusiasm of her enraptured audience.  My voice was hoarse from hooting and hollering in appreciation;  how she was able to wail away during the choruses of show closer Like The Way I Do, I do not know. 

The tour's set presentation is structured around a biographical theme, with Melissa recalling the story of her childhood, her pursuit of her music dreams, her loves lost and won and her battle with cancer using songs both past and present to expand upon and conjure images of her points.  The stage chatter made me nostalgic for early days of Tori Amos' live shows, where she'd tell several stories a night, as if chatting with old friends.  Melissa laid herself bare, self-deprecating healthily with humour at her bad choices and even recalling her cancer diagnosis with a light touch that spoke of an acceptance of life and the bad it may dish out and the good to be taken from it.  Before launching into her track I Run For Life, Melissa spoke of her cancer and her feeling that it was a blessing in a sense, because it forced her to slow down and think about her life, its direction, and what meant the most to her.  She encouraged the audience to slow down, to take time, to find what makes them happy and go do it, instead of waiting for stress and the ways we harm ourselves to force us to slow down and think of what we truly wanted.  It was incredibly heartening, and at that moment in the show, I decided that I would try, in spite of my current worry and pain, to find joy in life in honour of the family that will soon depart. 

Regrets?  A few songs I would have liked to hear weren't played, but I did get my request (Similar Features) and An Unexpected Rain, my favourites off The Awakening, so I cannot complain much.  It would have been nice to hear Breathe, Piece of My Heart, Map of the Stars as well, but the show was a fantastic set for a virgin whose knowledge slanted towards the very old and the very new.  All in all, an incredible night, and easily in the top twenty live shows I've seen.

A few specific highlights:

Don't You Need/Similar Features/Don't You Need:  A clever blending of two songs, and not the only combination of the night, and Melissa effectively booted the 80's out of Similar Features and gave it a 90's rock feel instead.  Absolutely lovely.

An Unexpected Rain:  Brought tears to my eyes near the end, especially when Melissa's face looked so incredibly pained to sing the final verse.  Phillip is a fantastic guitarist as well, and he punctuates this song with aching chords.

I Run For Life:  One of the loudest moments of the concert, it felt like an enormous outpouring of love for all cancer survivors and those who've lost someone, Melissa included.  The applause was incredible at the end. 

Bring Me Some Water:  Incredibly powerful and rocking live!  Wow!  I've always loved this song but hot damn!

Kingdom of Heaven:  Tears to the eyes again...  Such an incredibly moving and truth-filled song, it makes you wonder how long it will take for some people to wake up to the reality of how religion is twisted to suit political agendas.

What Happens Tomorrow:  Melissa altered the lyrics about a woman becoming President to a verse about 'a black man' instead.  Go Obama!  But beyond that, it's a wonderful song and a fitting closer for the main set.

Like The Way I Do:  The intense vocals and jamming on this one, the final song of the night, were made all the more impressive by the context of it being on the tail end of a very long set.  A kick-ass way to leave the venue bopping out the door. 

SETLIST:  MELISSA ETHERIDGE @ MASSEY HALL, TORONTO, 7/28/08

O Canada
All American Girl
Into the Dark
California
Don't You Need/Similar Features/Don't You Need
Unexpected Rain
Bring Me Some Water
I Want To Come Over
My Lover (spotlight by Melissa on Philip!!)
Let Me Go
Please Baby Please/I'm The Only One
If I Wanted To
Down to One (band eventually leaves the stage until Melissa alone at end of song)
I Want To Be in Love (Melissa starts solo and finishes with the band)
Mercy
I Run for Life
2001/I Need to Wake Up
Message to Myself/Come to My Window
All We Can Really Do
Kingdom of Heaven
Open Your Mind
The Universe Listened/Imagine That/What Happens tomorrow?

Encore
Like The Way I Do

"Your look was so haunting, an unexpected pain

I am so sorry for the unexpected rain

The sadness that you kissed

The fresh scars on your wrist

I can't make it go away...

Goodnight ladies, goodnight; I'm going to leave you now..."

An Unexpected Rain - Melissa Etheridge

When I was little, around 9 or so, I used to drive around with my dad in his tow truck, listening to music and killing time between calls on the radio.  We'd buy scratch and win lottery tickets and listen to music loudly.

I was blessed to grow up in a household where music was omnipresent.  There was no silence.  My parents combined listened to so many different genres of music that I grew up liking almost everything.  But despite that variety in the home in which I grew to be a music addict, there were two moments in my life that surprised even me:

1)  When I realized that the 'silly song' my parents used to sing to me like a nursery rhyme as a child was the chorus of Babooshka by Kate Bush.  My dad told me to shut up when I called him on being a fan.

2)  Thinking back on how my dad could switch from listening to Black Sabbath to Melissa Etheridge in the same day and then espouse her talents in long speeches.

One of his favourite songs was Similar Features.  It's one of mine as well.  Funnily, despite this upbringing of mine, I only began listening to Kate Bush in 2005 and only just now have bothered to explore Melissa's music.  I have been missing out.  In a moment where life has me reflecting on my path and my choices, on life and death, I've stumbled into Melissa's realm on the heels of the release of her 2007 album The Awakening, an album I am going to recommend without hesitation and with urgency.

The album's concept is a journey across Melissa's life as she struggled with cancer, a sort of reflection and a spiritual awakening that came with that reflection in the face of possible death.  There are several songs about religion and love, as well as a general spiritual understanding of ourselves as beings.  If that sounds campy, it doesn't come off that way in the context of the album and its lyrics.  It's a very cohesive album, one that flows and feels best digested as a whole.

Two of the songs struck me from moment one:  Kingdom of Heaven and An Unexpected Rain.  The latter is resonating in ways that stretch beyond the actual story of the song for me, striking me in this reminder of how my grandfather, faced with terminal cancer, is at peace with that but struggling with being the harbinger of bad news, the cause of sorrow and tears.  His pain lies not in the imminent end of his life, but in the pained faces of those who love him, and his worry for how they will cope.  Hence the lyrics above, quoted;  they capture that terrible feeling of guilt for being the reason for someone's anguish.

Sample away:  An Unexpected Rain - Melissa Etheridge

http://www.last.fm/music/Melissa+Etheridge/+videos/+1-xck4kPR84rM

Quick setlist post... A more detailed post and musings on the music industry to follow soon...

Setlist:  Karen Kosowski @ The Central 6/28/08

Tragic *piano arrangement*
Meeting The Future At Full Speed
*untitled new song - 'sunny day'*
Life Is Short Enough
Important
Land On Your Feet
Can't Fail Anymore
Crazy Little Game *piano arrangement*
New York Minute (Don Henley cover)
More Than A Sign
Stars In Our Eyes

Highlights of this, a solo show (which I haven't seen in some time), included:

Important - This one always hits rather close to home, being a child of a broken home, but for personal reasons and the fact that solo versions have always cut closer to the bone for me, it was a weepy moment.

Crazy Little Game:  Taken from the standard acoustic guitar arrangement to piano, this one took on a jazzy, sultry feel.  While the original is strong and dear to most of us fans, I am really loving this fresh take, similar to my adoration of the move of Tragic from guitar to piano.

New York Minute:  I had some rather horrible news come down the family wire the night before this show and asked if Karen would be able to throw this into the set.  The original is dear to me and Karen knocks it out of the park each time.  Karen, being amazing, obliged.  Cue more tears.

More Than A Sign:  I've missed this one solo.  I really have.  As much as the band and strings combo of the album cut have grown on me, this is the way I first heard this song, and it's still my preferred way.

The last show for a good while...  I support the hiatus, understand it, but will definitely miss this woman live.