These two concerts seen back to back in September felt like two sides of t he same spiritual coin.
1. Courtney Marie Andrews with Brandi Carlile opening
Haiku Concert Review:
Courtney and Brandi
Just voice and guitar, that’s it
One word: Transcendent
Let’s get this out the way right upfront. Americana is a genre that was founded mainly by rock, folk, country and alternative acts fleeing their native genres as refugees in world where pop is taking over every inch of chart space swallowing up the mainstream of any genre and regurgitating it as part of the edm-hip-pop mono-genre. Also, the cynic in me thinks it was invented by music fans as a way to say they like country music without having to say they like country music. Or maybe it’s an in joke among the country outcasts and at some point they will all come together and say, “Gotcha!”
This is important because country music is a genre that is very divisive thanks to prevailing stereotypes of the genre and it’s fans. Even though most music listeners who claim to hate country will give Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, and Willie Nelson a pass. Heck the gay crowd adopted the likes of Tammy Wynette, Dottie West, Reba McEntire, and of course Dolly as some of their biggest gay icons. So whatever you heard in the media about country music is not true. People of all stripes from all kinds of backgrounds love some portion of country music. And like every other genre it has some good apples and bad apples. So ignore the press, Courtney-Marie Andrews is not Americana but a country act and a good apple. A VERY VERY good apple. And if you saw her show Monday the 23rd at The Great American Music Hall that apple sure tasted good to the ears.
There is something to be said for an up and comer who makes you forget the opening act was icon Brandi Carlile. Yeah, Brandi opened (which clearly baffled some of her fans in the room). But she explained it, by telling a story of how she saw Pearl Jam open for Cheap Trick in Seattle when Pearl Jam was at their peak. And that taught her she didn’t need to fear other acts (specifically, she said she feared other women). Her career was made and not in jeopardy from the “competition”. So this was her sending the elevator back down. She knew her fans would show out for her and that many would likely stay for the headliner. And yeah the Carlile crowd sure showed up. The event was listed as sold out and it felt like it for her entire set. But woe to 15-20% who left after Carlile did her singer-songwriter sorcery. That was a big mistake. And they left even though Carlile had the foresight to have headliner Ms. Andrews join her for a song during the opening set as a teaser to clinch the deal! A cover of the Joni Mitchell classic, “River’ No less. I suppose if you were not sold by then you were not going to take the journey to begin with.
And this journey is what my imagined fantasy of the Laurel Canyon scene in CA and the Troubadour in LA in the 60s and early 70s was like. Where people like James Taylor, Mama Cass, Carole King, Joni Mitchell and other now legendary singer-songwriters of their generation gathered to create, collaborate, and perform. The show Monday must’ve been what it was like to see Joni Mitchell or Laura Nyro for the first time in their prime at the Troubadour or even The Bitter End in NYC. A voice, a guitar/piano, and incredible lyrics. Courtney seemed to embody some of my favorite females that came before her all in one person; Linda Ronstadt, Laura Nyro & Carole King, Bobbie Gentry and Nanci Griffith. I am still somewhat reeling from a song whose chorus involves the line, “I’m rough around the edges”. That line certainly sums me up in many ways and probably many others as well.
So from one song to the next, story after story; a vignette here and tapestry over there, I and the rest of the audience was enthralled for just over two hours. So much so I RARELY saw anyone take any phones out. Even though Carilie had given permission to the audience to film. And outside of the cheers and my own cliched cowboy hollers the only sounds to be heard came from the stage (a special nod to the great acoustic a mixing at the The Great American Music Hall for it is one of the best places for live concert sound in the Bay Area).
Because of the quality over quantity here I feel the need state that this show is not for everybody if you want the circus ring of Alice Cooper or Taylor Swift (great as they are) you will not find it here. There is no need for the distraction of a giant snake or back up dancers when every song is a showstopper on it’s own merit. This kind of truth telling forces you to pay attention to the story. Though I will say every so often I was picturing these songs with a full country band like they are on the record and how the audience might take off with a two-step or waltz and give them a whole other life on the dance floor. I recently played, “Two Cold Nights In Buffalo” on my annual women in country music dance mix on Popoff!
So without any fireworks or flames there isn’t really much else to talk about. I suppose I could repeat it was transcendent. Walking back to BART my whole body remained electric as if some part of my faith in song I did not know I had lost was restored. I can also say I have never seen Barndi Carlile perform before this night. Clearly she has talent and I enjoyed her set (especially the deep Joni Mitchell cuts) but her stories didn’t speak to me on the same level as Ms. Andrews. Whose struggles more closely mirrored mine. And in the end that is what all the best songs do, mirror our lives, speaking the truths no matter the emotion at the core. And no matter what genre or era. If a song burrows into to somebody’s collective then it is one of the best songs and it has done it’s job. And Courtney Marie Andrews certainly did her job. Now, it is your job to see her when she comes back around because I’m betting with lyrics like hers and voice to deliver them, she’ll be selling out bigger venues within a year and much of the intimacy will be lost.
WHAT YOU WITNESSED OR WHAT YOU MISSED:
Brandi Carlile:
The Things I Regret
Follow
I Will
Heroes and Songs (Live Debut)
Every Time I Hear That Song (with Willa Amai)
The Eye
Little Green (Joni Mitchell Cover)
The Joke
River (Joni Mitchell cover with Courtney-Marie Andrews)
The Mother
…
…
Courtney-Marie Andrews
Rookie Dreaming
May Your Kindness Remain (with Brandi Carlile)
Border
Rough Around The Edges
How Quickly Your Heart Mends
This House
Ships In The Night
Table For One
Took You Up
It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault
Irene
This Is Not The End
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FAVORITE MOMENT:
Brandi Carlile lip-syncing the last verse on “May Your Kindness Remain” face full of excitement for the power of the lyrics
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FAVORITE OF SET:
Rough Around The Edges
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…
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2. Muna with Chelsea Jade opening
Haiku Concert Review
Muna, Chelsea Jade
The bangers just kept coming
Two words: Roof Raising
There was a point during the Muna song, “Never” where the music cut out for the third time but just a touch longer than the previous two times and the audience thinks they know what beat is coming, a big drop of synth just like before. But it is Katie Gavin’s vocals not the band that breaks the silence with a high note before the music booms back in. And in this moment I knew she knew she had hit the note she wanted to hit perfectly, and the crowd explodes. And I could feel the building lift three feet off the ground like a launch sequence had been initiated. And inside me personally I felt the chime of a school bell as my teen queer self came out to play and dance with a family he never had back in high school. This sadness of a tormented youth didn’t linger long once I recognized what was transpiring and let that 15 year old queer do his dance magic. And let me say, we were all in, all of us present.
And Muna was certainly all in for this was clearly a game changing night for a band who had previously played the much smaller The Ricksaw Stop a few years prior. This was the kind of night where everything an act works towards clicks and there is nowhere to go but upwards and on to stadium shows. And that was just five songs in. The band would never hit the heights of that early vocal moment and the crowd would never get that vocal with rapture again but do not think for a moment the fire on stage or in the audience withered one degree.
And the heat was not just from the band and the crowd but also The Great American Music Hall itself. For this blowout took place during an AC power failure at venue, which frankly I think added to the euphoria. Everyone accepted it as part of the overall joyous mood like those sweaty queer club nights I used to go to in my 20s. Towards the back end of the concert Gavin even said, “I know it’s hot, but we’ve reached the banger portion of the set list. You can shower later…”
The irony here is this implies the band would be finally getting to the “hits”. And even though they don’t ye have “hits” and have only two albums to their name it sure didn’t feel like it because every song came off like a banger. And Katie Gavin is so right about the showering. And she was also right about saving the world for this tour is called, “Muna Saves The World”, and she explained this by saying, before you can save the world you have to save yourself.” And that is a message I know well and one that comes through in the dark and self-reflective lyrics of the album. But it was great to hear it spelled out from somebody younger than I delivering it to a younger crowd that might have missed the memo.
But clearly for most in that moment it was the songs that did the saving and the banger portion was solid non stop floor filler action. It made me wonder why more people around were not dancing their asses off. So many on the floor strained their necks to see over others as opposed to just losing it to the music. I gave up early on trying to see the band. Having been there just the night before I knew if one was on the floor of The Great American Music Hall one was not there for the view. So you just have relax and let the music consume you.
Irregardless of what people were doing physically, everyone at the sold out show clearly LOVED every beat that went down during the headlining set. And most people new the words to most songs. I must admit I was concerned the music would fall into cliched tropes of edm-pop in lyrics and sound but man oh man one catchy riff after another. And some great slow builds to epic endings just like some of the best 80s arena rock. The only song I was really familiar with was, “I Know A Place” which I have been touting for some time as one of the greatest pop songs recorded in the last ten years. It has the kind of 60s “Love everybody” message missing from mainstream pop music today but with the bang for your buck, “Don’t Stop Believein’” style build and delivery.
Drenched in sweat and 14 other solid bangers I can say the torch of Book of Love and Yazoo/Alison Moyet especially, but also New Order, Depecche Mode, PSB, and other 80s big room synth sounds has been successfully passed on. And for a synth act like this to sound better live than on record is astonishing in my book. I saw PSB last year and the show was fun but the records have an energy the show did not and that show didn’t come anyway near the heights I experienced on Tuesday. I literally felt the building shaking at certain points from the unified energy in the room.
This is a band that belongs on stage, these three women, they can do nothing else. Music is the career and stage is the home (the same is true for Courtney Marie Andrews). And if you look at the upcoming Muna tour dates, they are all sold out. So I am sad to say if you missed the show Tuesday you probably missed your chance to see them in a more intimate setting. Next time around it will be bigger venues likely with more theatrics. If they don’t explode I can only assume it is because they are openly queer. The music on it’s own would easily devour anything on the Hot 100 right now if given fair radio play.
Now, I must talk about opener Chelsea Jade a synth-pop singer from New Zealnad. She gave it all she had. That cannot be denied. But between the use of prerecorded tracks and some goofy choreography it felt like watching a winning high school talent show entry in a bad teen comedy. It had all the cliched hallmarks of what somebody who is 15 or 16 thinks performing in the synth genre looks and sounds like. And the songs didn’t stick to me (maybe I wasn’t sweaty enough yet at that point).
I know I liked the third song of her set a lot, whatever that was. And she did wander into the audience twice which certainly engaged the crowd. So I’ll give her an A for effort because just getting on stage at all is something to admire and being an opening act during another band’s tenure working the trenches is certainly paying your dues. I am sure she will evolve and may sound better if and when she gets a live band. Post show I checked out her videos on Youtube and they are slick (and yes quirky) but I stand by my assertion of the high school talent show.
I just now noticed that I never once used the word pulsing to describe the music of the evening that certainly throbbed through my life blood. It seems a matter of course these days to drop in that word in any review of this kind of music or your critics license might get revoked. And I’d go back and add the word in somewhere but that wouldn’t help you get any closer to my lingering high and the bouncy EKG beat of my own blood still celebrating the healing rhythms of love and heartache my teenage self struggled so hard to understand. So you’ll just have to go and feel the pulse live for yourself and shower later.
WHAT YOU WITNESSED OR WHAT YOU MISSED:
Chelsea Jade
Personal best
High Beam
Lowbrow
Laughing It Off
Life Of The Party
Over Sensitive
…
…
Muna
Number One Fan
Stayaway
Crying On The Bathroom Floor
Around U
Never
Navy Blue
Everything
Winterbreak
Pink Light
Who
Hands Off
Good News (Ya-ya Song)
Loudspeaker
I Know A Place
It’s Gonna Be Okay, Baby
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FAVORITE MOMENT
The high note in Never.
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FAVORITES OF SET:
Never
Winterbreak
Pink Light
I Know A Place
…
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AFTERTHOUGHT;
The contrast of the two shows musically was drastic. Yet despite one being acoustic and one being dance floor anthems both reached the same heights and elicited the same feelings of ecstasy and musical power for me and for all around me. And this is why I push so hard on my show PopOff! For people to have broader musical curiosity. You never know what musical spark will light your fire.
Both crowds had a good mix of young and old, male and female (though Carilie brought out a tad more older women with her queer female fanbase). The difference I noticed in the crowd was at the MUNA show the somewhat younger audience would cheer for a much shorter amount of time after each song. As if they were impatiently waiting for the band to hurry up and get onto the next song. Even after the final song they didn’t really pull out all the stops in an attempt to fight for an encore. The night before with, Courtney Marie and Brandi, people really let the applause and cheers go on. And gave ovations (those that were seated on the second floor) to a number of songs. And when it ended the crowd hung around to cheer for much longer instead of breaking for the exit like they were up past curfew and had to get home before their parents found out. But clearly both crowds had been taken to higher place and left feeling better and more alive than when they entered.
