The crowd around you at a concert greatly influences your perception of the show, if the performer sets the mood, the response from the audience sets the ambience tone for the rest of the evening… it is a strange alchemy, which was definitively very strong between Shawn Colvin and her public on Tuesday night at the El Rey Theater… and the result would have pleased anyone who appreciates a super quiet atmosphere, some calming Bill Frisell-like guitar sounds, and songs revolving around a melodious and strong female voice.
Did I say quiet? Man, I could have heard a fly moving a single wing, and when some security guard’s walkie-talkie made a sound in the middle of a song, it was received by one hundred shhhhhuts from the audience. I am not used to that, I usually go to chaotic shows where everyone talks, moves, is constantly using cell phones while spilling beer on my feet, so when I arrived in the theater and I saw the chairs arranged in the standing area, I immediately thought, ‘oh this is that kind of show!’ I have to say that the average age of the attendance was around 55-60, which after all fits Shawn Colvin’s age (she is 56), but I was not expecting so much reverence, so much religiosity; when the woman on my left, who by the way was separated from me by one empty seat, said to me that my phone was ‘very distracting’, I wanted to yell at her to loosen up a bit! I am taking notes on that phone, and it was not bothering her as I was hiding it with my hand… what an uptight gal! Anyway I moved to another seat as the show was not sold out, by far…
Shawn Colvin arrived on stage accompanied by two great musicians, guitarist Buddy Miller, who toured with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch and Linda Ronstadt and who produced Colvin’s last album ‘All Fall Down’, and bassist Viktor Krauss, who has shared the stage with Carly Simon, Shelby Lynne, Chet Atkins, Larry Carlton, The Chieftains, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Jewel,…
With such pedigrees, nothing can go wrong, the music is flawlessly executed, even though Shawn goofed around a little at the beginning saying she had taken the wrong guitar, then told us she had to worry about harmonizing because she is used to perform only by herself,… but honestly, everything sounded damn perfect, as she started with ‘Steady On’, the song title of an album which made her win a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1989. Yes, I am talking about a two-time Grammy winner, some acclaimed and renowned musicians, and folk-country ballads streaming in front of a super attentive public, cheering up at the first guitar riffs of the songs.
Shawn tried to relax her crowd a little bit by saying that it was their first show not been broadcasted as they had played for a lot of radio shows, which would allow them to do and say whatever they would want to,… still, I wouldn’t say the rest of the evening went wild.
She executed a few of her new songs with the same technical perfection, ‘All Fall Down’, ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’ a song with a peaceful music by Bill Frisell and some bitter lyrics about love, ‘Seven Times The Charm’, ‘as if two downer songs in a row were not enough’ as she put it, ‘I Don’t Know You’, ‘Change is on the way’, a song she wrote with Patty Griffin, and after a few new ones and a few beloved old ones (‘Polaroids’, Diamond in the Rough’), she stayed very consistent, in total predictable territory, especially when she played her mega hit, a ‘murder ballad’ as she said, ‘Sunny came Home’. At that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that her well-crafted bitter-sweet songs she sings with a pretty voice over some seemingly bright and likable melodies are attractive for this old-fashioned audience: this is what they want, and she totally delivers.
‘You are lovely’, said someone in the audience, and this was true, Shawn Colvin with her short red-ish hairdo and long black leather dress was lovely, she didn’t look her age, and her voice hasn’t changed much.
‘Same song but different beat’ she said while announcing the more bluesy ‘Tennessee’, but this is a bit true, all her songs sound kind of the same with some variation in the beats and the packaging, all carrying some heaviness and bitterness encumbered by her sad past of depression and alcoholism, but her storytelling doesn’t go far beyond the lifetime movie, ‘He sees another woman in a badlands town/And she cries upon his shoulder’ she sings in 'The Facts About Jimmy'.
She said she had always wanted to cover this Tom Waits’ song, but then, she is also quite predictable as she picked ‘Hold On’,… one of the most well known Waits songs. Still, she did it with all her loveliness, but isn’t her voice just to lovely to cover Waits?
She came back for an encore of three songs, and it was more of these quiet acoustic and rhythmic guitars decorating her charming voice, as the whole evening was a very quiet affair, with a drum-free accompaniment and a more than subtle bass, all together, a minimalist instrumentation and barely an upbeat moment. It was a lot about her naked voice and the intimacy she had developed with her audience, and I am still amazed by the peculiarity of her public. Ok I didn’t expect much more than what happened, but there has to be a middle ground between a stage diving audience and one which attends a concert as if it was a church service.
Setlist
Steady On
Trouble video
All Fall Down
Anne of the Thousand Days
Polaroids
The Facts about Jimmy
Seven Times The Charm
I Don’t Know You
Tennessee
Hold On
Change is on the way
Sunny Came Home
On my own
Diamond in the Rough
Encore
Shotgun Down The Avalanche
That Don’t Worry Me Now
This Must Be The Place
