Greetings guyz! First time poster here…who JUST returned from V’s show at HOB Bahston. My hometown.
I thought there would be a review already but there isn’t. So I’m going to write an essay. But here’s the short version if you don’t have time to read 1,000 words: SICK SHOW. Loving crowd (imop)! Solid-solid-SOLID set of old & new! 40 mins. Chocolate and vinyl back in the shop! Pics during the meet & greet!
Long Version.
Absolutely perfect night for a show that was practically under the Green Monster for any MLB fans out there. And yeah the gig was indoors but whatever. The setting sun glowed in a cloudless sky until doors opened. And what a s-h-o-w. Chill & candid. Vanessa killed it, but I’m going to give some cred to my city for the awesome vibe (which I’ll get to later, as I was in NYC for her Terminal5 show last Friday).
Setlist…from what I can remember was:
Carousel w/Learning to Fly Intro
White Houses!!!
Hands on Me!!!
Fairweather Friend
London
Hear the Bellz!!!
A Thousand Miles!!!
I Don’t Want to Be a Bride
I think the order might be off. Mmmk? I’d consumed two vodka redbulls by the time she took the stage. So I stand to be corrected if anyone can right my wrong. On the other hand, I DO remember a lot of stuff she said. All of that goodness follows below. Also, Skye but no Ari.
THE GOOD STUFF.
Tons of great moments. When she walked on stage and sat down there was a heap of applause, followed by slight quiet, followed by “vanessaaaaaaa” from some dudes on the floor, which got people laughing/clapping again, which got her smiling in an amused/humble/self-aware sort of way behind the keyboards (if that makes sense) before launching into Carousel. We definitely had some clapping on the third floor, and lots of applause at the end to which she raised-her-hands-to-her shoulders and smiled. Around the 3rd song she told us she loved boston and it was great to be back here followed by familiar stuff like how she hung out with Hobbits “in the Shire for a year” making ROTR after “not doing much of anything” except “writing weird instrumental pieces.”
She gave the “don’t read letters that are not intended for you” advice before Fairweather Friend. Hear the Bells was amaaazzzing tonight. White Houses was dope, but it did not get a huge sing along from what I could hear on 3.
I wish I could remember what song this happened with, but early to mid way thru her set, she played the first bar of a song…sang the first line…and then just stopped & leaned into her mike, asking if it was possible for the lighting guy to take the gels down a notch, b/c she was melting. She motioned to her piano as he worked on it, saying she’d like to “heat the place with this” followed by “ohhh that’s already better!” the moment he slashed some lights.
Before playing a note of ATM, she mentioned how she was grateful for the song she wrote at 16 years old for enabling her to do an analogue record. When she played the first little bit the place got ELECTRIC. Now the best part…after the “I, I, don’t want to let this go…I, I…” part, the piano stops and we hear “Shit I forgot it!”
Sidebar: please tell me someone got this on camera. It was great. Scour YouTube tomorrow morning!
Cue tons of (kind) laughter and cheers from the crowd, she looks at Skye and cracks up saying “how many times have I sung this!” then somehow manages to pick up right where she left off, with the “making my way” part.
Before IDWTBAB, she mentioned she sold out of the vinyl but just got another shipment in, said her friend Joe in the UK did all the ROTR artwork, and that “night shop” is sexier than “merch table.”
She thanked Matt & his crew, and the audience for catching her set as she hasn’t “been out in a long ass time.” And earlier---I half caught this---she said something about how she knows this is a rock show (referring to Matt), and that she was grateful for having us come to her set considering she “kind-of a baroque rock show.”
All in all awesome night. And I’ll say this…DEFINITELY noticed a huge difference between the NYC show and this one. First off --- I can’t believe I’m saying this --- but I think our Boston/Masshole crowd was quite warm and into her set compared to Terminal5. People seemed to be up against the rails versus hanging around the bar. And best of all it didn't sound like she was playing over a DIN of people yapping/shouting at each other. Also, call me crazy but it seemed like she got more applause in Boston than NYC. Guess it could be a combination of the acoustics of the place and where I was sitting. But for now that’s my story & and I’m sticking to it.
xx
p.s. I’ll post a few more tid bits from the NYC show on the Term5 thread tmrw
