Attempting to do this review the best I can, V said the show would be somewhat short because she hadn't practiced enough (or was having difficulty remembering the music due to her "stoned" state of mine while being pregnant). She wasn't actually stoned during pregnancy she just described the feeling as being super high.
Setlist:
Carousel (with Learning to Fly intro)
Hands on Me
Take it Easy
Willows
House of Seven Swords
White Houses
Tall Tales for Spring
Unlock the Lock
River
Hear the Bells
A Thousand Miles
I Don't Want to be a Bride
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The Marching Line
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I got the set list she used for the night (some sort of wine or liquid on in we called in the "Vanessa Special."
So this venue was very similar to the one I attended last summer in Bethleham, PA. It was a casual dining atmosphere and it was very small. Another one of those waiters take your orders all throughout the show disturbing people while the performance was going on. I tried my best to make sure my videos weren't interrupted but had some interferences in most of them, sadly.
Carousel (with Learning to Fly intro) -- still my favorite of the two intros Vanessa has done live and I think it works. She had a glass of red wine in hand and was ready to perform and looked stunning as usual. Skye had completely changed his look this show and I was totally digging it. He went for this shorter cut and dyed it a grayish white which Vanessa referred to as the "asylum" cut. Basically that it was short and looked super good but maybe belonged to a mental patient? I'm not quite sure the reference. Nonetheless Skye looked super handsome! Enjoyed the song as I always do (no claps happened on the audience end this show).
Hands on Me -- I think this was were she introduced Skye. She talked about their long lasting relationship and how they met back in 2007 at the Bitter End. He was performing with a pianist and she was like three drinks deep and decided to chat with him. Anyways, long story short they hit it off and have made beautiful music since that time.
Take it Easy -- talked about her new album and started off with this song. PS it'll be out sometime in October she said. She talked about how she wanted to create this new record and have it be very dream like since she got older and wanted to branch out from her pop music mold from her younger days.
Willows -- same story about her parents home where she grew up and played under the willow tree. She also talked about her parents relationship and briefly hers and Johns. She went on to say how her mom was at the show babysitting Sid. Skye again did an amazing solo prior to the song starting. He used his awesome pedals and what not and rocked out. It was fabulous. She dedicated the song to her mom btw.
House of Seven Swords -- same intro about her brother going through a different times and graduating college. Great performance tonight. At one point she ran out of red wine and asked for another glass and an audience member pointed out the Vanessa wine special list and that's how the running joke got started for the night.
White Houses -- V made the night a lot about telling stories (my apologies if I didn't get all of the details) and said her brother had always been haunted by the "my first time" lyric. She said how he had to go through school dealing with all these jock men singing the song and what not and years later she told him she never wrote that line. She had been co-writing with someone at the time (Stephen Jenkins I'm guessing) who wanted a women's perspective on the song and ended up writing that line for the bridge? (May have said that backwards not positive on that) anyways, she mentioned to Edward years later that she didn't write that line someone else did. So I guess Ed forgave her or didn't feel as bad? Also went on to say that all the Duke men sang along to the song and knew all the words
Tall Tales for Spring -- she talked a lot about waltzes and how each record she tries to incorporate a waltz on there somehow. She made a reference to the movie Anna Karenina and how women wore these elaborate gowns and corsets to dance in. She went on to say you don't need to wear one to enjoy the song or the waltz but you get the image she was trying to create for us.
Unlock the Lock -- explained about how this song was written while she was on a vacation with her family to Arizona at the dude ranch. Said how the days were like 110 plus degrees and how she and her family rode horses all morning until it was unbearable. Talked about how awkward it was for her to be on vacation with her family at her age without friends or a partner but then said it was fine or whatever. The ranch didn't have TV, but had satellite radio and she listening to it and it was like bob dylan radio show and this one show had a theme of "locks and keys" and all the songs played had to do with it, and it inspired her to write this song.
River-- I have been dying to hear new music from Liberman and her story that went with the song was amazing. She said she had always been fascinated with rivers, particularly after a thunderstorm how breathtaking and majestic they can be. She went on to talk about how she would go up to people (friends etc) and they'd start telling her a story or talking and she'd just be like dude you're really giving off a river vibe or something along those lines. (Those weren't her exact words but that's the idea) absolutely gorgeous song and I'll try to decipher lyrics after I post my videos sometime tomorrow.
Hear the Bells-- she talked about how when she performed this song at Duke previously the guys said she killed their buzz or something. And went on to tweet about how she killed the mood of their college frat obscenities. But anyways, she went on to talk about how she was very ill and sought help from a Chinese doctor who gave her these really potent smelling remedies and teas that she'd take all the time. She described Christmas with Stevie and how Stevie hated the smell of the teas and how all her friends she stayed with loathed the smell of them. V also went onto to say that if people are doing drugs or whatever to keep it natural and something from the earth because she talked about a relative of Stevie's who took a lot of pills after drinking heavily and never woke up from that. Although she said most people don't agree with her stance she said she wanted to make sure people were making a little better choices.
A Thousand Miles -- a nice performance as always. She talked about how she was told to finish writing this song when she was 17 and talked about how she was working with a producer pre-BNN era to get her discovered. Went on to say the song was stupid but quickly took it back cause she said her mom would yell at her if she said that.
I Don't Want to Be a Bride-- she talked about her relationship and how the song related to who's to say (about love not being approved by the government and family etc). she forgot how the song started and the audience quickly reminded her. Talked about signing stuff at the merch booth afterwards and gushed about her amazing shirts (minus her name being on them) and how victor was reminiscent of horse. Skye was great on this song also!
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Marching Line-- great performance and she was beaming with joy that the audience was constantly clapping for more encores.
Vanessa came out at the merch table after the show to sign stuff. I managed to snag two set-lists (a clean copy just to have and the one V used by her piano with some sort of stain on it, which we referred to it as the "Vanessa Special." She was very pleasant and I told her how much I enjoyed the release of Young Heart and she said thank you but she needed to practice it more with John that's why she didn't play it (or something along those lines). She really didn't have time to take photos but being that I stayed towards the very back of the line, I had a few taken for me which I'm very thankful for. Overall the show was magical and I enjoyed it! I'll do my best to upload my videos later tomorrow or early Saturday when I have access to my computer.
