"This is going to be one of those real sweaty evenings," Vanessa Carlton apologized to the wall-to-wall audience shoe-horned onto the Crocodile Cafe for Saturday night's concert.
Among the disadvantages of such a popular artist playing an intimate venue was that the air inside was as scarce as tickets on the street. The second-to-last show of her current tour was taped by Rollingstone.com for an Internet broadcast for its "Original Concert" series.
Looking like a prom queen in her strapless gown, Carlton played all but two selections from her newly released "Harmonium" as well as five songs from her 2002 debut "Be Not Nobody."
Performing solo on a baby grand piano, the new songs came across much stronger than the overproduced recorded versions. She opened with "Plastic Love" and "San Francisco," commenting on how much she loved the crowd's quiet attentiveness. Although frequently compared to young female rockers such as Michelle Branch, Carlton displays a broader musical palette and is reverenced more like a Tori Amos.
Her voice, blending baby-doll innocence with a mature self-assurance, was deftly supported by a classically powered piano style. After a masterful retooling of the early hit "Ordinary Day," she dedicated "Who's to Say," one of the best tunes from her new album, to "everyone who is in a relationship that may not be approved by their family or government."
"I am second only to Marilyn Manson in terms of ruffling feathers," she said in introduction to "White Houses," the first single from "Harmonium," which has been banned by MTV for its racy lyrics.
Although the overall impression of the song was somewhat decadent, there was nothing remotely offensive in the lyrics.
In addition to the songs from "Be Not Nobody" and "Harmonium," she performed the B-side "Swindler" and a track that didn't make the new album, "Morning Sting."
Toward the end of the show, Carlton had a bit of an accident with "Wreckage," the secret track on "Harmonium," which she stopped midsong because, having forgotten the words, she realized she was singing in a made-up language.
She recovered with the megahit "A Thousand Miles" and encored with a haunting "Twilight."
- Bill White //Seattle POST-INTELLIGENCER
is that true that it was recorded i went onto rollingstone.com and searched vanessa and nothing was their am i missing something?
