Brandi Carlile in Concert

Wednesday night I had the extreme pleasure of seeing the beautiful Brandi Carlile twice in one night. It opened up at the Disc Exchange, one of the coolest places on earth. Brandi played a four song set, mostly consisting of the hits from her newest record, as well as "The Story" from the last one. The set, played with her the twin backups Tim and Phil Hanseroth, brought a very eclectic crowd of ragged farmers in their fifties, twenty-something hipsters, some rather butch forty-somethings, a few emo teenagers, and even some little kids, standing waiting with posters and cd's to be signed. I didn't expect half of the people to be there, but it's refreshing to see an artist who can draw a crowd of that size. The set was shor but it it suited the occasion well. After she left I got a pretty cool signed poster and Janelle Monae's crazy EP that I hope to have a review of up this week.

Later that night, I met up with my friend John who had a free ticket, which was one of the coolest things anyone has ever done for me, and we headed in. We got to the show a little bit late because Amy Ray of the Indigio Girls was opening and we expected to see her do a mediocre set chock full of lesbian feminism and the folk rock The Indigo Girls are famous for. Man, were we mistaken. Her band was rocking all out when we walked to our seats. The band was full of girls who didn't exactly look like girls, and one guy bassist, who honestly looked really out of place. However, the band played together great and Brandi came out and sang harmony on the last two songs. Amy popped back up on a few songs throughout the night, lending her guitar and vocals to the more rocking songs.

The lights dimmed and the crowd started to get restless when the show started, without Brandi. A man slowly walked over to a cello and just began playing. He had this great matter of factness about him, while the whole crowd is visually thinking, "Where's Brandi?" This dude started looping everything he played, and he had a great song going completely on his own doing. The song ended with about five layers, each adding tremendously to the jam before it. Right at the point where it seemed another layer would tarnish the concerto before it, everything dropped to a single note that faded into the darkness of the stage. It was like the musical equivalant of an pre battle speech in movies. The mood was set, and it was time for some great folk rock.

By the time Brandi came on stage, the lesbian legions were pretty excited for the show. She kicked the night off with her album opener, and the show just went from there. Brandi really had the ability to put on a great show, involving much more than the standard play for the audience and go home technique. Only about three songs in, she stepped to the very front of the stage and showed off the rooms acoustics, by having the whole band unplug their instruments and play the boot stamping "Dying Day" too a hushed audience. The sound was powerful and showed the intense team work the band held to balance the sound naturally. John told me that he had seen bands do that before, which intrigues my interest as to who would take up the challenge.

In the middle of her set, Brandi listing her rules for a standard song to be just that, a standard. She then proceeded to strum her way into a rolling cover of Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin" which really got the crowd into the performance. From that point she had won over the audience and started to really play comfortably. Brandi closed the regular part of her show with her amazing hit "The Story", which was fantastic live. You can really see the emotion she poured into that song when Brandi plays it herself. She knows its a great song and loves sharing it with others. It's Brandi's standard.

The encore, much like Bruce Springsteen's show, was just as great as the original set. The second half of her show also started out without her. The Hanseroth brothers came out and played a chilling "The Sound Of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. Brandi walked out after the song and yelled, "Isn't that the most creepy beautiful thing you've ever heard?" to much crowd agreement. The encore included some hits Brandi had, and they were all great, I just can't think of exactly which ones there were, because there was one song that stuck out above all others that night. towards the end of the show, Brandi busted out Jackson which played as an intro the Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". The song sounded like it was written for the girl. she wailed it with the same lower class vigor Johnny showed at that faithful show so many years ago. I loved every second of it. It was what really convinced me that Brandi had a great thing going for her. She is such and incredible artist with an equally unbelievable voice, and I am so lucky I got to see her, for free thanks to John, the man.

Go check out the Disc Exchange for some more amazing music. The place is wall to wall with everything from American Idol Winner Bo Bice, to underground Brooklyn rappers, to Radiohead, and beyond. If you haven't ever been, you are really missing out on something special in Knoxville. This Saturday (13th) Ray Wylie Hubbard will be playing a live in store. I can't make it, but it will certainly be worth your while.

So far I'm one for one on my concert wish list for this year. If everything falls in place (which I'm positive will not happen), I will get the chance to see Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit(with Asher Roth and Flogging Molly), The Dirty Projectors, and the holiest of all concerts, Bonnaroo. I doubt i'll see them all, but Bonnaroo is kinda likely right now, so i'm stoked for that.

I'll leave you with Brandi's "Turpentine". Night world.