[ATTENDED: February 7, 2019] Sharon Van Etten
I really loved Sharon’s Epic and Tramp albums. After her 2014 release she kind of disappeared from the music scene, focusing on some TV work and on her family.
Then last year she came back with the single “Comeback Kid” and the album Remind me Tomorrow, which sounded very different from her guitar-based earlier work.
I had been told that she puts on a great show, so I grabbed tickets the day they were announced, assuming she’d sell out. She did but only on t he night of the show.
I’d only listened to Remind Me Tomorrow once through before seeing this show. In fact, I have more or less stopped listening to artists before I got to see them so that I’m not disappointed if they don’t play a song I really want to hear. This served me very well tonight as she played the entire new album and just a few other songs.
Before she started, a guy next to me was talking to his lady friend. In addition to spouting off about how he was the only one not looking at his phone and how he was kind of over his phone, he also said that she would never open with “Comeback Kid” because everyone would leave right after the song.
So it amused me that after the intense opening song “Jupiter 4,” (which opens with washes of synth that Sharon walked out to) she played “Comeback Kid” and the lady friend asked if they should leave now. No one left.
For these opening songs, Sharon didn’t play guitar. She sang and made eye contact with everyone. She also told us that her parents were in the audience that night, which was sweet (and not the first time that has happened at a show I’ve been at).
She interrupted the new songs to play a song from Epic. She strapped on a big hollow bodied electric guitar and played a wonderful version of “One Day.” She followed that with “Tarifa,” a song from Are We There, and then it was back to the new album.
There are some weird sounds on the new album, and live, they were executed perfectly, like the unusual sound effects that open “Memorial Day.” I was never clear if they were coming from keyboardist/vocalist Heather Woods Broderick or guitarist/ keyboardist [she said his name and I can’t find it anywhere] or maybe even from drummer [also can’t find his name anywhere]. Heck, they could have even been made by bassist [nuthin’ here either]. All four of them were great. The guitarist/keyboardist played most of the guitar parts and added cool sound effects. The bassist was just a great rumble of low notes. And the drums snapped really nicely. Heather Woods Broderick was, of course, excellent.
I guess she doesn’t play much guitar on the new album because for the almost all of the new songs she only sang. But her voice sounded amazing. Whether it was the moody quiet singing of “Jupiter 4” or the intense chorus (complete with raised fist) of “Comeback Kid,” or the powerful yelling in “Seventeen” and “Serpents” her range really impressed me.
The middle section of the show really blew me away. I loved the quietly intense “Malibu,” but I absolutely loved the loudly intense “Hands” which rocked. Her guitar was loud and distorted and by the end she was just wailing her voice “Put your hands on your lover!”
Then the band left for her to do a solo song. She sat at a piano and played an absolutely stunning version of Sinéad O’Connor’s “Black Boys in Mopeds.” It was just her voice and some gentle piano and the room was utterly silent listening to her. It wasn’t an obvious choice and I don’t know how many people even knew the song, but holy crap was it amazing.
My friend Liz said “I didn’t know I needed an album of Sharon van Etten singing Sinéad O’Connor songs.” I think we do.
The band came back out and she picked up another guitar and said “This song is for everyone who’s been seventeen.” “Seventeen” grew in power and intensity until the very end. After one more dip back to Are We There, she closed out the set with “Stay.” “Stay” features some great backing vocal harmonies from the incomparable Heather Woods Broderick.
She started the encore with the opening track from the new album, “I Told You Everything,” which sounded personal and beautiful. It was quite a lovely song, with that quiet piano and delicate synth sounds. It might have worked better as a set-ender than a first encore song, but it was still wonderful.
But after that, she put on her guitar and she and Heather Woods Broderick absolutely nailed “Serpents” from Tramp. Their voices sounded so amazing together. And this is where I realized I was glad I hadn’t listened to Tramp before this show. Because “Serpents” was so good, so amazing, that I would have been disappointed that she didn’t play all of the other songs from the album. Rather, I was blown away by that song and reminded how much I love Tramp. And now, in retrospect I can say, man I wish she’d played more from Tramp.
At this point these, two young ladies behind me were literally begging her to play a song (they waited until the songs were over, thankfully). They shouted, can you please play [I cannot believe I have forgotten what song it was]. PLEASEEEE!!!!!!!! She didn’t play that song. But she ended the show with a great version of “Love More” from Epic.
Having not seen her before, I was a little disappointed in the setlist because I would have loved a few more older songs. Although having said that, the songs were great and she put on a fantastic show. The fact that I was so into a show for an album that I barely knew is testament to how good it was.
But the show was fairly short (about 80 minutes) and she could easily have thrown in two more songs from Tramp.
SETLIST
- Jupiter 4 [⇔]
- Comeback Kid [⇔]
- No One’s Easy to Love [⇔]
- One Day [€]
- Tarifa [Δ]
- Memorial Day [⇔]
- You Shadow [⇔]
- Malibu [⇔]
- Hands [⇔]
- Black Boys on Mopeds
- Seventeen [⇔]
- Every Time the Sun Comes Up [Δ]
- Stay [⇔]
encore - I Told You Everything [⇔]
- Serpents [¥]
- Love More [€]
[⇔] = Remind Me Tomorrow (2018)
[Δ] = Are We There (2014)
[¥] = Tramp (2012)
[€] = Epic (2010)
And I have to rave about how much I love this T-shirt design
I Just Read About That... 
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