I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2019] Joanna Newsom

This was scheduled to be a busy concert weekend for me–three days, three shows.

I was glad the first one was a seated, relaxed show of Joanna Newsom playing her harp and piano.  The traffic into Philly was light, until I got into City Center.  I had planned to park on the street (you can find it sometimes), but I wound up driving on a street under construction behind a bus and I watched as the time ticked away.  Finally I grabbed the nearest parking garage and sucked up the $22 fee and then hustled over the theater and managed to get into my seat just as the lights dimmed.  Holy cow.

I had never seen Newsom before, and I suspect that I was quite lucky to see her on this limited run tour because I understand it’s her first solo tour in about 15 years–she’s usually accompanied by… someone else, I guess.  It was also her first tour at all in four years.  She said she was very nervous.  And she did make a few mistakes.  But she was always gracious and self-deprecating about them.  And considering she played about 200,000 notes that night, missing one or two isn’t the end of the world.

She came out to much applause.  I gather that her fan base is pretty intense (the kind who laugh and squeal at any comment the musician makes).  However, unlike other similar fans, these were relatively restrained (it was a rather formal setting after all).  But it was nice to be enveloped in so much mutual love.

The strange thing for me is that I didn’t really know any of her songs before this show.  I knew what she sounded like and I’m sure I’ve heard a song or two somewhere, but I was a Newsom novice.  I just knew it would be an excellent evening.  And so it was.

She came out on stage to thunderous applause.  She had on a beautiful floor-length dress, which–when someone asked her–she said was by California designers Rodarte.  And that they had made four dresses, one for each of her albums.

She began at the piano playing “Anecdotes.”  Midway through the song, she spun around on the piano bench and (almost seamlessly) began playing the harp that was right behind her.   It was pretty cool and would have been spectacular if she’s pulled it off.  She was hindered a few seconds later when she realized her foot was on the setlist on the floor and was sliding.  So she basically started the entire harp section from the beginning.

Later, when she addressed us, she asked if we saw what she did there… went from piano to harp…so smoothly!

Her crew then moved the harp to a slightly different location.

And for the rest of the night she switched between harp songs and piano songs.  She played fifteen songs from all four of her albums.  Her voice sounded very much as her voice does–hitting all kinds of notes and always sounding bewitching.

Since I didn’t know her songs, I had no idea that some of them were ten minutes or longer.  So it was a surprise as these songs–full of twists and turns and multiple parts played for a lot longer than I assumed.  I couldn’t tell if the songs were really long or if time was being altered by the beautiful harp.  If a three minute song feels like it was 12 minutes, that’s pretty good mindmessing.

Before playing “Swansea” she told us it was the first song she had ever written–originally as an instrumental.  She said it’s never been one she played much–it never fit in with a band.  She had written the music when she was about 16 and added words when she was in her 20s.

Half way through the set, after “Soft as Chalk,” she realized that she’d broken a harp string.  She told us she was lucky enough to have a harp tech in the building and sure enough, a guy came on stage with his kit and set about replacing the string.  Joanna assured us she knew how to do it, but that it would take a pretty long time.  So she said she’d play a piano song in the meanwhile.  And a wise choice it was.  She altered the set list by playing “Good Intentions Paving Co” originally slated as a second encore.   The song runs about 7 minutes and the tech finished with about 2 minutes to spare before she moved on to “A Pin-Light Bent.”

I have only seen a harpist play once or twice.  And Newsom is a marvel at the instrument.  It was so wonderful to have her as a solo artist where you could focus on exactly what kind of sounds she was generating.  How she could play certain things one-handed for a few measures before bringing the other hand back in.  Or the way her left hand would be playing cool bass lines while the right hand would play melody and counterpoint all the way up to the tiniest, highest pitched strings  It was stunning.

Given the nature of the show, i wasn’t going to take any videos.  But when she announced her last song, I knew I had to get at least a minute of her playing.  So, I hid my camera (unlike everyone around me–the guy two down from me was actually thumbing through texts or Facebook or whatever during the show… WTF?) and grabbed a minute of “Baby Birch.”

After a standing ovation, she came out again and gave us one final song, the beautiful ten minute “Sawdust & Diamonds.”  (Yes, I had a chance to take more and I did).

We left on a high with everyone feeling delighted to have been part of this first show of the tour.

Yes, there were some flaws, and it’s pretty clear that Philly was a kind of test market before the week long residence in New York City.  Those flaws were even more charming than if she had been perfect.  It made her seem human and allowed her to show of her sense of humor.  Speaking of her sense of humor, the name of her show is a take on the jam band The String Cheese Incident, which I think is pretty darned funny–especially for someone who people assume is very serious.  (Of course, the fact that she’s married to Andy Samberg means she must have a sense of humor–Samberg did not appear at our show, but he did go to at least one of the NYC shows).

Oh and if anyone is going to Perelman, there really isn’t at bad seat in the house.  It’s a small, cozy place with Row L (where I was) feeling practically like being stage.

When the show was over I was able to go up and snap a picture of her gorgeous harp.

SETLIST

1. Anecdotes δ
2. Bridges and Balloons Ω
3. Emily ¥
4. Goose Eggs δ
5. Swansea Ω
6. Divers δ
7. Soft as Chalk ‰
8. Good Intentions Paving Co. ‰ [harp string broken]
9. A Pin-Light Bent δ
10. Have One on Me ‰
11. Peach, Plum, Pear Ω
12. Cosmia ¥
13. Sapokanian δ
14. Baby Birch ‰
    encore
15. Sawdust & Diamonds ¥

Ω The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)
¥ Ys (2006)
‰ Have One on Me (2010)
δ Divers (2015)

Not to sound like sour grapes, but I had originally bought a ticket for Saturday as well–I was very psyched to get one before they sold out.  Then I discovered that another band, Fontaines D.C. was playing on Saturday across town.  When they announced Joanna’s Friday show I happily bought a ticket for that and sold my Saturday ticket. But I see on setlist that not only did she play a number of different songs (I wasn’t sure if it would have been worth going both nights) she also played a few more songs (including a 17 minute song!).

However, after checking, I see that she did play more songs but many of them were shorter.  And, while I would have loved to have gone both nights, I really fell in love with the songs she played our night.

This was Saturday might’s setlist.  The bold ones are different.

1. Anecdotes
2. Bridges and Balloons
3. Only Skin [17 minutes long!]
4. Leaving the City [3:48]
5. Inflammatory Writ [2:50]
6. In California [8:41]
7. ’81 [3:51]
8. A Pin-Light Bent
9. The Things I Say [2:35]
10. Soft as Chalk
11. Sadie
12. Cosmia
13. Sapokanian
14. Baby Birch
15. Sawdust & Diamonds
    encore
16. Monkey & Bear [9:29]
17. Peach, Plum, Pear