I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 29, 2019] Petal

A little under a year ago, I saw Petal perform solo in Bethlehem.

Petal is the creation of Kiley Lotz from Scranton, PA.  She has released a few albums and an EP (all on bandcamp).  Her recorded output has a somewhat heavier alternapop sound–there’s some great bass on her records.

I really enjoyed her solo set–her voice was beautiful and her songcraft was really great.  But having listened to her records, i imagined she’d be even more fun with a band.

And she certainly was.  She rocked harder for sure and I really liked the drummer’s backing vocals.

Most of the songs featured quieter sections in which Kiley sang with her guitar but which were really fleshed out with the bass and guitar.  It also allowed Kiley to sing and play harder tahn when I saw her solo, like on “Better Than You.”

She showed off her vocal range on “Tightrope.”  As did acouple of women near me in the audeince, one of whom sang along to every word (you can hear her a bit on the above video).

While two guys to my right were talking (a little too loudly to be so close) during her set, the crowd in the middle was rapt.  She told an engaging story about her mom being a music teacher and how she has grown up with music and knows why Girls Rock Philly (one of the beneficiaries of the Fest) are so important.

After a few songs. she asked the band to take a rest–before realizing that the drummer was going to be singing backing vocals.  So he stayed.  These songs were quieter, like “Magic Gone.”

She switched over to the keyboard for a couple of songs, like the lovely “I’m Sorry.”  You can compared this version to the one from last year.  The biggest difference is that as the end of the song, the bass and drums kicked in to really make the end powerful.

Then she introduced a new song. I believe she said it was the first time she’d played it live.  It was clearly a very personal song and I believe had to do with someone who had recently died (I don’t know enough about her to know the details, and it was a little hard to hear her speaking voice from where I was).  It was  beautiful, heartfelt song and I refrained from recording any of it because it seemed to really get to her.

I could tell as she started to sing the last song of the night that she was pretty choked up.  But she pulled through and the last song was a bit more fun and by the middle she was back to herself and rocked through to the end.

She then played a lovely cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Silver Springs” and ended the night with a fantastic rendition of “Stardust.”

I feel like the previous time I’d seen her, that intimate solo show was almost less intimate than this one, since she was so personal with all of us.

It was a fantastic set and I’m thrilled for her success.

SETLIST (I may have missed one song in there),

1. Better Than You
2. Tightrope
3. I’m Sorry
4. Silver Springs
5. new song
6. Magic Gone
7. Stardust