I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: January 25, 2024] Torres 

This was my fifth time seeing Torres play.

Every time I see her, her set becomes more powerful and intense.  What was fun about this tour was that her new album, What an Enormous Room, was coming out the next day.

So we were able to hear most of these songs for the first time in a live setting, which was great.  Especially since she gave a little explanation of each song before playing them. I also love that she played a new song followed by an old song–a kind of mini greatest hits.

A lot of times when you hear a song for the first time, it may not land right away.  There were a couple of songs that are going to take a few listens to really get into, but for the most part, these songs were grabbers, doing what Torres does best–catchy powerful choruses with her great voice doing its thing.

I had wondered what the title of this album was supposed to mean, and she told us that life these days was overwhelmingly depressing.  And without trying to forget that, she felt that this album was a ray of hope–this is an enormous room, look what other things I can do in it.

She played a few songs from each of her recent albums (although only one from her lost-to-COVID album, Silver Tongue).

her band this time was similar to last time with keyboard player Erin Manning playing some of the really intense bass lines and J.R. Bohannon played pedal steel and matched her on lead guitar.  Rosie Slater was great on drums and she also womanned the merch table (and was super friendly)

“Sprinter” sounds better every time she plays it (I’ve seen it five times now) as she explains she has come to a different understanding of the song than when she wrote it nearly a decade ago.  The two songs from Thirstier sounded even more intense and the title track is one of the sexiest songs I’ve ever heard and I can’t believe it hasn’t been snatched up for a TV show or movie.

The only song I knew well from the new album was “Collect” which has gotten a lot of airplay.  She explained that she poured all of her anger and hate into this one song and wow, hearing her sing/scream the lyrics raised the hairs on the back of my neck.  It was amazing.

She tends to end her shows with the very intense “Helen in the Woods,” which is another song that will give you chills if you pay attention.  She ends with a wild guitar freakout as the band leaves the stage.  It’s pretty awesome.

I can’t really imagine her playing a huge stage because her music is so personal and intimate.

She came back for an encore and played a solo acoustic version of Gracious Day–I didn’t realize she had done the same in 2021.

I wonder if she’ll come back around later in the year for a second round once the album is fully out.   I’ll see her again for sure.