SOUNDTRACK: K.T. TUNSTALL-NonComm (May 16, 2019).
Most artists at NonCOMM get about 20 minutes. The headliners get about 40 minutes.
When I saw K.T. Tunstall was playing, I assumed she would get 20 minutes–how could she be a headliner? Didn’t she have one hit like a decade ago with “Suddenly I See.”
But there she was with a 45 minute set. I wondered why. Possibly because she was playing World Cafe Live again the next night for a full show. Or possibly because she had a huge hit that I didn’t realize was hers.
Tunstall was by herself on stage. She had a guitar, a drum machine of some sort, a looping pedal and a kazoo. Having a lengthy set also allowed for a looser, more talkative set. She is very funny, bold, foul-mouthed (in the best Scottish way) and smart.
As the last night at NON-COMM was winding down, K.T. Tunstall was able to give the crowd one last hoorah. Tunstall’s set mixed the old and the new nicely, playing anything from covers and mashups to her most recognizable hits.
Tunstall started the set with “Little Red Thread,” the opener to her most recent release Wax. The tune was carried by Tunstall’s percussive guitar tapping and tambourine playing, and it sure got the crowd going.
It had a four note heavy riff with some echoey chords that propel the song. After two verses she messes something up and says, “that’s a really shitty way to start,” but jumps right back in.
She liked playing the new song but then says, “Let’s trustfall into something familiar.” She asked if anyone had a long-distance relationship. “It’s a really fucking bad idea. It’s good sex; it’s just not regular.” This was an introduction to the quieter “Other Side of the World” off of her 2004 debut Eye to the Telescope. The song opens with looping quiet percussion and her raspy voice singing over a gentle acoustic guitar.
“Backlash & Vinegar” is about someone trying to keep you down. It stays quiet with just her guitar and voice.
She recalled going to a karaoke bar drunk with friends and looking for “Faith” by George Michael which they didn’t have. WTF?! The friend she was with said there was a song there that she knew all the words to. It was her song! What song was it? There’s a bit more story.
When she first came to the States she performed her first shows inside Barnes & Noble stores. They close at 8 so you have to play at 7. There were multiple hot women dressed like Jane Fonda. Finally she asked a woman why she looked like Lydia from Fame. She replied (in Tunstall’s great “American” accent: “Honey. You don’t know? You’re huge in Jazzercise.”
So she plays her jazzercise hit “Black Horse And A Cherry Tree.” This was the massive hit (and it was a massive hit because I’d heard it everywhere) that I had no idea was by her. It starts immediately recognizably with the looped “who-hoo / whoo-hoo” and if that doesn’t remind you of the song, the chorus is “No no / no no no no / no no / you’re not the one for me.” It sounded sport on.
She ends the song with a kazoo (!) rendition of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which she looped in the backgroud of the end of her song.
Up next is “The River” which is about taking a spiritual shower and washing the world from our brains. It’s a catchy folk song that could easily have been a Starbucks hit (and maybe it was).
She then teaches everyone a Scottish word: “jobby” it means “shit.” It’s like the name of the poo emoji. She wrote this song as an antidote to when you have a nice pair of white high tops and just out of nowhere you step in a really big jobby. It’s the kind you cant get off with a stick and you have to go into a meeting with the jobby–it’s a metaphor for life. You can smell it, other people can smell it. And what you need is a song to get you through.
This is the intro to “Feel It All,” a catchy simple guitar riff and a quiet vocal line. I don’t know what these songs sound like on records but they translate into pretty folks songs here.
She felt like with everything going on (a lot of abortion bans being proposed), she needed a cover by a master.
Tunstall banged away as she sang a fantastic cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” mixing in percussive elements with her thrilling vocals once again.
a rocking raw version
She said she likes to be a purveyor of joy but she needs to speak up. She dedicates this song to all the women who have achieved incredible things in their lives. And one of the reasons they’ve been able to achieve it is because they and their partners have had reproductive rights . This song is meant to give strength to any woman who might have it taken away.
And there was the song I knew from her: “Suddenly I See.” She started the song, a shuffling rocker, and said, “Every songwriter is like a juicer. You put a few things in and you hope it doesn’t come out brown and weird. This is what happened when I listened to Patti Smith and Bo Diddley on the same day.”
I never would have thought that on my own, but I sure hear it this time. The song sounds just like I remember it. Her shockingly un-Scottish-sounding vocals and a super catchy chorus.
I’m glad she got a 45 minute set, it was a great re-introduction to someone I liked a while ago.
[READ: June 1, 2019] “The Smoker”
I don’t understand the title of this story, but I really enjoyed it’s odd revelations.
Douglas Kerchek is a teacher of 12th grade A.P. English at a prestigious all-girls Catholic school in New York City.
Nicole Bonner was a standout student. He had already written her a recommendation for Princeton.
She read an entire novel every night and retained what she read. When he proposed a pop quiz, instead of answering the questions, she wrote the entire first page of Moby Dick verbatim.
Although at the end of a recent essay, she had attached a note saying she had noticed the bruise on his ankle and wondered what he had banged it on. (more…)
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