[ATTENDED: June 21, 2019] Dido
I bought these tickets back in November thinking “Dido is playing Union Transfer?” and then, “What happened to Dido?” I didn’t realize that she had released some albums in the intervening years. I was vaguely aware of her 2008 release but missed the 2013 release entirely. I also see that she hasn’t toured the states in FIFTEEN years. In 2004 she played the Tower Theatre but in 2001 she headlined the Tweeter Center. Remember Tweeter?
So that explains the small venue. It also explains why it sold out.
Almost all of my familiarity with Dido comes from S. When we first started dating she played No Angel a lot and I found I rather enjoyed it–a relaxing soundtrack on a summer day. When I received the tickets for this show, it came wit a copy of her new CD. We listened to it and I found it pleasant but somewhat unremarkable. I assumed the show would be the same–an enjoyable, chill evening.
Boy howdy was I wrong. It’s as if everything on the CD was made for chilling out, but the show was made for dancing. She had a five piece band behind her and they were fantastic. With much appreciation to the percussionist Jody Linscott who was freaking amazing and Adam Falkner on drums who played really loud and hard and kept the songs really moving.
The other amazing thing was Dido’s herself. She has a lovely voice–always has. On record it’s quite subdued. But live, she belted out notes, sang passionately and was totally engaging as a performer. She walked around the stage. She sat down right in front of us for a song (shame we were behind the two tallest people there), she smiled all the time–a genuine smile that showed how much she appreciated us coming out to see her. And she was quite funny, too. (more…)
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