image courtesy of Dorks and Losers
Last night, a buddy and I decided to pull double duty. Catch Jenny Lewis at Empire Events Center for the early 6:30pm show, and then jaunt over to Harlows and watch The Hold Steady. Both had completely different vibes and audiences (and venues), but both shows were solid in their own ways.
Perhaps Jenny Lewis' show was slightly better, because of the pristine harmonies and acoustics. Not only were her Alt-Country openers Dawes very impressive, but Lewis' band was even more so.
Coming out to a sexy, playful version of "See Fernando" Lewis instantly owned the stage. She pointed in the air and delicately pointed her hips in and out, and the crowd responded.
The band was tight, which included her boyfriend Johnathon Rice, who took over nicely for Elvis Costello's portion of "Carpetbaggers," and also showed great harmony chops during the Nazareth cover of "Love Hurts," in which Lewis curiously introduced him as "my friend" before launching into the classic.
She also mentioned that her and the band drove by the house of "that crazy old lady that killed all of those people...what's her name?"
Most of the crowd shouted "Dorthea Puente," but someone in the crowd offered up "Maria Shriver," which drew a laugh from the crowd and Lewis. She then said "Here's a song about Maria Shriver" before going into one of the nights great moments-"Rabbit Fur Coat," on acoustic, sans the band.
She also did one Rilo Kiley track during her acoustic set without the band, "Silver Lining," which any way you look at it, is just a damn good song. Lewis intro-ed the track as "This is how I originally gave it to the band," and launched into it. It was so good when the band came back on stage, Jonathon Rice even said, that was so good, it sounded great through the backstage door."
The final song of the night had all four members of Jenny's band harmonize on "Acid Tongue" while Lewis played acoustic. They nailed it, sounding as good as the backup singers on the album.
Lewis thanked the fans of Sacramento, saying they were an amazing crowd, and no doubt they were. the warmth and appreciation for her talent was truly heartfelt.
I was also there, and loved every second of the show. Jenny's an incredible talent & never thought she'd make a stop in Sacramento. Just wish she had played "Under The Blacklight" too. I've got a few recordings of her live performances available at my blog if you're interested. Thanks for the review.
Posted by: Honest Abe | April 22, 2009 at 09:34 PM