In 2015, Vanessa Carlton is much wiser than the 22-year-old
we fell in love in 2002 when her debut single
“A Thousand Miles” was a Top 5 hit.
Musically, she's certainly become much more experimental as evidenced
by her 2011 Album Rabbits on the Run
which was equal parts indie goodness and psychedelic cool. “Who doesn’t want to
do that?” opined Carlton to a sold-out Rams Head On Stage audience about
getting a bit trippy/weird with her music as she gets older.
Regardless of her new adventurous sound, Carlton still possesses
a tremendous voice and skillful piano playing (for this night she found herself
behind a Yamaha keyboard, while joined on stage by longtime collaborator Skye
Steele who played the violin while deftly creating soundscapes and loops (a la
Ed Sheeran/pre-nu Motown sound) with a series of pedals.
Carlton hit the stage with a glass of wine and politely
nodded to the audience and said, “Cheers” as she played the first verse and
chorus of Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly,” which mixed quite nicely into the
first track from Rabbit on the Run’s “Carousel.”
Early on, Carlton unnecessarily apologized for her lack of practice and length of set-list as she was basically relearning everything (including her new songs) three months after giving birth to her first child. She did make a point though to describe “pregnancy brain” as a state much like being constantly stoned before tackling “Hands on Me” from Heroes & Thieves.
Much of the night’s 13 songs were spent on brand new
material (her new album comes out in October). The first of which, “Take it
Easy,” was musically rooted in a series of about five or six eerie loops
organically created by Steele. Once the chorus hit, the song really found its
stride. She followed that up with another new one, the psychedelic “Willow.”
Lyrically, the song was about putting herself in her parents’ headspace when
they were her age.
There was an ongoing VH-1 Storytellers vibe during the
night. Before playing another new song, “House of Seven Swords,” Carlton
explained that she wrote for her younger brother who is graduating college. She
chuckled as she wondered aloud if she thought he liked the song, but then
figured since she mentioned “tripping” in it that he probably did. Did I
mention that her mom was backstage taking care of her baby? Way to narc out
your little bro.
The proud older sister followed with “White Houses” a song
that she said was popular with her brother’s friends but mortified him due the
bridge and its frank thoughts about a young woman losing her virginity. He
thought it was autobiographical. She
said, “Our relationship changed” when he recently confronted her about it and
the ridicule he received about his big sis. What he didn’t know is that the
line was written by her co-writer and ex, Stephen Jenkins of Third Eye Blind.
As a former ballet dancer (she completed her education at
the School of American Ballet) Carlton explained that she has a soft spot for
the waltz and always finds a way to record one for each album. The one she
played tonight was “Tall Tales” off Rabbits.
Sadly, the Rams Head prohibits dancing (it’s a dinner theater style setting),
yet I hardly doubt there’d be a crowded room of couples dancing in three.
Two more new songs followed as she played “Unlock the Lock”
and “River.” The latter was performed for the first time in a live setting. The
uplifting song’s allegorical spin revolves around how a river is a powerful
force pushing and pulling us together as a people.
Brewing a stinky healing tea on a Christmas morning at
Stevie Nicks’ house was the impetus for “Hear the Bells,” another Rabbits track. To her the song was an
“alarm that goes off in us to change” and to stick to natural remedies (no
pills).
With only a few songs left in her current arsenal, it was
time to bust out the big hit, “A Thousand Miles.” She said she started to write
the song at age 17 while on break from ballet school at her parent’s house. The
soon-to-be hit laid unfinished for a while until she was encouraged by a
professor to complete it. Good advice. The version this night was far more
subtle than the original (that piano lead is still breathtaking).
While she explained that “A Thousand Miles” was written
about a valuable connection, she also noted that the stunning “I Don’t Want to
be a Bride” (the centerpiece of Rabbits)
which followed came from that same headspace, only 12 years later. Oddly
enough, about a year after this song was recorded, she would in fact become a
bride who now has a three month old little girl.
It doesn’t matter who the artist is though, everyone who plays
the Rams Head always has at least one lyrical brain fart. Carlton had hers just
before the bridge of “Bride” as she blurted out in frustration, “OH CRAP.” After
a slight pause, a helpful crowd member fed her the line and she soldiered on. No
one else seemed to mind. It was a funny, honest and real moment which made her
performance even more relatable.
Before hitting the merch table to sign CDs for fans, Carlton
had one more song to perform, “The Marching Line” off Rabbits. Much like the entire performance, the song was both subtle
and soaring, and a magnificent ending to an enduring performance.
Scott
Great read!
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