Melissa Ferrick
Oct. 15th, 2005 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walbournHad a good time at the Melissa Ferrick concert last night at The Triple Door. The venue is actually a 'dinner theater' setup sharing a kitchen with Wild Ginger, but had a surprisingly good sound-system. Since I was going on my own, I was sat against the stage so I had a great view.
The opening act was a cute folkie girl Natalia Zukerman. She was a bit like a more subdued Ani DiFranco with a blue grass sound, but she played a few numbers with a slide guitar and did horn sounds by mouth. It was cool. Actually, on the first number Melissa herself played an actual horn.
Various highlights of the set included of course drive, willing to wait, burn this guitar, the stranger, all for me, everything i need, win 'em over, i will arrive, mercy, will you be the one, freedom, her 'I broke my guitar string' random made-up song, her usual 'I broke another guitar string but this time not the B string so I'll do Ani's untouchable face', a number of songs from her most recent album The Other Side, and a few new ones.
Lots of on-stage amusing babble, and great energy from Melissa as usual. She's working on a new album, and I really liked the new songs. She's also apparently releasing an autobiographical DVD, which should be quite interesting. Natalia did some harmony backup singing and slide guitar on a few of Melissa's songs, which worked really well. She's great solo acoustic, but it was a nice change.
At the end of the show, the crowd was of course expecting the usual long, drawn-out performance of Drive. She wrote the song five years ago, and had been playing almost every day since. She explained that she hadn't played it for much of this tour because she felt like she had been hating the song and the expectation to play it--for those that don't know, it has more or less become a lesbian anthem. But, she was going to have to play it in Vancouver the following night and felt out of practice. This was the first time here in Seattle I've seen her just play the song without trying to make fun of it or find other ways to entertain herself through it, which gave it a power and honesty that I've not seen live before.
All in all, Melissa was her usual dynamic powerhouse of energy and emotion, but she seemed to be having fun. Sometimes she seems like such a raw nerve on stage, that it is hard to not to feel just how much suffering she puts herself through. Then again, that's where all these great, painful songs come from. Still, it is nice to know she isn't always a mess.
The opening act was a cute folkie girl Natalia Zukerman. She was a bit like a more subdued Ani DiFranco with a blue grass sound, but she played a few numbers with a slide guitar and did horn sounds by mouth. It was cool. Actually, on the first number Melissa herself played an actual horn.
Various highlights of the set included of course drive, willing to wait, burn this guitar, the stranger, all for me, everything i need, win 'em over, i will arrive, mercy, will you be the one, freedom, her 'I broke my guitar string' random made-up song, her usual 'I broke another guitar string but this time not the B string so I'll do Ani's untouchable face', a number of songs from her most recent album The Other Side, and a few new ones.
Lots of on-stage amusing babble, and great energy from Melissa as usual. She's working on a new album, and I really liked the new songs. She's also apparently releasing an autobiographical DVD, which should be quite interesting. Natalia did some harmony backup singing and slide guitar on a few of Melissa's songs, which worked really well. She's great solo acoustic, but it was a nice change.
At the end of the show, the crowd was of course expecting the usual long, drawn-out performance of Drive. She wrote the song five years ago, and had been playing almost every day since. She explained that she hadn't played it for much of this tour because she felt like she had been hating the song and the expectation to play it--for those that don't know, it has more or less become a lesbian anthem. But, she was going to have to play it in Vancouver the following night and felt out of practice. This was the first time here in Seattle I've seen her just play the song without trying to make fun of it or find other ways to entertain herself through it, which gave it a power and honesty that I've not seen live before.
All in all, Melissa was her usual dynamic powerhouse of energy and emotion, but she seemed to be having fun. Sometimes she seems like such a raw nerve on stage, that it is hard to not to feel just how much suffering she puts herself through. Then again, that's where all these great, painful songs come from. Still, it is nice to know she isn't always a mess.
