Afterglow tour review
Just came back from seeing Sarah McLachlan. Holy crap, what a great show.
Bit of backstory. About a month ago, I got her new release, Afterglow Live. I thought the tour was over, because, well, I own a recording of the concert. That usually happens when the tour is over. AMG’s review of the album wasn’t that far off. McLachlan and her band are so good and tight that the concert sounds a lot like the studio versions, especially the songs from Afterglow.
So, I was rather surprised that she was still touring, and also that that the show I saw tonight was much better than Afterglow Live, and not just because I saw it live. I think the tour album was released when the show first started, which was probably not long after Afterglow was released. It would make sense that the Afterglow songs are similar on Afterglow Live. But after a year or two away from the studio album, the live versions have really grown and varied.
Great set, great performance, great lighting and great sound (minus the twin douche bags yabbering through the first half until I asked them to “like, not talkâ€).
I expected a good show, but I didn’t expect it to be as great as it was. She has the best vocal ability of anyone I’ve ever seen live. To say any song was more notable than others isn’t really fair, but “Perfect Girl,†“Push†and “Answer†were stunning. She also brought back a few things like “Solsbury Hill,†which I don’t think she’s covered since ’89. I already knew she’d cover “Blackbird,†which is quite nice once maladr1n stops singing a bad parody of it in your ear during the performance of that song (shithead). Best part is she encored with a version of “Hold On†which she hasn’t done since the Fumbling tour. She’s done that song very differently a few times, but she returned to the hard bluesy version this time, and it just has so much more balls (or I guess ova as the case may be). And just when you thought the concept of encores was a farcical absurdity (you know they’re coming back onstage), she came back solo on the piano and did a second encore with “Dirty Little Secretâ€. It was just a very lovely show.
And she makes me want to buy rubbers by the truckload.
I think Sarah inspired trufflesfl to consider the sisterhood of bitter estrocentric womyn or whatever it is that women with a “y†belong to. (Frankly, I’ve never understood it. Sarah’s so loving, and… well, she’s very heterosexual and married to a guy, but I’ve nonetheless seen this effect on women before.) Doesn’t matter though. I think trufflesfl’s plans to be absconded into the dykehood got a bit dampened when we saw two women who defied even the most basic fundamentals of fashion and donned quite possibly the most absurd mullets I’ve ever seen. Sarah attracts some very strange fans. I think it’d be great if Sarah and Ben Folds did a show together. Not only would it be solid, but I’d love to see the confusion ensue between his fans and hers.
Anyway, this was her last Florida show, but if you can check the show out before the tour ends, I highly recommend it.
