Brandi Carlile Concert Review: The Story Of Success At Td Garden
This is by far the biggest show weve ever played in Boston, Brandi Carlile said as she greeted the roaring crowd of TD Garden. Its utterly surreal.
The experience was surreal for the audience, too. Carlile, a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter from Washington state, made it easy to forget that anything existed outside of the arena. She is one of the most phenomenal artists on tour this year, guaranteed to deliver captivating performances, entertaining stories, talented guests, and vocals that sound even better live than on record.
Brittany Howard, lead vocalist and guitarist of Alabama Shakes, opened the concert with songs from her debut solo album Jaime. She alternated between sweet, mellow tunes that had the audience swaying with their loved ones and bold, high-energy performances amplified by shredding guitar, dancing, and passionate lyrics about unity and strength. Howard was the perfect opening act an invigorating presence whose mind-blowing voice made attending the concert worthwhile long before Carlile took the stage.
Carlile performed others music just as well as her own. She paid homage to David Bowie and Radiohead with performances of Space Oddity and Creep that would have made the creators proud. She captured the intensity of the original songs, but her down-to-earth personality and smooth vocals brought a unique warmth to her renditions.
Dolly Parton Sings All
Wed stay out late and come home to our garage and wash our spiky hair in a washing machine with powdered detergent. The guy who owned the trailer was sharing it with the rest of our family and he slept in a recliner in the living room. We never wanted to walk past him. If we had to pee, wed do it in a cup and pour it outside. Everything was hilarious to us. Thats how we were coping with it, like brothers. Wed buy rolls of quarters and hang out with our mom, our dad, and Dads best friend, Ron, to play poker for real money. Our family has always had a tense relationship with gambling, but in those days, and in contrast to everything else, it felt like the most wholesome thing in the world. If I was lucky the next day Id be hauling several hundred dollars worth of quarters to the Coinstar machine at the grocery store. It was on one of these nights that wed meet Darren and Troy, a couple of brothers in their thirties who were learning to play instruments. They were practicing in a shed off a trailer down the street on Lake Sawyer. Jay and I fell head-over heels in love with them and joined their band. We called it The Shed. We didnt really want to drink, but we could have if we wanted to. We were high on possibility, and the adult surroundings we were being accepted into were truly extraordinary for kids our age. It felt really weird to go back to school after that.
We were both smart. We were both failing.
The shock and guilt were unbearable.