Brandi Carlile at Mount Baker Theatre

Oh. My. God.

I think that was one of the most important concerts of her career, I've been to a couple now and in this one she raised the bar substantially.  Instead of being a great Seattle area talent who is starting to broaden to being nationally and internationally known, she made a statement tonight that she's a bigtime international star being born and we witnessed part of the the birth.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I drove 5pm - 7pm on a Friday from Bellevue to Bellingham.  Those of you know who the area and the traffic know that there's serious devotion in that act.  I was far from the only one, I overhead a few people in the audience talk about making the trek from Seattle to see her.

The opener was Gregory Alan Isakov, and this guy is a serious talent in his own right.  His set was solid, varied, and very interesting.  Additionally Brandi came out to sing a few of his songs with him and they announced that she had done so for about half a dozen songs on his upcoming CD.  Worth picking up for that alone by Brandi's fans, but the songs he sang were really good.  It is on my list.

She also announced that he's agreed to open for her entire upcoming tour, so if you go to see her be there in time for his set.

She had a huge range of stuff, part of the reason I think it is her breaking through.  She did fan favorites, stuff from her upcoming CD (which sounds like it will be stunning), and covers that I wouldn't have expected as well as a few I've heard before.

She ended her main set with Folsom Prison Blues, and she tore it up.  They started playing it and I thought it would be interesting to see how this pans out but she blew me away.  They ended it with a bang and walked off the stage to a quick standing ovation.

She did the encore alone (exception for the end of one song where one of the twins came out to whistle) and started with Stand By Your Man.  It was funny and very authentic at the same time.

Totally worth the three and a half hour round trip, that was an incredible show and I feel privileged to have been there for it.

Comments

[dan]

Wish I could have seen. Thanks for posting. I can't wait for her to come back to the east coast.

She is simply amazing.

Dan

[Kathryn]

I whoeheartedly agree. I drove from Portland to see this show and the traffic was everything it usually lives up to be - but it was worth it. She has the most amazing voice and raised the bar with this show. I look forward to her concert date in Portland in a few month's time.

[Renegade_Pilgrim]

Yeah, well there was also a girl from Sweden, via Australia who made the trek. Brandi always does a great show when she is in the Seattle area. If you've seen her anywhere else, you'll know what I'm talking about. I loved the new, new songs and also liked what they've done with the old, new songs. Can't wait for the new album in August!