She was here just a couple of months ago, but this time, she rides in on the coattails of her latest (outstanding) record, These Four Walls. What's more, she's got some back-up players with her.
Percussionist Deborah Dobkin used to tour with Wang Chung. We'll find out that and other entertaining tidbits later on in the show, but first, there's an opening act to get through.
Andrea Wittgens
The opening act is probably the easiest opener to sit through since Shawn's last time in town (Dar Williams opened that show). Local singer/songwriter Andrea Wittgens' music is so luscious and smooth, easy and calming, that I notice several of our neighbors starting to nod off. It surely wasn't the impeccable comfort of the Moore's theater chairs that was making them feel comfy-cozy.
Shawn Colvin
Naturally, by the time Colvin hits the stage, the crowd is seriously relaxed and content to sit back for the show.She opens her set with "Words," one of the most lullingly gorgeous songs from These Four Walls.
Before her grand entrance, the announcer notes that due to "moments of intimacy," audience members should turn off their cell phones. Colvin capitalizes on this, joking that she's not so sure about these "intimate moments."
"The last time I was in this theater," she tells the audience, "I was doing The Vagina Monologues ... that was a different kind of a moment of intimacy."
Colvin easily charms her audience. Her fans are at home calling out to her, requesting stories as often as they do songs. She readily complies, amusing herself and the audience in the process with her Napoleon Dynamite impression and the flubbing of a joke about banjo players. Someone on the other end of the theater shouted out the punch line, and our side of the room is still dying to know what that punch line was.
Backed ably by two incredible players, Colvin has incredible energy onstage. Guitarist Buddy Miller, she says, “is like Ed McMahon to me.” She even steps aside to allow Miller to perform his own fabulous tune – “Wide River to Cross.”
Although Colvin pulled out plenty of songs from throughout her career, the more recent selections were easily the most poignant. From catchy “The Bird,” to her new album’s title track, “These Four Walls,” Colvin has crafted a dozen songs that will effortlessly stand next to all her other timeless classics.
