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Sara Bareilles Concert Review
Let's make this short and sweet: Sara Bareilles is incredible. Not only do we love her rich yet effortless voice, but her clever music is indeed what pop music needs right now. We don't need another bubble-gum star who masks their voice through electronic mechanisms, or wears little or no clothes while shaking their ass on MTV (Not that we don't appreciate an ass shaking -- we just don't need another one.) See, Bareilles can actually sing (and she's pretty damn good at it too) and she plays the piano to boot. This singer/songwriter has found her niche in the music world and her fans love her (as was proof with her sell-out engagement at Great American Music Hall on Friday night.) Bareilles was so surprised by the amount of enthusiastic fans -- at one point the crowd sang an entire chorus of her recent hit, "Love Song," -- she said, "I can't believe this. This has never happened to me before. This is incredible." Incredible it was. Not because of us, but because of her.
With the addition of a three other band members Bareilles started the evening out strong with her wishful song, "Vegas" about following her dreams, which seem to be coming true. With her debut album, Little Voices, reaching #1 on iTunes, Bareilles couldn't believe her instant success, going on to say, "It was amazing. It was not expected since we didn't have any radio play. I wasn't out there at all so it was a total surprise that it happened. It's really been cool and has even gotten better from there."
With an hour set, Bareilles was able to explore several songs off her well-received album though she missed one of my favorites, "Between the Lines." More importantly, was that her songs (with the added energy of the band) sounded new and fresh and not rehearsed and forced like some of her peers. Her performance is seamless, and at times we caught ourselves mesmerized by her. (Fine, let's admit it: we have a crush on her.)
Some of the highlights of the concert was her quirky adaptation of several fairy tales in "Fairy Tale" (which you can see here) and the haunting, "City." The evening ended with just Bareilles on her piano singing "Gravity," easily the best song of the night. But we walked away wanting more: an hour show wasn't long enough, not for this kind of talent.
By Spencer Williams