Phenomenal concert. I’m trying to decide whether it was better than the Dar Williams show at the Cradle last year… If it’s not, it’s pretty darn close.
I saw Vienna Teng and Marc Cohn in Carrboro earlier this evening. Great little venue with carpets on the walls to deaden the sound, no funky light show or stage antics, just a bunch of real musicians performing. It was cozy and great. Vienna Teng played “Gravity” first off… that being probably my favorite song of hers, I was on pins and needles the whole time, all the more since it was the first song and my system hadn’t become accustomed to the musical atmosphere yet (You know how after a few songs things settle down and you tend to notice more subtleties? That was the principle at work). She played a few songs from her first album like “Unwritten Letter #1” and “Lullabye” and a bunch of stuff from her second including “Mission Street” and a fantastic rendition of “Harbor,” on which she ended her set.
Both she and Marc Cohn had a great stage manner, good inter-song patter, and were uproariously funny in parts.
Marc Cohn was great too. He played “Walking in Memphis” of course, but with more nuance since it was live, and had the amazingly pitch-perfect audience sing the last verse. Yeah, we ruled. Off his first album, he played “Ghost Train,” “Perfect Love,” “Dig Down Deep,” “True Companion,” and “Silver Thunderbird” (I enjoyed this greatly). I only have his first album, so I can’t name any of the newer stuff he played, but it sounded fantastic. He got into a dialogue with a pair of kids who were sitting with their parents on the front row, and personalized some of the later songs in his set for them. I really appreciate musicians who do that. Class act all the way. Wow, what a great show.
Time for bed.
Hey,
I love going to shows at the Cradle. I’ll never forget all the early Superchunk shows, or seeing G Love there on New Year’s one year.
I know a few people who are obsessed with Vienna Teng–she’s definitely got a cult following–and after hearing her music at an Asian New Year banquet last year, I just haven’t figured out why. I was prepared to love her, but I guess I just didn’t find her songs that original or memorable–what am I missing? What do you love about her? The one thing I really dug was a Chinese folk song that she sang, but when she went to her own stuff, it left me kind of cold.
Maybe I’ll go download some clips and listen again?
Totally jealous.
I have his second CD, too, and that’s my favorite of ’em all.
Anyway, off to my long shift of work!
Unfortunately the show wasn’t at the Cradle, but at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. Or maybe it was fortunate, since we actually had seats to sit down in (it was more of a sit-down show anyway). But yeah…the Cradle is an institution around here, as you know.
I find her music to be very melodic, well-arranged and intelligent, and she has a beautiful singing voice too. I’m not sure I could put my finger on one outstanding quality; it’s just great piano-driven chamber pop. Some of it can overreach a little bit as far as the lyrical or musical ambition (she attempts things she really just can’t pull off convincingly) and some would label more than a small amount of her music as cloying or overly precious, but almost all of it for me is a joy to listen to. It just works for me :)
After hearing him last night I think it’s about time I invest in another of his records. The second one, you say? I shall look into it.
Hope your day was wonderful :)
Man, I still can’t believe that you got to hear Vienna Teng live. So jealous. Did she by any chance do her cover of “Annie’s Song”?
No, she didn’t. It wasn’t a very extensive set; she just sort of hit the highlights. I think if she had been headlining she might have done it.
What a great icon. I feel the love.
edited to remedy misspelling
What a shame.
Condoleeza Rice for President ’08.
okay :)