Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Concert Review: Jewel


In the summer of 1997 I was driving through the desert at night with some friends listening to the radio while they slept. A song came on the radio that completely wrecked my life. The woman’s voice was unique and brilliant. The song was haunting and beautiful. It took me three days to figure out that the song was Foolish Games by Jewel. I’ve been hooked ever since.

My bride took me to see Jewel at the Rose State Performing Arts Theater in Oklahoma City on June 15, 2010 as a Father’s Day present. Best Father’s Day present ever.

Radney Foster was the opening artist and he was good but I didn’t really know much about him and he wasn’t so much my style. He was more straight country. Apparently Keith Urban records a lot of his songs.

Then they revealed an artistically encased video screen that would show images throughout the night as Jewel sang. The screen and lighting made a visually appealing compliment to her music.

The entire evening of the Starlight Café Acoustic Tour was nothing but Jewel and her guitar. It was my first time to see Jewel live. I would love to see her with a full band some time but I did not feel like anything was lacking. When you listen to Jewel what more do you need than that incredible voice that I first heard in the desert?

When she first came out and began to sing I was blown away by her voice. It is always nice to hear someone sing live and learn they sound as good or better than they do on their recordings. I think Jewel may sound even better live. I thought many times throughout the show that her pitch is so good I bet she records her songs in one take. Of course, being an artist I’m sure she records them over and over although she doesn’t need to.

She performed many of her hits including Down So Long, Life Uncommon, Hands, Who Will Save Your Soul, You Were Meant For Me, and yes, Foolish Games ,which was stunning all these years later. She also performed some of her songs that have done well for her and I love that some lesser fans may not be aware of like Stephenville, TX and Standing Still. She performed cult fan faves like Rosey & Mick and Do You Want To Catch A Cold With Me?.

Of course, she performed several songs from her new album, Sweet and Wild. She sang Ten, What You Are and Satisfied. Unlike many artists shows when people are bored through the new stuff, the audience response was strong on her new songs. And for good reason. The songs she chose for the night were excellent as is the entire album.

Jewel is an excellent storyteller and mixes humor with her heartwarming stories about her life and family. She performed an unrecorded song about her father and grandmother called My Father’s Daughter while pictures of her family played in the background. She also sang a song she wrote that afternoon about Oklahoma City. The highlight was a line about how Oklahomans hate Texans and the crowd went wild.

It would have been nice if we could have had a recording of the night like the other shows on her tour but for some reason the Rose State Performing Arts Center would not allow the show to be recorded. Every other city on the tour let Jewel record and sell her own shows but not Oklahoma City. Way to go geniuses. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect evening.

The last thing I have to mention is what an amazing guitar player Jewel is. I have always concentrated on her voice but last night I was extremely impressed with the fact that she is an excellent guitarist. Many singer/songwriters are adequate to accompany themselves. Jewel is accomplished and skilled.

Thanks to my bride for taking me to the concert and thanks to Jewel for being who she is. And what she is “is beautiful, and strong enough, and bright enough.”

dm

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, she is so talented. And Funny thing, my wife took me for my fathers day gift as well.

david b mclaughlin said...

Very cool! Happy Fathers Day to you!

Anonymous said...

I wholeheartedly agree with 'Anonymous'. I saw her show at the Midland in KC last night and she was awesome! The performance was all Jewel, very powerful performance. What a voice!

david b mclaughlin said...

Glad you enjoyed the KC show. Jealous of every other date that had the opportunity to buy a copy of their show!

david b mclaughlin said...

Wow-I'm honored that apparently Jewel actually read this review. She sent me the following tweet:

David-I recorded all songs from Lullaby and Sweet & Wild in full takes RT @davidbmc Here is my review of the OKC show http://bit.ly/bGrrme

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I told you she was amazing! Full take means she may have recorded it several times but the take we hear is one take start to finish. No punching in and out. That is VERY impressive.

dm

Terry Trahan Jr. said...

Glad to hear you enjoyed the show, David! I've been a Jewel fan myself for, well, since I knew the importance of music in life. I'm 21 now and can still remember hearing that trio of "Who Will Save Your Soul," "Foolish Games" and "You Were Meant For Me" for the first time back in the mid-90s.

I got the chance to see Jewel at her Robinsonville, Miss., stop this time around. She truly is breathtaking, right? I just can't think of another artist who can capture and maintain an audience for the entire length of the show.

Between her charm, wit and voice, I never want the evening to end. And our show was filled with lots of great memories ... we had a texting cowboy, late arrivals that found themselves in the lyrics of "No Good In Goodbye," a show tune about spelling M-I-SSI-SSI-PPI, a man that kept shouting, "Yeah, baby!," an incredible setlist and lots of storytelling.

So glad you were able to catch the tour! She's one of my very favorites. Cheers!

david b mclaughlin said...

I think I remember her tweeing that the MS crowd was a blast. The OK crowd was more subdued but that was ok with me because i wanted to hear her.

There was actually someone with a crying baby all through the opening act. Incredibly rude. Who brings a baby to a concert? Especially an acoustic show. I dont know if it fell asleep or they made them leave.

Terry Trahan Jr. said...

You're right ... the focus is certainly on Jewel's voice, as it should be. And I can't imagine having a baby at the show and expect him or her to remain quiet throughout the evening.

In Miss., we had a guy who must have caught an allergy, forcing him to sneeze continuously through Jewel's family monologue. She finally paused and said, "Bless you," before finishing her story. That's a memory because no one can control an allergy and she politely recognized the sneezing in her monologue. But there's no excuse for a crying baby at an acoustic show. It's just not the proper setting, so I totally agree on that one.

Just curious: did she perform the OK song a cappella or with guitar?

david b mclaughlin said...

She played guitar and sang on the OK song. She had written it out and was reading it off of a piece of paper on her little table.