Heidi says:

July 7th, 2007 at 9:30 am

KD Lang performed and honestly seemed a little nervous at first, and I heard a couple of voice cracks. The audience was loving her anyway and when she felt it, she really opened up and then blew my mind! She was vocally stellar, and gave such an authentic performance I was actually crying during a couple of her numbers. This was my first KD experience, I had heard “Constant Craving” on the radio, but that was about it. I was really there to see Lyle, but I’m happy to say KD has acquired a Large Fan. I will make it a point to buy tickets the next time she’s in town.

I was there to see Lyle, and have seen Lyle too many times to count over the last 12 years or so. Lyle opened strong yet sad with a newer song, with the chorus “All this travelin’ around is going to be the end of me.” Which unfortunately for me, seemed to be the theme of this show. He followed up by showcasing a stronger and sassier than ever Francine Reed’s “Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues” and then they dueted on “What Do You Do”, a Large Band classic. Then I think the show lost it’s usual glimmer. While his shows are usually masterfully paced, and the band unfailingly tight, last night there was a long stretch of songs similar in mood and sound and the band almost seemed to be a little bored themselves. They finally pulled it out by going bluegrass with a very campy and clever “Keep it in the Pantry”. Watch for the mandolin player, he’s gonna be BIG. The show did pick up from that point on, but I couldn’t help be be disappointed by the glaring omissions: Nobody Knows Me, You Can’t Resist It, Church, and LA County were all missing. We did get My Baby Don’t Tolerate from the same named album, but no In My Own Mind. Usually he throws in one of his best country satire songs like God Will or Cowboy Man, and a quirky gem or two, “Penguins” or “Skinny Legs”. I was aching to hear “Her First Mistake”. He did do the musically incredibly interesting and poignant “North Dakota”, but it just left me wanting kd to walk out and sing it with him ala Ricki Lee Jones. And why oh why didn’t kd and Lyle do even one number together? And how, oh how, for an encore, could he come out and do a single song that was good, but that he’s never recorded and then just leave the stage and leaving me singing “I got some beans and some good corn bread, listen to what the preacher said..” all by myself? What’s amazing to me, is that even when he’s clearly feeling a bit disconnected (even his banter was not as spirited or funny as usual) he still puts on a great show. If I’d never seen him before, I would have loved it. I’m just so used to every moment, especially with the Large Band, being so riveting that I couldn’t help but to feel a little… (and you have no idea how hard it is for me to put this in writing) …unsatisfied.