jane siberry at the acoustic cafe, bridgeport, ct 19 dec 2004

caught the last night of the beauty train tour sunday night at the 
acoustic cafe in bridgeport. 

jane and adrienne pierce were late in arriving due to traffic on the
george washington bridge (oops!) so local hockey rock band (and siberry
fans) the zambonis played a short opening opening set.

afterwards, adrienne came on and did a short opening set. i think i had
heard of her before her sheeba association but had not heard her
music.  i rather enjoyed her quiet, slow tunes. it was nice to hear a
solo performer play electric instead of acoustic for a change. she
struck me as sounding a lot like tanya donnelly on her most recent
album _whisky tango ghosts_ (though smoemaster jeff and darling
meredith thought i was insane for thinking such things; apparently,
they thought she sounded like noe veneable). i picked up her cd after
the show but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

immediately afterward, jane came on and played for a hour and
three-quarters! the set was a mixture of songs on acoustic guitars and
piano and poetry:

Willow (sung to a backing track of flowing water and tablas)
Freight Train/"How do you feel about...?" (a feel-out-the-audience improv)
You Don't Need
Pilgrim
poem ("You make me feel...")
If I Ever See Mark Benson (a "throwaway" song, she called it)
[switch to piano]
She's Like The Swallow
Barkis Is Willin'
Hipper-Upper (the care bears song, w/adrienne)
The River
poem
[switch to guitar]
In My Dream (*swoon*)
poem
Any Time (w/ adrienne)
Walk On Water

first encore:
Hockey (with the zambonis!!!)

second encore:
Take Me To My Tent
Calling All Angels

you know, aside from trilogy shows at the bottom line, this may have
been the best shows i've ever seen her do (granted, the first time i
ever saw jane was in 1994 at the tla in philadelphia when she was doing
those not-really-a-show things). the shows i've seen have been good to
very good but tonight, the performance was just stellar. and i'm not
just saying that -- she really was that good.

and the sound was very good given their late arrival -- just a couple
short static bursts at the beginning and the omnipresent acoustic cafe
hum from any electric guitar using a d.i. which no one ever seems to be
able to figure out.

jane's acoustic guitars sound just as good or better than that cherry
red electric she used to play. all the same tones as before but so much
more natural now. very lovely! you know, that may have been the most
striking thing about this show in some ways, for me anyway.

interestingly, i don't think she's as a commanding guitarist as she
once was. she seems to watch her fingering a lot, which i don't
remember her doing at all in the past. on the other hand, her piano
skills have become much more natural and inherent. strange.

by special request, jane played hockey with the zambonis backing her to
start the encore. they did a really good job too -- not too over-stated
and just enough presence to fill out the song.  if you hadn't known any
better, you'd think they may have rehearsed it at least once. ;)

amusingly, before the played the song, the zambonis' lead singer asked
jane to wear a jersey from an all-women's team from wisconsin. so as
not to muss her hair, she tied the sleeves around her neck and wore it
like a bib. :)

oh, during the mark benson "throwaway" song, someone blurted out the
name of the movie about jesus dressed as a clown which is referenced
during the song. jane stopped and asked him to fill her in afterward
since it scared her half to death and she'd forgotten the name. for
those who are wondering, it's called "the parable".

finally, the next album -- if it is ever recorded -- is going be
magnificent. the older new songs are really fleshed out now and the
new-to-me songs were great! i hope she records it someday, indeed i
do.

all in all, a very good night. 

woj

n.p. wfmu (what else?)