On Tuesday May 11th Mothers and their children, aging frat boys, and young professionals flocked to the Palace Theater to see the Bare Naked Ladies. The Palace is an interesting venue for a rock concert but it was actually quite an intimate show with excellent views from the whole house.
Opening for BNL was Ingrid Michaelson. You might not recognize her name, but
if you watch ABC dramas or the Sex and the City movies you’ll recognize
her music. Her look harkens back to an early 90’s Lisa Loeb and her vocals
are reminiscent of KT Tunstall. She opened with a newer track, Soldier, which
she and her two back-up vocalists quirkily remixed with Lady Gaga’s Poker
Face. The tone for the evening was set. While Michaelson and BNL may not be
very similar in musical styling a dark and peculiar sense of humor is pervasive
throughout their music and their live performances.
Micaelson continued to joke saying her “g string” was too tight.
She adjusted her instrument and then said it was “too loose, see, you
can’t win with it; lil’ bitch.” After groping herself during
Mountain and Sea she received some catcalls from the audience and offered, “Would
you all be upset if you knew I had on granny panties up to my nipples?”
A highlight of her set was The Chain, sung as a round with Allie Moss and Bess
Rogers. Also, their “Dixie Chickie” song Maybe really fleshed out
in person. Her set closed with an amazing individual a cappella version of REM’s
Nightswimming using a looping machine to layer her vocals. It was a magical
moment. Seeing Ingrid Michaelson live is a joyful experience.
After a short intermission BNL took the stage silhouetted against a white backdrop
with Testing 1,2,3. Going straight into the Old Apartment Ed Robertson showed
the band still had their old stage pizzazz, even without former co-front man
Steven Page. Drummer Tyler Stewart stepped up to the plate with witty retorts
and comebacks; often from the safety of the drum set, booming like the voice
of a snarky god. Keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hearn was acceptable
covering Page’s vocals, but brilliant on some of the new tracks; including
Another Heartbreak. Bassist(and multi-instrumentalist) Jim Creegan is a lanky,
structurally sculpted cowboy-esque figure on stage that always had a huge grin
on his face. He just seemed to genuinely be having a great time; there is nowhere
else in the world he would rather be.
Rather than take a full-band break in the middle of the concert they performed
a set acoustic songs, some of which were duets, to give the band members vocal
relief and a breath. The acoustic set was brilliant and included Bank Job, Pollywog
in a Bog (with a Rasta’ Rappin’ Ed cameo), Sound of Your Voice,
and Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel. The “A-ccor-di-on”
(their dinosaur instrument as Kevin says it) and Banjo were musically strong.
As the pace picked up again they dished out Aluminum. Ed bantered that “I’m
no pugilist but I’m a self love expert; kids, your parents can explain
that on the way home.”
4 Seconds and Make it Easy were light hearted and lyrically complex. One Week
was a notably different with Hearn’s vocals, but still good fun. Later
the “A-ccor-di-on” returned for Million Dollars to close the show,
with a Columbus remix version.
The encore was a surprise with the guys singing their Big Bang – the theme
song for the hit show – live. The overtly humorous evening ended on a
sincere note with the haunting song What a Good Boy with beautiful lyrics and
an elegant piano solo. Bare Naked Ladies has gone through the wringer personally
and professionally the last two years but despite restructuring they still deliver
a great stage show.
Review by Linsey Griffith
Photos by David Heasley