Joanna Newsom concert in Vancouver

Well, I got to see Joanna! I had an especially good time because I was with my 2 eldest sons.
Bill Callahan (smog) started off the show with some beautiful tunes,
Callahan's voice is an acquired taste, a low baritone croon that recalls Leonard Cohen or a countrified Lou Reed.

I was surprised when cheering in between songs and my sons friends were whistling....that the seats in front of us got upset. They didn't like the whistling and asked her to stop because it "hurt their ears"....I piped up and said "Wait til Joanna comes on!"
(Her singing has been known to hurt ears)
We were seated in the balcony and were showing appreciation at a concert. I have never heard of being asked to stop before. The worst of it was, after every song they would turn around with absolutely disgusted looks on their faces. ( the stinkeye)
During the break, before Joanna came on, my sons friend was so upset that she left and missed the rest of the performance. Then the security gave us a talking too. I was pretty perplexed. Josiah says the crowds are like this in Vancouver. Kind of reserved and prudish.


Joanna's performance is summed up here;
"Structure of the new work, a complex narrative of love and desire eschewing traditional song structures, illuminated a progression in her skills as a songwriter and confidence as a performer. Without the backing of an orchestra, Newsom and her harp were instead augmented by tambura, banjo, glockenspiel and musical saw. The result sounded far more organic and it naturally integrated with Newsom's delicate songwriting. As the only "Ys" song without orchestration, "Sawdust & Diamonds" served the starkest contrast with Newsom's earlier songwriting. Building to a mesmerizing vocal crescendo, it demonstrated Newsom's new songs as bigger in scope, more expansive in range and clearly more ambitious. This material makes significantly higher demands of the aud -- 15-minute complex metaphorical narratives lacking traditional pop structures -- but is all the more rewarding for it.

These days, opener Bill Callahan is better known as Newsom's partner, but under the nom de plume Smog he's been carving his own idiosyncratic niche for some 15 years. Judging by the morals and ethics of their lyrics, Callahan and Newsom clearly share certain philosophies and attitudes but their styles of expression are polar opposites."
--by Alex Romanelli
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