Brandi Carlile's Minnesota Zoo

Brandi Carlile's Minnesota Zoo show turns into a love-in

Brandi Carlile offered a tribute to the ’80s Saturday at the soldout Minnesota Zoo but her concert felt more like the ’60s. It was a total love-in.

Carlile told the standing-room-only crowd she couldn’t wait to get to this gig because 1) she always loves playing in Minnie (her word) because it’s her No. 1 market and 2) she loved playing at the Minnesota Zoo opening for the Indigo Girls a few years ago (it’s the best zoo, she said, mentioning the acoustics).

Carlile was enthusiastic, friendly and loose under a full moon on Saturday. She gushed about her new violinist (and rightfully so), started a couple of songs over and made jokes about herself (her wardrobe, with purple ascot, er, bandana and having missed band practice, hence one of the re-starts). She played three songs from a forthcoming studio album and plugged her unadvertised solo gig Nov. 28 at the Fitzgerald Theater.

Most importantly, Carlile sang with conviction and passion, showing her vibrato-spiked vulnerability and rich-voiced resilience. New violinist/fiddler Jeb Bows was the perfect complement to longtime cellist Josh Neumann, and, despite no rehearsal, the crickets provided lovely accompaniment on Carlile’s quiet ballads. She explored her love of classic country music (Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Johnny & June) and ’80s music ("Total Eclipse of the Heart," Rod Stewart’s "Forever Young"). Mostly, it was originals — including radio faves "Dreams," "Turpentine" and the sing-along anthemic "The Story" and three new songs ("Raise Hell" had a nice "Kaw-liga"-evoking vibe, "Keep Your Heart Young" was lightly twangy and suggested "Coat of Many Colors" in a way).

During her 100-minute performance, Carlile fawned over the crowd and the fans threw their love at her.


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