Brandi Carlile dazzles like shooting star at Red Butte

By David Burger

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Aug 21 2011 11:11PM
Updated Aug 21, 2011 11:28PM

Near the rear of the packed grounds at Red Butte Garden on Saturday night, a mother was trying to quiet a loud child.

“It’s a party, Mom,” the child protested. “You’re supposed to be loud.”

The child was absolutely right, as headliner Brandi Carlile and her talented and newly expanded band demonstrated, over the course of a 100-minute show, that Salt Lake City is the Seattle singer-songwriter’s favorite place to party.

Every artist who comes to Salt Lake City says that he or she loves Utah and it’s a favorite place to play — and the vast majority are liars. Good-intentioned liars, but liars nonetheless.

But with Carlile, you believe her, and not just because she can fill a venue less than two months after performing at Library Square. “You know I love you all,” she gushed near the beginning of her show as a red twilight descended. “Look at this night, look at this day. This is the gig you look forward to all tour long.”

The rocker — who is in the mold of Melissa Etheridge, but with a yodeling, belting soprano — is not a household name yet because her three albums have never captured the visceral power of her live show, where songs flow into one another and range from confessional whispers to passionate anthems. Songs such as her signature fiery mission statement, “The Story,” to new songs such as the quieter but sweet “Keep Your Heart Young” and the rollicking rockabilly stomp “Raise Hell,” show the dynamics of her thoughtfully paced concerts.

With the set design including only the bright lights of the immediate forest around her, Carlile showed how her band has improved with the addition of a violin player whose solos added new dimensions to the band’s sound, which has always been anchored by the Hanseroth twins (who dueted on “The Sound of Silence” on the first tune of the encore).

Not many attendees left early, but those who did missed the most magical part of the evening during the 30-year-old musician’s final song. As Carlile finished singing the first verse of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a shooting star shot across the sky directly over the stage. And as striking as the sight was, it was not the highlight.

The highlight was the song itself.

dburger@sltrib.com


E quando iremos nos ver??

Já sabes que ela vai fazer uns concertos a solo ela, a guitarra e o piano... deve ser demais dá cá uma raiva ser tudo nos States

Pois é fogo! bem que podia fazer uma tour ca pelos nossos lados