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August 8, 2008
KT Tunstall at The Klein
I have been to my share of concerts this year, but I can’t think of one better than KT Tunstall’s show at The Klein in Bridgeport Thursday night. Maybe Wilco or Los Lobos at the Shubert in New Haven can match it, or possibly The English Beat or Tom Tom Club at Fairfield Theatre Company. But so far, none can top Tunstall.
The Klein itself is OK, but nothing great. It lacks the warmth of the Shubert or the Palaces of Stamford and Waterbury and it doesn’t have the intimacy of FTC. Thursday night, however, it felt like the center of the universe.
Tunstall was into the show from the start and the crowd fed off of her energy, clapping along in rhythm on her upbeat numbers and even doing the wave by her request.
In an interview for the feature story that ran in Thursday’s Post, Tunstall said she wasn’t a fan of the recording studio and much preferred the stage. It showed.
This in no way is meant to belittle her two proper studio albums, her 2006 debut “Eye to the Telescope” and the 2007 follow-up “Drastic Fantastic,” which are both great. This is meant to stress how good Tunstall is as a performer. From the rockers to the slower songs, she nailed them all.
And what a voice on the wee Scottish lass. It is one of the most distinctive voices you’ll ever hear and she has quite a range. She can catch you with a growl on one song, only to surprise you by hitting a soaring high note on the next.
For her breakthrough song, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” Tunstall went solo, with a little technological assistance. It was interesting to watch as she looped her thumping on the wood of the guitar, along with a tambourine, a guitar riff and the song’s catchy “woo-hoos.” She created her own little backing band on the loop before she tore into the song.
Naturally, the crowd was just as into it, with everyone on their feet almost from the first chords of the song. Truly a magical moment.
Her second big hit, “Suddenly I See,” was another pleaser, and she ended her set with it, again with the audience on its feet. Tunstall closed the concert with a two-song encore, wrapping things up with another rocker, “I Don’t Want You Now.”
Martha Wainwright opened the show with a 40-minute set that didn’t really register with me. Wainwright – sister of Rufus and daughter of Loudon III and Kate McGarrigle – was actually joined by her mother on piano and backing vocals for most of her set and that’s when things picked up slightly.
The set list
Little Favours/Miniature Disasters/Other Side of the World/Hold On/Someday Soon/Funny Man/The Hidden Heart/Black Horse and the Cherry Tree/Ashes/Hopeless/Under the Weather/Beauty of Uncertainty/Another Place to Fall/If Only/Saving My Face/Suddenly I See
Encore: Stoppin’ the Love/I Don’t Want You Now
Posted by Sean on August 8, 2008 6:51 AM
