Guggenhiem Grotto opened the show with a hauntingly harmonic medley of vocals and guitar. As their set went on, the performance energy culminated at a crescendo of acoustic farmland rock stomp. The Irish duo had the audience at their finger tips with their charming anecdotes, sensitive lyrics, and fedora and vest outfits. Even Michaelson remarked on her opening act, “Aren’t they great. I felt like my aunt at shows, ‘Oh they are good. Aren’t they great?’”
After a long intermission, the lights dimmed to reveal an orangey hue of light engulfing the stage while Led Zeppellin’s “Immigrant Song” blared through the speakers. Moments later, six cloaked bodies marched single-file on to stage and bowed to the audience. Once they took their place, the cloaks went flying and Michaelson began to belt the classic rock hit to a screaming crowd.
From there, she alternated between upbeat sing-alongs and heartfelt medleys that captivated all, but Michaelson was surprised at how “proper” the audience was compared to her Iron Horse Musical Hall show this past June.
“We’re so accustom to playing in places that reek of urine and drunk people,” Michaelson said. “Give a person air conditioning and a seat and they become British.”
Halfway through the show, the ukulele lady gathered her five band members to the front mic. “I’m about to do something as cute as kittens in a basket,” said Michaelson, who complained of sore cheeks from smiling too much throughout the concert. “I want to do something to bring us all together and share something we all have inside of us? Like urine.” Through this, she inspires herself to improve “The Pee Pee Song” which ends on a comical note with “We all have some pee in us.”
Her famous love song “The Way I Am,” which was featured in an Old Navy commercial, brought the crowd goosebumps but, in true Michaelson fashion, she decided to show the audience what would happen if she tried to be “really cool“ and “hardcore” by recreating the love song with a Paramore-style rendition. She even pokes fun at her start to musical fame with several songs featured on “Grey’s Anatomy‘s” soundtrack.
Michaelson performed her hits “Breakable,” “Keep Breathing,” “Die Alone” and “Be OK” with new vocal heights beyond what can be heard on any of her albums. The songbird also proved that her latest single, “Parachute,” released on iTunes on Sept. 14, is worthy of the Ingrid Michaelson branding.
Towards the end of the show, Michaelson announced the last song but warned the audience that she was getting lazy at age 30 so instead of running off stage and coming back to for the cliché pretend-encore after several minutes of applause, she had a plan. When the last song would wrap up, the band would then hide under a cloak behind the piano for a few minutes to wait out the standing ovation. They did just that with an eruption of laughter from the entire theater that lasted the entire ovation.
The encore did not disappoint as Michaelson performed a ukulele cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” paired with full band choreography equipped with booty slaps and jazz hands.
Lindsey Davis can be reached at [email protected].
