Brandi Carlile raises hell
photo by Frank Ockenfels
Some musicians basically have two songs – a fast one and a slow one – and everything they do is a variation on them.
Brandi Carlile is not like that.
She opened her Friday night show at the Cape Cod Melody Tent with “Raise Hell,” a new song with a KT Tunstall feel. “Pride and Joy,” a song from a few years back, sounds like it was inspired in part by “High and Dry” and a couple other Radiohead songs. Her best-known song, “The Story,” is a country-rocker with the quiet-loud-quiet dynamic perfected by the Pixies and Nirvana. Her vocals can make you think of Patsy Cline, Amy Ray or Adele.
In lesser hands, that might be too many musical personalities, but Carlile is a rising star with the ability to hop genres. Named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of 10 “artists to watch” when her self-titled debut CD came out in 2005, Carlile continues to merit that attention.
The set fell into four segments: a bunch of country-rockers, a batch of rootsy songs (including one of the night’s highlights “Caroline”), two covers (a snippet of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and a fun no-holds-barred version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”) and then a half-dozen songs that displayed her full range of talents, from the pretty ballad “Turpentine” to the rocking “Dying Day.”
Her richly talented five-man band joined her for the first encore song, “Pride and Joy.” Carlile switched to piano for “That Wasn’t Me,” joined by twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth on vocals, and finished the show alone on acoustic guitar with the forceful ballad “That Year.”
Carlile can be a bit restrained on her CDs, but there was no such problem at the Melody Tent. She can easily switch moods and styles, doing it with plenty of charm and stage presence.
Opening the show was Andy Hull, taking a break from his duties as lead singer of the Manchester Orchestra, an Atlanta-based rock quintet. Playing alone with an acoustic guitar, he came across as a less-engaging version of Damien Rice. His set included songs from a CD trilogy that a press release says is about “a sailor who, upon discovering his wife cheating on him with his brother, runs away to sea and gradually descends into a vengeful rage,” which sounds like it would be better served by the full-band treatment.
Carlile’s set list
1. “Raise Hell” (from the “Bear Creek” CD)
2. “Dreams” (“Giving Up the Ghost”)
3. “What Can I Say” (“Brandi Carlile”)
4. “Hard Way Home” (“Bear Creek”)
5. “Before It Breaks” (“Giving Up the Ghost”)
6. “100” (“Bear Creek”)
7. “Caroline” (“Giving Up the Ghost”)
8. “Keep Your Heart Young” (“Bear Creek”)
9. “Save Part of Yourself” (“Bear Creek”)
10. “Josephine” (“The Story”)
11. “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (Bonnie Tyler cover)
12. “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Queen cover)
13. “Turpentine” (“The Story”)
14. “Dying Day” (“Giving Up the Ghost”)
15. “The Story” (“The Story”)
Encore:
16. “Pride and Joy” (“Giving Up the Ghost”)
17. “That Wasn’t Me” (“Bear Creek”)
18. “That Year” (“Giving Up the Ghost”)