'Twas a sweltering day in
Ithaca, New York. The humidity level was bordering on sauna outside and
it was even worse inside Ithaca State Theater. Nonetheless, Fiona Apple kicked off the second leg of
her North American Tour in support of her new album The Idler Wheel... (or
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords
Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do if you prefer) with energy and
spunk.
The band took the stage
shortly after 9PM and kicked things off with "Fast As You Can" to get
the energy flowing right off the bat. The band was tight and Fiona was
whipping her hair around and flailing her arms back and forth in between verses
(possibly in an effort to keep cool as opposed to providing energy and
entertainment).
Fiona would bounce back and
forth between the mic stand at center stage and the grand piano on the right
side of the stage for the duration of the show. She excelled at center
stage when she was providing vocals to certain songs, but I really thought she
performed her best when she was seated at the piano while harmoniously tickling
the keys as she belted out her signature vocals. Seventeen songs were
performed all together (setlist can be found here)
and the setlist provided a great mix of songs spanning Ms. Apple's entire
career. Four songs off The Idler Wheel... were performed with 3-5
songs each off her previous albums. All the hits were played and the
deeper tracks off each album were also very enjoyable.
The only downside of the
night was being told to "BE QUIET!" by the asshole sitting in front
of me (pictured above). I was more than mildly offended by this.
Now it's not like this was an ear-blasting metal show where you would have to scream
just so the person next to you could hear anything at all, but it's not like we
were at the theater for a string quartet performance either. To be clear,
I remain silent any time music is being played when I go to the
orchestra. Fiona Apple plays rock music. It may be piano rock or
balladesque... but it is still rock music. We're at a fucking rock show
dude. I don't care how much you like Fiona Apple and what your story
is. I drove three fucking hours each way to enjoy this show too and if my
aside whispers piss you off that much than maybe you should reassess the
decision to go to concerts. I'm sure there will be plenty of people who
read this article and label me as the asshole, and that's fine, you can go f yourself too. I paid $75 just like every other person who went to the
show and I'm gonna enjoy the show... I'm also going to make a comment about a
particular song or passage if and when I feel the need to. I review
things. It's what I do. I review restaurants, music, wine, you name
it. Anyways, I thought the guy was a dick, I'm sure he thought I was a
dick... whatever, rant over.
Other than that small
mishap, everything was righteous. The band was very enjoyable and Fiona
was energetic and took time to converse a little with the crowd between songs, making
quips about the heat/humidity, how magazines never allow her to be barefoot
during photo shoots, and other musings about the press and other things she's
dealt with over the course of her career as a musician (and she seemed very
upbeat about it all in a "poking fun at" sort of manner).
Here is a video of last night's performance of "Shadowboxer":
