Concert review: Vanessa Carlton’s nostalgia is timeless

Kyjah Coryat
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 22:39:37 +0000
Arts & Life, Music, a&r music bar, vanessa carlton

It’s time to reconnect with the angst driven teen you once were for the new album, “Liberman,” by your favorite nostalgia artist, singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton.

The crowd at A&R Music Bar Monday night for Carlton was intimate and perfectly curated of those that you know used to own patchwork jeans enjoying drinks by the bar.

Barely-aged appearance wise, Carlton’s voice can also be described as timeless.

“Thank you for allowing me to grow up,” she said.

Her voice, filled with 13 more years of experience since writing “A Thousand Miles” in her kitchen, tells different stories — including the trials of dealing with crying babies and her brother graduating from college.

In describing the song, “House of Seven Stories,” she told the audience that “we’re all swords and we have different sides to our blade.” The song is about her brother moving from Philadelphia to New York City after college and the respect she has for her brother in taking such a huge risk.

Each song, unmistakably more relatable than the next, shows that Carlton is not afraid to expose herself despite her celebrity status.

Carlton sang while playing piano and was accompanied by a live violinist.

Later in the show, her husband John McCauley, singer-guitarist in the band Deer Tick, came on stage and performed the song “In Our Time.” It was a sweet folk duet that conveyed extreme artistry in sound and vocal range, proving it is possible to work outside of your genre.

In addition, her baby is on tour, too. Carlton said she loves being a mom just as much she does being a singer, but there are some aspects about the tour that have changed since the baby joined.

A picture of Victor — Carlton’s dog, a long-haired Dotson — hangs from the piano called a “wiener flag” but Carlton assured “(it) is not a picture of d—-.” It is on stage in memorial of the baby taking his spot on tour.

The dog has been touring with her since 2000 and isn’t completely out of the crew because he will be joining the tour after Thanksgiving.

Before she played “A Thousand Miles,” she mentioned her pink razor cellphone, giving everyone in the audience the cue of which song she was about to play. The crowd moved in closer instantly and carried her voice in an acoustic rendition of the song. ?

Despite not being on tour for a really long time, you couldn’t tell from the way the audience reacted to each song off “Liberman, ” crafted in a garbage band way with a lot of piano vocals.

Pink razor cellphones will never go out of style, and judging by her performance, neither will Vanessa Carlton any time soon.