Edie Brickell concert review

[steves@pnet51.cts.com (Steve Schonberger)]

I just got home from the Edie Brickell and New Bohemians concert
at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis.  It was an incredible
show!  Edie Brickell was born for the stage.  She (I say she
because even though the rest of the group are very good, they're
completely overshadowed by her) played a long show, then _two_
encores.  She just didn't want to leave the stage.
 
I went into the show just expecting nice music and a nice show,
since all I knew of the group was the three or four songs from
her album that they played on the radio.  I was expecting a good
show, but not really expecting a _great_ one.  I was wonderfully
surprised.
 
The warm-up act was Steve Forbert, who sang and played his
acoustic guitar and harmonica alone.  I don't know how to
describe his music.  It sounded kind of like country, but it
couldn't have been country because I hate country and I enjoyed
his performance (I didn't like it so much as to get his record,
but I was entertained).
 
Back to the main act...  The group has an interesting set of
people:  Edie, the lead singer, who also played some acoustic
guitar, Brad Houser, the bassist and only original member of the
Bohemians, Kenny Withrow, the lead guitarist, John Bush and Matt
Chamberlain, the drummers (yeah, two drummers; Matt does regular
drums and John plays things like bongos, chimes, and gongs), and
the rhythm guitarist Wes Martin.  It's well worth the number of
people; they get a lot of sound out of their six.
 
Their music is very interesting.  Edie writes lyics, and
described them (in an interview in the program) like this: 
"I've always liked words.  I'd just write little things on
pieces of paper and put them in drawers.  Strange thoughts would
run through my head.  So I started putting them in songs and
brought them to the band."  While singing, she stands, sways, or
sometimes dances, looking so relaxed she's about to fall down. 
Her voice has the same feeling to it, high pitched with a
deceptive waver.
 
The show was really great, because of Edie's attitude.  She
looked like she loved being on stage, singing and commenting on
her songs, and wanted to stay on longer even after two encores. 
She had short introductions for most of the songs, which were
mostly only tenuously related to the songs, and very funny.
 
The program booklet that we were given as we came in had a
couple of pages about the band, mainly focusing on Edie.  How
she got into the band is really interesting:
 
"As a teenager, she was just another kid.  Like many others, she
blended into the background, nothing about her seemingly
special.  Terribly shy, no one paid much attention to her.  At
college, she was just another freshman who had no idea what she
meant to do with her life.
 
"Then one night a girlfriend dragged her to a tiny Dallas,
Texas after hours club and put a show of Jack Daniels in front
of her.  By the time 2:30 a.m. rolled around, Edie Brickell was
'inspired', as she calls it, and singing with the band on
stage."
 
She may have started her stage career by her friend getting her
drunk and sending her up on stage, but it looked like the only
thing she was drunk with at tonight's show was the pleasure of
of being on stage.  She even shook hands with about everyone in
the first couple of rows, so she could stay on stage a few more
minutes.  (sigh)  I was only in the sixth row.
 
It was a wonderful show.  If you have to skimp on groceries to
see it when it comes to your city, do it.  Don't miss this one!
 
        Steve Schonberger
 

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