Tracy Chapman was at the O’Shaughnessy on August 15, 2009 and I was in the center front row of the balcony with Pam for the show! Love the front row balcony for this venue! Lots of leg room, no obstructed view and the acoustics are great up there!
The show was opened by a relatively new artist, Gaby Moreno. She had a very sweet voice and did a couple of numbers in Spanish. She was a wonderful start to the evening. We had to wait a little while after Gaby was done for Tracy to take the stage, but she was well worth the wait! Tracy came out with her band Joe Gore (guitar), Patrick Warren (keyboards), and Diane Richardson (drums) and the first word she sang was "sorry" as she began singing Baby Can I Hold You. This opening choice after the long wait got a bit of a chuckle from the audience. Tracy's voice live is beyond belief! The quality and control pulled me in from the first note. As the night went on, her ability as a musician was equally as impressive and her personality was charming. And let me just say that Tracy can really rock! Tracy is one of those musicians who is just better live than anything you've heard from one of their studio recordings.
Other songs for the night included (to the best of my memory) Fast Car, Talkin 'bout a Revolution, Give Me One Reason, Telling Stories, She's Got Her Ticket, Mountains O' Things, Subcity; change, America, Our Bright Future, Sing For You, Smoke and Ashes, Another Sun (with Tracy on the drum box - incredible), Save Us All (with the band gathered at the center of the stage as if they were playing together in a living room) and I Did It All. Tracy also had a goal of doing a new cover for each city on the tour and our cover was of Peter Gabriel's Solisbury Hill. For her encore, Tracy ended the night with two numbers. The first was the audience choice of Say Hallelujah and the seconds was probably the most memorable song of the evening, The Promise. She ended the concert after 11pm and while I would have listened as long as she was willing to play, I went home very content with what she gave us. I will be going to see her again if she's anywhere near here. She's that good in concert!!!
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