It’s been a year and an album since Jersey singer songwriter Sharon Van Etten last graced our lovely city and judging by the sold out Lees Palace crowd, it’s fair to say her poignant songs of love and love lost has garnered her a lot of fans since she was at the Drake.
I had a hard time writing a proper and eloquent review, so here it is in blunt fashion.
Sharon Van Etten shows are great. She is arguably one of the funniest and most endearing performers I have seen, with her endless witty banters between songs and an easy go with the flow attitude. Case in point, for one of the tracks, the acoustic guitar wasn’t tuned properly or just didn’t sound right and instead of going off the rails like some artists would, she shrugged and was like “well, we’ll play an electric version instead!”. It’s refreshing to see someone take their craft seriously and not take themselves seriously. I have not listened to her new album Tramp very much so the show, which heavily featured material off the new album, was a bit of a journey for me. Still, the journey was rather familiar, Sharon laying her heart out for all to see splayed over gently layered music. There were also a few nice rock moments within the concert, including the set ending cover of the Soft Boys which let, if for a brief fleeting moment, Sharon assume the role of a rock and roll star, fronting a SVE/Shearwater rock band. It was a fun moment and a great way to end another night shared with Sharon.
Go see her if you can
Here are some tour dates:
Wed 02/22/12 – Montreal, QC @ Il Motore
Thu 02/23/12 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
Fri 02/24/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sat 02/25/12 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Sun 02/26/12 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Thu 03/01/12 – London, UK @ Cargo
Fri 03/02/12 – Paris, Fr @ Point Ephemere
Sat 03/03/12 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique – Rotonde
Sun 03/04/12 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue 03/06/12 – Berlin, DE @ Gruener Salon
Wed 03/14/12 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Thu 03/15/12 – Austin, TX @ SXSW