Ingrid Michaelson + David Ford - Webster Hall (New York, NY; Feb. 15, 2008)

Valentine’s Day, and love—both lost and found—were the themes of the night at Webster Hall where, on February 15, 2008, Ingrid Michaelson headlined with Matthew Perryman Jones and David Ford opening.  A current favorite of mine, Michaelson was my initial draw to the concert, both Jones and Ford unknown to me.  My hopes were high and my eagerness was palpable.  Even so, I still arrived late, the perfect outfit eluding me in my rush to the venue, and I missed most of Jones’ set, although I did not rue my tardiness.  His tone was sweet but his lyrics were simple.  They were the type of songs you sing along with on first listen because they are predictable.

A cynical, pessimistic tone followed when David Ford, a one-man band, took the stage.  Openly acknowledging his own cynicism, he stated to a noisy crowd, “I get accused of being a miserable person sometimes.” Ford amazed me with his ability to multitask on stage, playing the guitar, the harmonica, the tambourine, as well as singing back-up to his solos, but the crowd seemed unimpressed, the murmurs growing to a growl as he played.  Despite Ford’s impressive ability to be his own band, his performance suffered because of the time he spent transitioning between instruments, resulting in dragging songs as well as visual confusion on stage.  The crowd clearly could only be swayed to appreciate his louder, more energetic songs, drowning out his ballads with their chatter.  Unfortunately for the audience, Ford showcased his lyrical talents in his mellower ballads, whereas the poppier songs tended to leave, at times, a bit to be desired, lyrically.  As Ford finished his first song, a man in the audience shouted, “You should be headlining, David!” This loving fan appeared to be the only one who thought this.  The obvious attraction of the evening was Ingrid.

The disinterested murmurs that had interrupted Ford’s performance quickly changed to cheers and screams as Michaelson took the stage.  Thick rimmed glasses, sweater, and an Empire Strikes Back t-shirt led to comments like, “Dude, she’s the perfect chick for a guy.  Did you see her shirt?” A Staten Island native, Michaelson was welcomed home by the audience, who claimed her as their own.  Taking a moment to relate to the crowd, she remarked, “I just wanted to say holy shit because there were a lot of people.” But if nerves had Michaelson frazzled, she certainly didn’t show it.  Her songs were performed exactly as they were recorded.  No note was off, no breath out of place.  A few additional harmonies were added but the overall effect was not much different than blasting her CD from the stereo.  But is performing just like the recordings really the ultimate concert experience?

In my mind there are three types of performances: the great, the good, and the bad.

The great are the performances that leave you feeling high for days.  You cannot get over how he hit that high A or the way the guitar drove the crowd into a frenzy.  The beat of the drums still throbs in your ears and the expression on the artists’ faces stays with you, coming to mind every single time you hear that song again.  When you listen to the recordings you are instantly taken back to the concert, reveling in the euphoria of the past.  These artists are far too few.  Among these great performers I would include The Decemberists and The Long Winters.  Not Ingrid Michaelson.

Michaelson is in the more generic yet still enjoyable category of the good.  She sang nearly every song perfectly (excluding my personal favorite, “Far Away").  Her pitch was perfect.  Her beat was on (yet again, except for “Far Away").  Everything was good.  But nothing was amazing.  Nothing pushed you over the top and had you thinking, “This is a life-altering experience.”

Then there are the bad concerts.  The concerts you think will never end.  The concerts where the instruments drown out the vocals or the lyrics are forgotten or the notes are invented on the spot by people who appear to be tone-deaf.

Please don’t get me wrong in my evaluation of Michaelson.  She is one of my favorite artists, but her concert was not amazing.  It was good.  One might even say it was very good but here the term great does not apply.

Michaelson did have her strong points.  One of the best parts of the concert was her interaction with the crowd.  She wasn’t afraid to joke around with her audience and she wasn’t afraid to go on tangents.  At concerts, the tangents are where you get to know the artist.  Before you’ve seen them live, you’ve only heard what they’ve planned out, what they’ve slaved over writing.  You’ve heard their pains, their loves, their problems but you’ve heard it all rehearsed on pads and pads of paper until it sounds just right.  When they are up there on stage telling you a story, they are themselves, and it is here that the audience glimpses the unrehearsed, completely honest artist they love.  Michaelson had the talent of bringing herself to her audience.  She embraced them and gave them a part of herself through her stories and her laughter.

Although Michaelson’s interaction with the audience was superb and her performance good, she was unable to pull off a flawless performance.  “Far Away,” one of my favorite Michaelson pieces, was rushed and off beat.  Her vocals challenged the beat of the guitar and I felt like Michaelson and Allie Moss, her accompanying guitarist, were playing two different songs at times.  To have such an amazing song sound rushed and wrong was the lowest point of the concert, but fortunately for Michaelson, it really was the only low point.

Even with a few low points in the concert, I still returned to my apartment and immediately scrambled to my computer, dragged up itunes, and purchased everything I could possibly find released by Ford and Michaelson.

Set List

1.  Die Alone
2.  Breakable
3.  Corner of Your Heart
4.  Overboard
5.  The Chain
6.  The Hat
7.  Die for Your Love
8.  Are We There Yet
9.  Far Away
10.  Men of Snow
11.  Keep Breathing
12.  The Way You Are
13.  Starting Now

Encore
1.  Cover of Radiohead’s Creep
2.  Covers of theme songs: Fresh Prince of Bellaire, Golden Girls, The Facts of Life, Perfect Strangers
3.  Cover of Fools Rush In

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