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Madeleine Peyroux and Ricky Lee Jones - two great musicians together at one show. Both put on terrific shows. I can't think of a better way to spend a night than to listen to good music and good story-telling.
Madelaine and her band were sensational; we wanted more. Rickie Lee was a complete yawn; she appeared to be half asleep, we could hardly understand a word she sang or said, the music was uninteresting, and her gig was about half an hour too long.
Great pairing, these two. Both very different, both trios, each honest and generous. Musicianship was spectacular. I loved the evening.
Loved Rickie Lee. Inventive, creative treatments of tunes. She kept the gratuitous political nonsense to a minimum. Can't say the same for Madeleine who managed to infuse many tunes with enough politics to spoil it for me. I don't care where you come from politically. Shut up and sing. And if you want to make a difference DO SOMETHING -like Ashton Kutcher.
I guess Ricki Lee jones has some fans, but I'm not one of them. Her abrasive, out of tune singing made it hard to appreciate Peyroux' following set. Peyroux' performance was delightful, her singing complex and nuanced with a strongly supportive group. Give her a chance to do it alone!
The show was ok. I think Rickie LeeJones had the flu. Eva use she was almost unbearably nasal at times. Also no Chuck E's in love! MP saved the night for me, she was perfection.
The concert started with Rickie that took well over the hour and than they had to change stage... Madeleine started singing about 90 or so after the concert already started .:(( Out of all very cool songs she has , she chose the most unknown and not engaging... If it was not for bas and guitar guys ,along with Rickie's drummer, this concert would have been just one star. Almost complete disappointment .
Have been a fan of her recordings and read the mixed reviews of her recent concerts with some misgivings, but had never seen her before in live performance. Definitely not the same person. Had my suspicions when I saw a chair on stage- as prior experience has demonstrated this is typically a bad omen if your not BB King. Sadly this was the case tonight. Appeared as though the thrill was definitely gone. Her appeal to me ( and others I imagine) has been her creativity in using a somewhat distinct- if range-bound-vocal instrument. We had hoped she would have shown some of this creativity in her selection of songs tonight- but it was not to be. Seemed stuck in the same tempo and genre for 3/4 of her 80 / scheduled 90 min 'performance'. Just did not seem like she wanted to give much of her range to the audience. Repeated political and snarky comments or facial gestures got to be annoying and seemed inappropriately amateurish for someone in the business for 20 yrs. Have read that she is generally withdrawn and more uncomfortable than most performers on stage- so maybe she was trying to compensate- but she seemed like she was waaay too comfortable in not playing the music straight-up. Lost some of her audience mid-way through and most sat while calling her back to complete an encore to finish her set- and time.
I've loved Madeleine Peyroux's music but had never seen her live. This concert, however, was a debacle. It began with an unannounced opening act who played by herself for 50 incredibly tedious minutes. The people sitting near me were in shock by the boredom and lack of connection the performer had. Then there was a twenty minute break after which Madeleine Peyroux came on. She is EXTREMELY low-key and lacking in energy, sadly. She doesn't try to relate to the audience. Also, for whatever reasons, even though she's only about 40, she sat in a chair the entire time. Furthermore, her use of the microphone was troubling. She often moved her head away from it which made her soft voice even harder to hear. The only good thing I can say is that she had a sensational duo backing her up -- especially the guitarist. He was a pleasure. Peyroux's set lasted about 80 minutes or so. As the old joke restaurant joke goes: the food was terrible -- and such small portions.
The sound system was not working properly, yet the professionalism of Peyroux and her two wonderful accompanying musicians made it a magical evening.
My wife and I think Madeleine should have cancelled. She didn't want to be there, and was obviously just hanging on. Great musicians that accompanied her saved the show. But Madeleine was, sadly, not at her best. And those seats are very uncomfortable in the Sabin theatre.
I've listened to a couple of Madeleine Peyroux's recordings, which were in the jazz vein. So I was expecting that style of music. Instead, it was bluesy-folksy style, which I was not expecting. She has a nice voice and a nice comedic sense and the guitarist and bassist were very good. When she began bringing in her political opinions into the show, I walked out halfway through.
The music was good - the best part was the incredible Jon Herrington on guitar. We sat in the middle not far in front of sound board. However, the bass was the loudest, then the guitar and the quietest was Madeleine Peyroux. Her sound was set so it was muddy with very little mid and high frequencies. In addition to having trouble hearing her well, I think we lost the nuances of her style with it being so muddy. She didn't sound as good as expected, but I think it was due to the sound settings. The other issue is, we came to see Madeleine Peyroux, not an opening act first. We drove 2 hours to get there and with the Birchmere procedures, we get there at 5 PM to get a number for seating, and with the opening act, Madeleine did not start until 8:30 PM. That's a long time to be waiting around and sitting.
I have never seen Madeleine live. The ticket price was generally too high. This was not inexpensive, but after listening to her recordings for years, and reading that her live performances were good, I finally took the plunge. Attending shows at the Birchmere require effort if one wants to have a choice seat. Many hours to be precise. Once the show began, she had a standup bass and a guitar player, both of whom were exceptional, she seemed disheveled. Her voice was bland. She did not have that exceptional phrasing that she shows on her recordings. We are all humans, not machines, and maybe this night her humanity showed and she just played, but did not perform. The Birchmere is one of the top listening rooms in the country. A performers A game needs to be on display, unless it doesn't matter to them
First we were introduced to Jeff LeBlanc and he has a smooth style - and wit! Totally enjoyable. Then, Madeleine entranced. She can set a mood and draw you in completely! The band was amazing, the strings were delightful and you could tell they all loved what they're doing. Pure artistry! Thank you for the experience! The location is nice too. Had dinner at the Mediterranean Kabob and grabbed a Cappuccino at a lovely Italian Restaurant across the street as well! I'd definitely visit again.
wonderful, eclectic set - from Ray Charles, Warren Zevon, to Dylan's You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome when you go done as a torch song. Tremendous band also.
Madeleine Peyroux was kind of a disappointment. The venue was great, in terms of acoustics and comfort in the Space at Westbury, although the wine they served (only in crummy plastic cups) was tragic. Peyroux seemed drunk or high, insulted the audience a couple of times for not laughing or clapping at her weak jokes. On several songs she sang out of rhythm with the music in such a way that was off-putting. She has amazing pipes and the songs she chose were lovely, but she just wasn't up to the task of some of the tougher ones. All in all, a C or C+ effort. Maybe she'd have put more of herself into things at a more famous venue...who knows?
Mrs. Peyroux was fantastic. She brought with her a large band with a string quartet. Her band seemed like a bunch of highly skilled jazz musicians, who got great joy in improvising when their solos came around. It was fun to watch. She did all her "hits" with some great covers thrown in. A can't miss good time.
The venue was only 1/4 full, if that. Ms Peyroux looked like she'd rather have been somewhere else. Actually rude to the audience when her obtuse jokes fell flat. We were so disappointed because we saw her years ago at Town Hall in NYC and own four of her CD's. We are fans and were looking forward to her show. She is a very different performer today. Too bad.
This is a fantastic venue to see a performance, although this show was barely 25% full, which as a performer must have been hard, she had a tight excellent band, but at times I felt Ms. Peyroux was bored, it was an ok show, but I was disappointed in Ms. Peyroux, I guess I was expecting much more as I really love her music, and it fell short of my expectations, it was not bad but just average but great venue and would go there again.
