Sara Bareilles

The first time I saw Sara Bareilles perform live was in the summer of 2007 when she opened for Maroon 5 and Counting Crows. That was the same year her first major album was released, "Little Voice" which featured her single, "Love Song." While Sara is best known for that single, she has so many more fantastic songs on that album and her most recent album, "Kaleidoscope Heart." For me personally, I can go through both of her albums without skipping any songs. The music is amazing as well as the lyrics. Her songs are very relatable, which is something I really enjoy in any musicians I follow. Anyway, last Monday, October 17, 2011, I saw Sara Bareilles at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. Her two opening acts were Elizabeth and the Catapult (their music was very similar to Sara's) and Ben Lee. I enjoyed Elizabeth and the Catapult more than Ben Lee - Ben's songs that he performed kind of bored me a bit. Sara performed a lot of her songs from her first album as well as her recent album. In between songs, she chatted with the crowd and joked around. She's got this funny, quirky side to her, so I enjoyed the banter. She also has a bit of a potty mouth, so be careful if you're taking a kid to her show (I thought it was funny, but some parents might not lol). One of the performances that really stuck out for me was the first song after the encore. Sara came out on stage by herself and started singing the song off her first album, "Gravity." It was nothing but her voice and it was amazing. It's a very sad, haunting song, so it was very fitting the way she performed it. Overall, she did not disappoint at all, and I would gladly go see her again when she comes back to Philly. I wasn't able to take any video or pictures at this show because I wasn't close enough to get a good video, but I found some videos that someone else put up on YouTube from the exact same show I went to, so I included those instead. I also included the set list below.

Sara Bareilles' Set List - Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA - Monday, October 17, 2011
Uncharted
Vegas
Gonna Get Over You
Machine Gun
Many the Miles
Breathe Again
Basket Case
Bluebird
Little Lion Man (cover by Mumford and Sons)
Love Song
Come Round Soon
Bottle It Up
King of Anything
-Encore-
Gravity (a cappella)
New Song (not sure of the title...something like beautiful girl)
Let the Rain

Sara performing "King of Anything"
Sara performing "Gravity"
Sara performing "Let the Rain"
Sara performing her new song, "Beautiful Girl"
Sara's cover of Mumford and Son's "Little Lion Man"

TFDI @ World Cafe Live

On October 11, 2011 I went to see the TFDI Tour at World Cafe Live (Upstairs) in Philadelphia, PA. TFDI usually consists of Matt Duke, Jay Nash, and Tony Lucca, but unfortunately one third of TFDI could not make the World Cafe Live show last minute due to personal obligations. I must admit, I was bummed to hear this news on Tony's Facebook page because I love seeing the three of these guys together and when you put their voices together the harmonizing is incredible. Although, I was confident that Jay and Matt would still put on a good show, and I was happy to find out that I was right. Luckily the other two thirds of TFDI are still entertaining - not only are they talented musicians, but they can be quite comical, as well. Jay started the show, singing some of his own tunes and eventually Matt joined him on stage to sing some Jay Nash songs with Jay. Then Jay left the stage and Matt sang some of his songs and eventually Jay joined Matt to sing some Matt Duke songs. Then the boys started the "TFDI" portion of the evening and sang some of their songs from the two TFDI albums they released (if you want more information about what TFDI is, check out one of my previous blog posts). They weren't able to do some of the songs because Tony is the main singer in those songs, although I got video of them performing "Heaven With a Broken Heart" and Matt did an amazing impression of Tony when Tony's part of the song came up. Overall, it was an excellent evening spent with Mr. Duke and Mr. Nash. They actually played over two hours worth of music. As always, I look forward to the next time TFDI rolls through Philadelphia and hopefully all three guys will be able to be there. :-) I took video with my iPhone of some of the songs from the night, so definitely check those out. Plus, I included the full set list below.

TFDI's Set List - World Cafe Live (Upstairs), Philadelphia, PA - Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Jay Nash - Till I Get Through
Jay Nash - The Siren
Jay Nash - "Stand Tall" (not sure the exact title of this one)
Jay Nash - Wayfarer
Jay Nash w/Matt Duke - Golden State Goodnight (Jay Nash song)
Jay Nash w/Matt Duke - Hard Lesson (Jay Nash song)
Jay Nash w/Matt Duke - Baby Tornado (Jay Nash song)
Jay Nash - Unshakeable
Matt Duke - Needle and Thread
Matt Duke - Kangaroo Court
Matt Duke - M.L.T.
Matt Duke - I've Got Atrophy On the Brain
Matt Duke - Kingdom Underground
Matt Duke w/Jay Nash - Sex and Reruns (Matt Duke song)
Matt Duke w/Jay Nash - Love You Anymore (Matt Duke song)
-TFDI songs- (performed by Matt Duke and Jay Nash)
Stranger in a Strange Place
Sweet Talking Liar
Heaven With A Broken Heart
Slow It Down
Lover I Don't Have to Love
The Weight (The Band cover)
-Encore-
American Girl (Tom Petty cover)
Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel cover)

Jay Nash performing "Unshakeable"
Matt Duke performing "I've Got Atrophy On the Brain"
Jay Nash & Matt Duke performing the TFDI song "Heaven With A Broken Heart"
Jay Nash & Matt Duke performing the TFDI song "The Weight" (The Band cover)
Jay Nash & Matt Duke performing "Sledgehammer" (Peter Gabriel cover)

Kate Voegele & Parachute

On October 10, 2011, I saw Kate Voegele and Parachute at the World Cafe Live (Downstairs) in Philly. I've seen Kate a few times now, so I knew what to expect from her performance and as usual, I wasn't let down. (If you want to know more about Kate Voegele, check out some of my previous posts about her.) Unfortunately, there were some serious problems with the sound during her set. Granted, it was the first night of the tour, but she had to keep communicating to the sound technician during her set about fixing certain aspects of the sound. I give her a lot of credit, because most artists could have gotten really pissed off, but she kept her cool and joked around about it. With the exception of the sound issues, I thought she did an amazing job. One of the highlights was her version of the Bruno Mars song, "The Lazy Song" (I actually got video of the whole thing, so definitely check that out, below). Another great thing about Kate's set is that it was probably the most amount of songs I've seen her perform. Usually she's an opening act for bigger artists, but she was a co-headliner this tour, so she was able to perform more of her music.

Kate Voegele's Set List - World Cafe Live (Downstairs), Philadelphia, PA - Monday, October 10, 2011
Impatient Girl
I Won't Disagree
Angel/Chicago medley
Sandcastles
It's Only Life
Only Fooling Myself
The Lazy Song (Bruno Mars cover)
Heart In Chains
Blue Sky Beautiful (a new song of hers - first time she ever performed it live)
Enough For Always
Forever and Almost Always
99 Times
Till The World Ends (Britney Spears cover)

Kate Voegele performing "The Lazy Song" (Bruno Mars cover)
Kate Voegele performing "Heart In Chains"
Kate Voegele performing "Forever and Almost Always"

Parachute performed after Kate Voegele. I had never seen Parachute live and had really just started listening to their music because I knew they were playing with Kate and I wanted to know some of their tunes. When I started listening to Parachute, I was pleasantly surprised and was really looking forward to seeing them live. Well, they didn't disappoint at all. They're a really talented band and a lot of fun to see live. I'm always a fan of any band that uses a lot of different instruments, which is what Parachute does on stage. They had a lot of energy, too, which is always a plus. I would definitely go see another Parachute show if they come to town again. I took some video of a couple of their songs as well and included those links below.

Parachute's Set List - World Cafe Live (Downstairs), Philadelphia, PA - Monday, October 10, 2011
American Secrets
Ghost
She (For Liz)
White Dress
Halfway
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (Elton John cover)
Kiss Me Slowly
She Is Love
Back Again
Something to Believe In
What I Know
- Encore -
Forever and Always
Under Control

Parachute performing "White Dress"
Parachute performing "Halfway"
Parachute performing "She Is Love"

Boyz II Men 20th Anniversary Show

On September 17, 2011, I went to see "An Evening with Boyz II Men" at the Temple Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia, PA. Like most people, I was always a huge fan of Boyz II Men since the 90s, but I never had the opportunity to see them live before...until now. The Temple Performing Arts Center is an old church, so it was a very intimate setting and our seats were fairly close to the stage. The "Boyz" basically sang most of their popular songs (with a cover or two) with an orchestra backing them up. It was truly a night of real music, and I'm pretty sure everyone in the audience had permanent goosebumps the entire show. Between the beautiful music coming from the orchestra to the incredible voices of Boyz II Men, it was definitely a show to remember. The only downer was that the bass singer, Michael McCary, left the group in 2003 due to health problems, so he wasn't at the show. It was a bummer not having those fantastic monologues in the middle of the songs like back in the day. I took some pictures at the show (not the best, but decent) and a couple of videos, so be sure to check them out. Like always, I included the set list from the show below, too.

Boyz II Men's Set List - Temple Performing Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA - Saturday, September 17, 2011
Oh Well
On Bended Knee
Four Seasons of Loneliness
Girl in the Life Magazine
Water Runs Dry
I Will Get There
(Intermission)
Open Arms (cover by Journey)
Easy (cover by The Commodores)
I'll Make Love To You
Song For Mama
So Amazing
End of the Road (Encore)

Boyz II Men performing "End of the Road"
Boyz II Men performing The Commodores' "Easy"
Boyz II Men performing "Water Runs Dry" (only about a minute)