Corrine Bailey Rae opened up for a glorious performance by Norah Jones on August 25th, 2010 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Rae’s sultry, sexy voice and persona were a perfect mood setter for the beginning of the show.
I attended the Greek Theater for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised, despite the stack parking and torturous amalgamation of traffic with Griffith Observatory fans. The backdrop of the venue consists of a gorgeous forestry of pine trees situated up in the hills near the Griffith Observatory where the city lays below.
It was dark, and seventy degrees with cool breezes and a nearly full moon shining over the stage. Because Norah Jones is my favorite artist, I couldn’t wait to see which songs she’d be performing.
Norah Jones appeared in a tiny red spaghetti strap dress, with her hair cropped short and glossy red lips. She looked stunning in her signature façade that is always a balance of simplicity, elegance, and beauty.
She began with What Am I to You?, a song of easy lyrics and lighthearted yearning for reciprocated feelings in a young crush. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy Jones’ music so much. There is variation in her music and lyrics: if it’s a song about love there is piano playing, whereas her more complex songs that involve a story usually have acoustic guitar and places for her to hit higher notes.
Her Story
Her songs are emotional and thought provoking while her plainer songs are clearly for the coffee shops. Though most condescending music circles have deemed Jones’ music simply “dinner jazz” her albums have proven over and over to be poignant and revealing of a talented mastermind of piano, guitar and vocals.
Jones proceeded to play over ten songs off her new album, The Fall, which hit the market late 2009 and indicated an ever evolving artist who walked out of a relationship that was bubbling over with unhappiness. This album overflows with jazz and country and easily reminds her fans how her music is reminiscent of both Tom Waits and Willie Nelson.
Norah Jones rose to stardom from her previous albums; however, she showed through The Fall that she is no longer about heartbreak and devastation. For that reason alone, I am proud of the young artist.
The Songs
She declares through her latest album with Tell Yer Mama, Waiting, Back to Manhattan and Young Blood, how her ex boyfriend (most likely Lee Alexander, her ex boyfriend) was raised wrong. He still didn’t show up and so she waited up at night and lived a complicated life of being torn between two worlds (namely Manhattan and Brooklyn) amidst pouring rain.
Jones’ intro song on her album, Chasing Pirates, is more upbeat where she sings about how her mind is racing and she can’t sleep at night. She played it a little differently from the radio version with more eclectic and vibrant sound. She also went back to some of her absolute top rated songs including Don’t Know Why and Come Away with Me.
Jones ended the concert with a melody that is so simple and lighthearted yet really signifies the weight carried off those post breakup shoulders. It tells a story of how she can’t seem to choose happiness with the men in her life and so she turns to her dog instead.
Jones was demanded an encore in which she sang her ever so popular Sunrise [Surprise, Surprise/
Couldn’t find it in your eyes/But I’m sure it’s written all over my face, Surprise, Surprise/Never something I could hide/When I see we made it through another day].
Wrapping It Up
Overall, the performance greatly satisfied my thirst for Jones’ gift of musical aptitude and brilliance, and I couldn’t have asked for a better atmosphere. I could tell that the majority of fans understood Norah Jones the way I understand her, a young artist striving to be herself in a world that is constantly trying to mold her into something else.
To end my little commendation of this ascending-to-great-heights-artist, below are some of her lyrics that both parallel and mirror my own role in this world.
Don’t Know Why
When I saw the break of day
I wished that I could fly away
Instead of kneeling in the sand
Catching tear drops in my hand
My heart is drenched in wine
You’ll be on my mind
Forever
Out across the endless sea
I would die in ecstasy
But I’ll be a vagabond
Driving down the road alone…
Come Away with Me
Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song
Come away with me on a bus
Come away where they can’t tempt us
With their lies
I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
So won’t you try to come…
Stuck
Why don’t you leave
Leave me, leave me be
I can see you swaying
I can’t hear what you’re saying
I’m sitting here stuck
And plastered to my seat
I think of a reason to leave
When you finally start speaking
I’ll take a long slow
Walk down Washington Street
Half asleep on my feet
Half aware if I’m dreaming…