Last Week Live: Brandi Carlile

“Express yourself,” Brandi Carlile shouted to the crowd at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore last Thursday night as she prepared to start her set.

This was the singer and her band’s first performance since they were stranded in NYC during Hurricane Sandy, and Carlile wanted the crowd to be themselves and enjoy the show after the hectic week.

Blitzen Trapper, an alternative country band from Portland, Oregon opened the show to a fairly empty auditorium.

They were exactly what one would expect from a Portland band — mostly bearded men, with the lead singer, Eric Earley, sporting some flannel.

They had a very unique sound for their first song, but all of their songs were very similar, usually involving a harmonica and synthesized sounds and played by keyboardist and guitarist Erik Menteer.

At first, Menteer looked like he didn’t fit in because he was wearing a preppy grey sweater. Halfway through the set, he took his sweater off because he was getting really into the music. He was headbanging to the music while the other band members were way more chill. At one point, he even started gyrating with his keyboard. The best part was when he showcased his tambourine skills.

As their set progressed, the auditorium started to fill up with people waiting for Brandi Carlile to appear. Blitzen Trapper finally finished, after thanking a member of Carlile’s band for loaning them a guitar after theirs “drowned” in the hurricane. The lights went back on in the auditorium, and there was about a 15-minute break so they could redo the set.

Soon enough, the lights went back down, revealing a set with a shimmering backdrop. The show started with a single turntable in the center of the stage, representing Carlile’s love for anything vinyl. The band members gradually came on stage and started playing music.

Carlile was the last to walk on, playing the drums for the rest of the song. After telling the crowd how excited she was to be in Baltimore, she started off by singing “Raise Hell,” from her newest album, Bear Creek.

Her voice was extremely powerful in person and showcased her emotional connection to the song.

It was obvious that she truly enjoyed her performance. It was strange to hear the lyrics, “You gotta raise, raise hell,” when the audience members were sitting in their seats and barely moving.

It was also very strange to be at a concert where everyone was sitting down, as there was no room to get up and dance.

She continued with “Dreams,” one of her more popular songs, and then “Late Morning Lullabye,” a quieter and less well-known songs.

Carlile transitioned seamlessly from quiet and pure notes to louder and stronger notes. She had such a large range and her voice was just as powerful in person as it sounds on her recordings.

Throughout her set, she seamlessly used the stage to connect with the rest of her band. During the guitar solos, she jumped up and down with one of the guitarists, showcasing the seamless choreography that Blitzen Trapper lacked. It was obvious that she really cared about the members of her band and that performing for the audience was exactly what they wanted to be doing.

A few songs into her set, she stopped to explain what her and the band had been through for the past few days.

They had arrived in NYC on Sunday night because they had two concerts at Beacon Theatre, only to have those concerts postponed due to the storm. Carlile was also supposed to sing “Hallelujah” with Rufus Wainwright and appear on NPR. She joked about how frustrating it was to not have been able to sing with Wainwright, and then sang “Hard Way Home.”

She then went over to the piano, and sang the heartbreakingly quiet “Bend Before It Breaks,” showcasing not only her talent at multiple instruments, but the emotions she puts into her songs (“I can make my own mistakes, let it bend before it breaks.”)

This was even more evident when she and the band took off all of their microphones and sang “What Can I Say” completely unplugged. Her voice was just as strong without all of the equipment.

Throughout the song, she kept switching which side of the stage she stood on so that she could connect with everyone in the audience. One of the strings players did the same. Finally, at the end of the song, the entire crowd stood up. The awkward seats no longer mattered, as Carlile had managed to connect to every single person in the room.

The songs only got better through the rest of the set.

She alternated between songs from Bear Creek and old favorites like “Dying Day.”

A highlight was when she said that she was about to sing a punk rock, country song and started in on Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” It was easy to see how Carlile interpreted the song as punk rock, as she used her strong vocal skills to pour out the emotions of losing someone to another girl.

The best moment of the entire concert, however, was when she thanked the crowd and started playing the chords to what many would call her best song, “The Story.”

The word “yes” erupted from the entire crowd once they realized what song she was singing. By the time she sang her last, “Oh yeah, and it’s true, that I was made for you,” everyone was standing up again, and all of the adorable couples were holding hands.

“The Story” would’ve been a perfect finale song in itself, but Carlile predictably came back on stage for her encore set, which was just as entertaining as the rest of the show. She sang favorites such as “Oh Dear,” and just when it seemed like she would keep singing forever, she and the band left the stage.