Dar Williams live in Krefeld 2016

Nach dem schönen Konzert am selben Ort im vergangenen Jahr kehrte Dar Williams am 25. Mai in die Kulturfabrik zurück. Im Vorprogramm bot diesmal Vanessa van de Forst recht gewöhnlichen Country-Pop mit einer facettenreichen Stimme. Neben Mainstream-lastigen Stücken wie “Middle of Nowhere”, “Ponchartrain”, “Twenty One” und “Lucky” gab es mit “Jolene” (Dolly Parton) und “Free Fallin'” (Tom Petty) zwei nette Coverversionen.

Ganz anders dann Dar Williams mit ihrem eigenwilligen Folk. Zu nahezu jedem Lied streute sie eine umfangreiche Erläuterung ein und vertonte Themen wie moralische Kompasse, Babysitter, griechische Göttinnen, Psychotherapie, Gender und (natürlich?) Hippies kongenial. Das mit lieblichster Stimme gesungene “Family” war für mich einer der Höhepunkte des Abends. Dar ging auch auf zahlreiche Publikumswünsche ein und wurde gleich zweimal für eine Zugabe auf die Bühne zurückgerufen.

Dar Williams

  1. Emerald
  2. The Light and the Sea
  3. The Babysitter’s Here
  4. I Am the One Who Will Remember Everything
  5. Family
  6. I Had No Right
  7. After All
  8. Slippery Slope
  9. Mercy of the Fallen
  10. You’re Aging Well
  11. Iowa (Traveling III)
  12. Storm King
  13. When I Was a Boy
  14. February
  15. The Ocean

Dar Williams live in Krefeld

Dar Williams has been touring in the United States steadily for over 20 years. She also played a few shows in the UK and in the Netherlands from time to time. On Saturday, 30th May, she played her first German concert in 17 years. I was thrilled! Much to my delight, I wasn’t the only one at the Kulturfabrik that evening. About 100 people showed up, filling the small club to the last row. The opening act was North Alone, a singer/guitarist with a fiddle player. The voice reminded me of Tom Waits, but the music was quite folky and upbeat. The audience (myself included) needed a few songs to warm up to the duo. I liked the songs “Missing Heart Shadow”, “Scatter My Ashes in the Sea”, and the closer “The Road Most Traveled” best. That last song in particular sounded really good and had everybody sing along at the end

Dar Williams entered the stage with a somewhat lengthy welcome speech that included the German translations of babysitter and hippie. Her first song was consequently “The Babysitter’s Here”. Dar accidentally said “The play was called ‘The Babysitter'” in the middle part, which was funny. Each song was met with friendly applause. “Emerald” and “Buzzer” were two highlights early in the set. When Dar asked for requests, many different song titles were yelled – and she played pretty much all of them! First came “Iowa”. Dar timidly asked us to sing along and someone in the audience replied “We won’t let you down!”, which drove any tension that might have remained at this point. Sing along, we did! It’s such a great song. Dar’s voice shone on “You’re Aging Well” (another request). <fanboy>She really is the best!</fanboy>

There was the usual banter between songs. Some stories did not really relate to the following song (e.g., her husband had asked her to thank the Germans for improving the passive house building techniques over the past few decades), some were funny, some were graceful, some were sincere. It still baffles me that Dar never seems tell any anecdote twice. Much too soon, she had played her final song. Thankfully, she came back for two encores (“February” and “Are You Out There”, both fantastic in their own way). Afterwards, she patiently signed cds and talked to the fans. There seems to be hope for future concerts in Germany. I’ll be there!

Dar Williams live in Krefeld (2015-05-30) - Picture by Johannes Schult

  1. The Babysitter’s Here
  2. Spring Street
  3. The Beauty of the Rain
  4. Emerald
  5. Slippery Slope
  6. Buzzer
  7. Empty Plane
  8. Iowa (Traveling III)
  9. You’re Aging Well
  10. Something to Get Through
  11. The One Who Knows
  12. Mercy of the Fallen
  13. New York Is a Harbor
  14. When I Was a Boy
  15. February
  16. Are You Out There

Dar Williams live in York

Dar Williams played at the Fibbers in York on March 11, 2014. She was her usual charming self and played a wonderful collection of songs. Given her back catalogue, it’s impossible to honour all requests. The upside of this is that pretty much every track is a winner. First, there were some gripping songs from her recent album, “In the Time of Gods”, and standard songs from her live repertoire. I was really happy that she played “Buzzer”, not only because I was there with some other psychologists. “The Ocean” and “February” were also personal highlights. The mix of upbeat and softer songs was perfect. Needless to say, the classic songs like “The Babysitter’s Here”, “When I Was a Boy”, and “As Cool as I Am” received the loudest applause from the roughly 90 people in the audience. I was pleasantly surprised that they sounded as fresh as the first time I heard them many years ago.

The music was great. The guitar was a tad too loud sometimes but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment. And there was, of course, a lot of insightful and funny banter between songs. The unique voice of Dar’s storystelling alone is worth the (humble) price of admission. I do hope there won’t be another eight year until I get to see her in concert again!

Dar Williams - live in York (2014)

Setlist:

  1. The Light and the Sea
  2. The Beauty of the Rain
  3. Spring Street
  4. I Have Been Around the World
  5. Buzzer
  6. Holly Tree
  7. I’ll Miss You Till I Meet You
  8. The Babysitter’s Here
  9. The Ocean
  10. The One Who Knows
  11. As Cool as I Am
  12. Storm King
  13. February
  14. When I Was a Boy
  15. The Christians and the Pagans

Over.

Wrapping Up My 52-Second Song Project

A few minutes ago, I put my final 52-second song for 2011 online. By now, I have made 104 52-second songs – 52 in 2010 and now 52 in 2011. Thanks to everyone who listened to my 52-second songs and said encouraging things and shared my little tunes with their friends and had fun along the way. I certainly enjoyed the ride! I’ll update my music page in the near future. Meanwhile, check out the last two songs – each in an extended video version:

I Won’t Be Your Mary Magdalen” is a homage to Dar Williams and Richard Shindell, whose music I love love love! The lyrics became kind of meta – and I think they provide a nice closure for my 52-second song project. I’m looking forward to write longer songs in 2012, for a change. Actually, I might elaborate on this song fragment with my band Manticess.

Spoo for Christmas” was inspired the science fiction TV series Babylon 5. In the series, a lot of folks enjoy eating spoo, which “is a meat based food product“. Happy Holidays!