Vanessa Carlton - White Houses, World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, 12/09/2015

Vanessa Carlton - White Houses
World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, 12/09/2015
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Vanessa Carlton performed singing and playing piano with only one backing musician, Skye Steele, who played violin and a few other instruments, but mostly violin. Steele has been Carlton's collaborator for the past seven years; his website describes him as a songwriter, improvising violinist, and composer. The combination of piano, violin, and Carlton's voice was both evocative and most pleasing. The set began with three older songs, then she played a seven song set from Liberman, concluding with three more older songs. She opened with a most intriguing combination of Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly" and her own "Carousel" from her Rabbits on the Run album. She then followed with "Tall Tales for Spring" from that same album. Next up was "White Houses" from Harmonium. After the Liberman set, she treated the crowd to a fine performance of "A Thousand Miles". Then came "Hear the Bells" from Rabbits on the Run. She closed the show with "Home" from Heroes and Thieves.
Carlton had a nice rapport with the audience telling lots of stories about her life and career and giving plenty of insights into the songs. She talked quite a bit about her eleven month old daughter, her husband, and their dog, and about sometimes bringing them on tour. The set was very much like the old MTV Unplugged show. Anybody remember MTV Unplugged? Overall, it was a very personal and satisfying set from this one time pop star.
Setlist, click links for videos, (L) indicates songs from Liberman.
1. Learning to Fly/Carousel
2. Tall Tales for Spring
3. White Houses
4. Take it Easy(L)
5. Willows(L)
6. House of Seven Swords(L)
7. Operator(L)
8. Blue Pool(L)
9. Nothing Where Something Used to Be(L)
10. River(L)
11. A Thousand Miles
12. Hear the Bells
13. Home
Video credits: Sound and Lighting - World Cafe Live; Many thanks to Beverly Kates for another great job on camera, and to Amy Hockstein and Lindsey Emma Mitchell for the excellent production assistance.
Vanessa Carlton's Website www.vanessacarl...
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