SETLIST
Set 1:
01. Say Hallelujah
02. Why?
03. Let It Rain
04. For My Lover
05. Crossroads
06. Baby, Can I Hold You
07. The Promise
08. Fast Car
09. Another Sun
10. She’s Got Her Ticket
11. House Of The Rising Sun [cover]12. You’re The One
13. Talking ‘Bout A Revolution
14. Telling Stories
15. Give Me One Reason
Encore 1:
16. Hound Dog
17. Get Up, Stand Up
Setlist submitted by Marisa Debowsky
REVIEW
- Review: Tracy Chapman gives large crowd a reason to stay – By: Paul Kaza, Burlington Free Press, Monday July 21, 2003
SHELBURNE — Summer music venues have had their share of difficulties in Vermont. Mountain resort locations suffered from lengthy traffic jams. Indoor settings had no air conditioning and could be insufferably hot. Festival shows took over towns, leaving trails in their wake.
As it turns out, one excellent solution was right in our back yard. The Shelburne Museum played host to the second of four concerts produced by Higher Ground on Sunday night as Tracy Chapman performed before a virtually sold-out crowd of nearly 3,000. A natural amphitheater has been laid out on the hillside closest to the main entrance, offering a grand view of rolling green hills and the Adirondacks in the distance.
There seem to be three factors in the success of the venue: crowds of manageable size (ticket sales are cut off at 3,000), acoustically driven performers and relatively high ticket prices that apparently have been deemed acceptable by the public. With tickets averaging $45 (the few tickets left at the gate were $50), the box office delivered more than $130,000 in gross income Sunday night.
Opening act Joseph Arthur had been hyped as “a discovery of Peter Gabriel.”He played a curious and entirely too long set. Arthur’s lyrics drifted from personal salvation to world politics, and his mournful moaning reached eardrum-splitting levels.
The crowd was more than ready for Chapman, who received a heroic embrace as she took the stage at 7:45 p.m. Introducing the title track from her new album “Let it Rain,” she warned everyone that she could not be held responsible for the outcome. Sure enough, the rain began to fall not long thereafter. Thankfully, it was light and bearable.
Chapman rolled back the years to her debut album, playing “Talkin ’bout a Revolution,” “Baby Can I Hold You,” “For My Lover,” “If Not Now” and her blockbuster hit “Fast Car.” Her voice is deep and exceedingly rich, remniscent of Joan Armatrading. Instrumentally, Chapman’s music can feel overly deliberate — but her songs ascend in concert.
“Fly Away” took up a reggae beat, and “You’re the One” finally brought things to a point where dancing dominated the front rows of the audience.
“Give Me One Reason,” often characterized as a “comeback hit,” drew an immediate roar from the crowd. After finishing the standard version, Chapman stepped on the accelerator and led a rocking jam at about three times normal speed. The audience took her line “give me one reason to stay here, and I’ll turn right back around” seriously as they made noise for several minutes and were awarded with a two-song encore.
Elvis Presley would have appreciated Chapman’s rollicking version of “Hound Dog.” And who could argue with Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” as a closer?
Even with a steady rain falling, nothing could dampen the rousing conclusion of this concert.
FAN REVIEW
- Marisa Debowsky, 07/21/03: Tracy Chapman show
So, we [Stacey, Rosy and I] went to a most excellent Tracy Chapman show last night. It was an outdoor concert at Shelburne Farms, and the fact that it was a show on the tour of her album “Let It Rain” made it funny that it was lightly raining the whole time. She played for an hour and 45 minutes, which is pretty good these days. Her setlist:
Say Hallelujah
Why?
Let It Rain
For My Lover
Crossroads
Baby, Can I Hold You
The Promise [my favorite TC song]Fast Car [my CM solo]Another Sun
She’s Got Her Ticket
House Of The Rising Sun [cover]You’re The One
Talking ‘Bout A Revolution [she played this one after a little plug for rock the vote — her exact words: “We have to make our voices heard and give democracy another chance in 2004.”]
Telling Stories
Give Me One Reason
…and then the encores:
You Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hound Dog
Get Up, Stand Up
Since it was a show on an album release tour, I figured I wouldn’t know many songs, but to my delight (and that of the whole crowd), she played all the old standards. Like I said: a most excellent show, and a very good time was had by all.
VENUE: Shelburne Museum, U.S. Route 7, P.O. Box 10, Shelburne, Vermont 05482 – USA
PROMOTER: Higher Ground and GEG Concerts
OPENING ACT: Joseph Arthur
