Concerts

2003 – Let It Rain Tour – June 30, Denver, CO, Paramount Theatre

REVIEW

• Chapman insightful beyond her years - By: Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News, July 1, 2003

This is a career that easily could have gone bad. Tracy Chapman burst through on her debut album in 1988 with incredibly mature songwriting in the form of Fast Car and other hits.

Before the year was out, she was sharing the stage with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel on the Amnesty International tour, thrust into a world far removed from the street busking she used to do in Boston.

Yet 15 years later, Chapman still has her head on straight – and more importantly, is still writing character sketches and compelling music equal to that debut.

With her rich voice and precise guitar playing, Chapman thrilled a full house at the Paramount on Monday night, tripping through new material and scattering her own classics throughout the set.

Her songs are almost invariably moral questions examining right and wrong, justice, fairness, reality and illusion, whether on a global scale or personal.

Amazingly, she rarely comes off as preachy (the dated-sounding Talkin’ About a Revolution being an exception).

Instead, she couches her messages in songs that are realistic but hopeful – acknowledging that it’s a cold, hard world but hoping that faith and virtue will pay off.

That was the theme of the broken lives in early hits Fast Car and Baby Can I Hold You. If anything, over the years Chapman has become even more insightful in her character sketches. The social misfit and the lover who enables the boorish behavior is perfectly captured in the ode to co-dependency You’re the One.

Likewise, the title track of Telling Stories takes a clear, cold look at a person whose whole life is a lie, who can survive only by creating drama and chaos all around.

“You would do and say anything,” Chapman sings, “to make your everyday life a little less mundane.”

And yes, 15 years after the fact, Chapman is still a big Amnesty International supporter, allowing the agency to set up in the lobby and extolling their work from the stage.

If you’re going to have a meaningful career in music, you can’t do much better than Chapman has done.

The drawback of making such emotionally charged music can be fans who can’t separate the line between the performer and themselves. The Paramount crowd was adoring, even giving Chapman a standing ovation between songs.

But some fans took it too far, screaming “I love you” during quiet segments and trying to engage Chapman in conversation from the stage.

Chapman, unfortunately, is too polite and accommodating to properly shut down such antics.

FAN REVIEW

• Susan, 06/30/03: She and her band were frickin’ awesome last night. Tracy is such a gracious, gentle soul, but she also knows rock n roll instinctively and thoroughly. It was about 85 degrees in the Paramount last night (which the band was noticing, as exhibited by members pouring more water over their heads than in their mouths). She has two percussion sections (a drummer and another guy playing various other percussion instruments, and singing backup), organ, bass, fine lead guitarist, and a woman backup vocalist who has a killer voice to complement Tracy’s. The bass player played the cello too, beautifully on a few songs. I definitely have to buy her newest CD-she played several cuts from it, and they were excellent, esp. Another Sun.

  She had everyone out of their seats for the last couple numbers and shakin’it.

  She’s heading East now-don’t miss her.

  The setlist (in no particular order other than the first song and the last couple. I ain’t organized under those circumstances-lol, but I think this is 99% of the set)

  Say Halleluyah
  The Promise
  Fast car
  Telling Stories
  Give Me One Reason
  Talkin’ Bout A Revolution
  She’s Got Her Ticket
  Why?
  Baby Can I Hold You
  Smoke And Ashes
  Let It Rain
  You’re The One
  Happy
  Another Sun
  Proud Mary (THIS SMOKED)
  A Change Is Gonna Come

• Terry Jones, 07/01/03: the best show I have ever seen!

VENUE: Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Pl Denver, CO 87102 (Capacity: 1870)
PROMOTER: HOB
OPENING ACT: EastMountainSouth

Related Posts on Tracy Chapman!

• 2005 – Where You Live Tour – October 5, Seattle, Paramount Theatre
• 2005 – Where You Live Tour – October 15, 2005, Chicago, Riviera Theatre
• 2005 – Where You Live Tour – October 09, 2005, San Francisco, The Fillmore
• 2005 – Where You Live Tour – October 8, Santa Cruz, Catalyst
• 2005 – Where You Live Tour – October 6, Portland, Roseland Theatre