About Tracy Chapman - Seattle, Paramount Theater

[ SETLIST & FAN REVIEWS ]

SETLIST:

1. Why?
2. Baby Can I Hold You
3. Change
4. Smoke & Ashes
5. America
6. Fast Car
7. Don't Dwell
8. House of the Rising Sun
9. The Promise
10. Another Sun
11. Say Hallelujah
12. Talk to You
13. Talking'Bout A Revolution
14. Telling Stories
15. Give Me One Reason

Encore 1

16. Lovesong

Encore 2

17. I Am Yours

Setlist by: Tanya

FAN REVIEW:

It was a fine show, the crowd seemed less than focussed at times, but that has been the case with every show I have seen with her at the Paramount. For the first show of the tour the band seemed very together, a few slight missteps, but nothing major. As you can see from the list of songs, a relatively mellow show. Tracy seemed relaxed and happy. Her play on the dulcimer (?) was amazing.

Her attire was the standard, well pressed Levi's, black shoes, black shirt. I believe there was a hint of gray hair showing, which simply means that I am getting very old.

By: Tanya

[ FUN FAN PHOTO ]

By: Puja

[ PRESS REVIEW ]

CHAPMAN'S OLD SONGS ARE STILL THE BEST

POST-INTELLIGENCE, BILL WHITE
Published: October 8, 2005

Tracy Chapman hasn't changed much since she walked onto her first concert stage 17 years ago. She opened her fall tour at the Paramount Wednesday night with "Why" and "Baby Can I Hold You," both from her 1988 debut album. "Fast Car" and "Talkin' Bout a Revolution," also from that album, outshone the newer material.

She was backed by a trio that fleshed out the simple songs without coming between her and the audience. Chapman is one of those confessional singers who has an intimate bond with her fans, many of whom were not shy about declaring their love. The bare-bones intimacy of the solo, finger-picked "The Promise," from 1995's "New Beginnings," was her way of returning that love. Most of the time, though, she distanced herself emotionally by playing the reticent troubadour.

Halfway through the 95-minute concert, there was a moment when Chapman seemed on the verge of a musical breakthrough. When she sang "Don't Dwell," one of four songs from her new release, "Where You Live," her voice rose above the bluesy jazz chords with the kind of hypnotic command that Nina Simone once had. Her other new songs were disappointing. "America" had a political attitude but fell short of saying anything, and "Change" offered a laundry list of tepid platitudes sung on top of a bland chord progression.

At the end of the show, when "Give Me One Reason," a straight 12-bar blues, went into double time, the crowd got charged up and Chapman became animated. She returned to encore with The Cure's "Lovesong," played with a world-music groove that lacked the passion of Robert Smith's tortured vocals.

Ben Taylor, son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, opened with a too-brief set of pleasant tunes. His voice is as smooth and mellifluous as his father's, with whom he shares an inventive picking style and relaxed sense of melody

[ FUNNY FACT ]

During the show, Tracy said she visited the new Seattle Public Library.