Colbie Caillat may not have an original musical persona, but her voice easily filled the Fillmore on Tuesday. Photos by Reverb contributor .
There really weren’t any surprises at the (she says it rhymes with “ballet”) show Tuesday night. The was about three-quarters full, mostly with women who sang and sway-danced along to almost all of the acoustic-soul songs. And Caillatap stage presence was very much like her big MySpace hit —
Caillat has been called the female Jack Johnson and compared to others like India.Arie, which makes her music pretty vanilla. While it is true that her songs have that sort of feeling and tempo, what’s impressive in Caillatap live show is the way her voice transcends the studio to sound just as rich, only in a hell of a lot more space.
The only time Caillat strapped on her guitar was to play the aforementioned “Bubbly.” The rest of the time she seemed a little less comfortable, sort of half-dancing and flashing big smiles at the crowd. Perhaps the reason is just as she said at the show: stage fright. Then again, maybe she’s simply been thrust into the limelight a little too early and needs to grow into this big role thatap been prepared for her.
As the show came to a close and the band left the stage about a third of the crowd hightailed it out of the venue. It could have been that the music was too sleepy, or maybe they just didn’t expect an encore, but Caillat and her band had to basically step off the stage and turn right around for the encore, or risk losing the remainder of the restless crowd. They finished the night with a cover of “Beast of Burden,” a surprising way to end, but not necessarily a bad one for Cailletap honeyed voice.
For more of Reverb contributor Tiffany Child’s music writing, check out her blog .
For more photography from , check out his website.
