Chatty and upbeat with the half-full venue, Michelle Shocked presented a night of personal stories and music on Friday at the Bluebird. Photos by .
Michelle Shocked stopped by the on Friday to do what she loves most — perform in front of an audience.
“Performance is what I do. That’s where the art is. The album is just a necessary side effect,” Shocked said. What she enjoys most about performing is the “in the moment” quality of it all. “I remember playing in front of thousands of people at the a few years back and all our power went out… and we still ROCKED the place,” she remembered fondly and proudly.
The half-filled room, thanks in part to Friday’s snow storm, enjoyed a show worthy of a standing room only audience. Shocked was fully-engaged with the audience on hand, though, presenting a musical set that spanned her soon-to-be 16-album career, leaning heavily on her 1988 album “Short Sharp Shocked.” Fans cheered at the first few notes of many Shocked favorites, such as “Anchorage,” “(Don’t You Mess Around With) My Little Sister” and “If Love Was A Train.”
South African 5-string electric bass player Schalk Joubert, who has performed with Shocked in the past couple of years, provided unique, complimentary musical support for Shocked. Friday was only the second performance for the two on their own, according to Joubert. “We’re still feeling each other out,” Joubert said. That was clear from the back and forth banter between Joubert and Shocked, but was all but transparent in the music.
One of the most memorable moments of the night came when Shocked placed a call on her cell phone and introduced the audience to the man she affectionately calls “the official love of my life,” David Willardson. Shocked and Willardson (via cell phone held to the microphone) spoke to the audience and gave a brief peak behind the curtain of their personal life together in an appropriately-entitled love song called “True Story.” That song and several others appear on Shocked’s new album “Soul of My Soul,” (due May 26).
Shocked is very pleased with her latest musical efforts and hopes words like “unpredictable” and “passionate” come to mind when people hear it. The 10-song collection draws on themes of both love and anger (particularly leveled at the former Bush Administration). “Liquid Prayer,” part of Shocked’s encore, even brings a soul song to the mix, which seems appropriate given the title of the new album.
What Michelle Shocked fans missed at the Bluebird, as much as anything, was the pleasure of watching a musical artist doing what she loves most, performing live. Hopefully, music fans in the dozens of other nationwide stops Shocked will make over the remainder of the year won’t let silly things like a snow storm keep them from enjoying a worthwhile evening of “rawk” music, personal energy and inspired song-writing.
is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and regular contributor to Reverb.
MORE PHOTOS:
