Concert review part deux: Sara Bareilles and Marc Broussard at the House of Blues (October 22)

by Alex Bentley

Any show at the House of Blues has to be judged first and foremost on the type of crowd attending the concert. No matter what type of music is on display, if the crowd is lacking, then the concert will fall flat as well.

I arrived at the concert headlined by Sara Bareilles just as opening act Raining Jane, a folk rock all-female foursome, was finishing their set, and it was obvious right away that the requisite enthusiasm was lacking from the audience. From my perspective, this had a lot to do with the pairing of three relatively disparate music styles.

The folk rock of Raining Jane soon gave way to to the so-called “Bayou Soul,” a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock, and pop, of Marc Broussard. Not having heard Broussard's music before, though, the lack of a distinct style was jarring. “Real Good Thing” gave off the feel of '80s light rock, “Rocksteady” was more like early '90s R&B, and “Another Night Alone” could've been a Lionel Richie song. All in all, Broussard's music seems to be stuck in a time warp, and though he had his share of fans, nothing he did was able to get the crowd energized.

The majority of the crowd was obviously there for Bareilles, and the energy in the room definitely went up when she came on stage. Curiously, though, aside from her dangerously short dress, her performance lacked the spark to keep that vibe going. This is now my third time seeing Bareilles in concert, with each successive gig getting more and more impersonal.

The first time was as part of the Hotel Cafe Tour at the old Gypsy Tea Room in 2006, perhaps the most fantastically intimate show I've ever attended. Bareilles told a hilariously-profane story about her then-new tune, “Love Song,” and played and interacted with the various other acts. She returned with the Hotel Cafe Tour at the House of Blues earlier this year, with the marked change that she was the de facto headliner, coming on last and playing alone, whereas the other acts came out and supported each other.

Bareilles toured with Maroon 5 and Counting Crows over the summer, so she's been on the road in one form or another for at least seven months, and her weariness seemed to manifest itself in the show. There was nothing inherently wrong with her singing – she gave fans good performances of all the requisite songs from her album Little Voice like “Vegas,” “Bottle It Up,” “Love on the Rocks,” “Gravity,” and, of course, “Love Song.” But all of them felt generic; it may not necessarily be that she was tired of playing the same songs over and over, but more like she wasn't putting anything special into them.

Bareilles did a bouncy cover of Feist's “I Feel It All,” threw in a couple verses of Katy Perry's “I Kissed a Girl” at the end of “Come Round Soon,” and led off her two-song encore with the Counting Crows' “Sullivan Street,” but that was about the extent of her creativity (and even that was less than thrilling). Her style of soul/pop/funk may not lend itself to audiences going crazy, but Bareilles should be able to give them more bang for their buck. (Go here to read Brenna Rushing's take on the concert)

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