Aimee Mann Brings tour to Austin
Mann's Austin show Offers surprises, keyboards aplenty
Armed with a crack 5-piece band--and nary an electric guitar--Aimee Mann delivered a finely honed set of music in Austin that included a few surprises.
To anyone who hasn't seen Aimee Mann in concert, the prospect of witnessing her acerbic songs performed live can be an uncertain one at best. Several hundred fans nonetheless packed Austin's La Zona Rosa club on June 17 to see the pop songstress put any question of her viability as a live music powerhouse to rest.
Returning to town for the first time since her Austin City Limits Festival appearance in 2006, Mann got right to the point by walking on stage and declaring, "I love this town." Then she and her 5-piece band launched into "Stranger to Starman," a plaintive track from her brand new @#%&*! Smilers album, followed by three more new tracks from the album: "Looking for Nothing," "Phoenix," and "Freeway," the album's first single.
Mann's Austin show Spotlights keyboards
Perhaps the most auspicious detail to her new live incarnation was what was not on stage: electric guitars. Just as she recorded her new album without electric guitar, Mann chose to employ the talents of keyboardists Jamie Edwards and Jebin Bruni to help fill out the live soundscape. Her gamble paid off, with Edwards and Bruni more than ably recreating the atmospherics from Smilers while expertly pulling off the electric guitar parts from many of her older songs.
With an arsenal of vintage keyboards flanking both sides of the stage, they dove into their playing with gusto, with Edwards supplying the more nuanced parts and Bruni offering rich organ and piano instrumentation. When the keyboard-fueled "Superball" came to its bombastic conclusion, Mann couldn't help but introduce her two "keyboard nerds" to the rapt audience with a wide smile.
Rounded out by her longtime rhythm section of drummer John Sands and bassist Paul Bryan, Mann explored the length and breadth of her repertoire. She dusted off such favorites as "Fourth of July" from her debut solo CD and the Harry Nilsson classic "One," which originally appeared on the Magnolia film soundtrack. With the exception of a brief bongo jam, Mann herself spent the bulk of the set strumming her trusty Gibson acoustic guitar.
Mann's Austin set Offers surprises
While the talents of her able compatriots proved formidable, it was Mann's voice that stood front and center throughout the set. Ever since her days fronting 'Til Tuesday, Mann's voice has been somewhat of an acquired taste, often nasally and sometimes falling flat in her live sets. She was in her finest voice yet at La Zona Rosa, however, displaying a burnished soprano that seems to have grown richer over the years.
Perhaps because of her new dual-keyboard approach, Mann offered a few surprises during her Austin set by resurrecting a handful of older rarities from her back catalog. "You're With Stupid Now," from 1995's I'm With Stupid, provided one of the most gorgeous and contemplative moments of the evening, with Mann backed only by the acoustic guitar strumming of Bryan and keyboard accompaniment of Edwards. Meanwhile, "How Am I Different" from 2000's Bachelor No. 2 offered a refreshing take on the electric guitar-drenched original.
By the time she walked off the stage following the last notes of fan favorite "Deathly," Mann proved perhaps once and for all that her stellar songs can shine with or without an electric guitar in the band.
