Detroit, July 21st

[CM Wolff]

Good evening. Tonight's show was my second DK concert, first of the current tour. Just a couple notes to share, I apologize in advance for their scattershot nature. Approximate set list from memory is below, although the order is wrong (someone else who saw the show, please correct it!) Some sound issues marred the opening...volume was too low (Diana noticably gestured for it to be increased) and her voice was too far back in the mix. Got on track after that, however. Diana seemed distant/cool early on, becoming much more at ease after her first (and only) lengthy address of the crowd a couple songs in. Fairly spirited show, though, of a consistent high quality, with an absolute standout in Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Lowpoint was probably A Case of You, during which multiple cell phone ringtones (d*mn those things) were very distracting, although Diana handled the disturbance professionally - they did not seem to affect her. Jeff Hamilton was a joy to watch throughout (the man clearly loves his job); Detroit's own Bob Hurst was on bass tonight and received very warm responses for his solos.

Honestly, the only thing that dropped the show several notches below my previous DK experience was what I feel to be the substandard length...when she mentioned she was about to close with another Peggy Lee song, Diana was only at about the hour and ten minute mark...by the end, I don't think the show even made 90 minutes....much less generous than the 2 hours I witnessed on the preceding tour. For the night's entertainment value, the shorter length of Diana's set was somewhat redeemed by the quality of Chris Botti's opening act, although I honestly expected a little more for the premium ticket price ($125) she commands in the market. Regardless, a good night out for this DK fan.

I Love Being Here with You
Let’s Fall in Love
Deed I Do
Exactly Like You
I'll String Along with You
A Case of You
Face the Music and Dance
Devil May Care
East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
I Don’t Know Enough About You

Encore:
S’Wonderful
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

[Coda]

Hi, CM Wolff, and welcome to the board. My husband and I were at the concert, but in the less expensive mezzanine seats. I'd say your set list was accurate and I would definitely agree with your overall assessment of the show. Diana's remarks to the audience were similar to previous reports at other concerts.

I think Jeff Hamilton outdid himself on the drums. I was wondering if he felt inspired by Chris Botti's irrepressible drummer, who just stole the show (almost). There were a couple times Diana tried to get back into singing during one of Jeff's spirited drum solos, and he kept going and going. I remarked to my husband he was like the Everready Bunny.

I thought Botti was fantastic. I loved his "Cinema Paradiso" and was glad he played it. All his sidemen were fine and Botti loved interacting with the crowd, even trying to coax the security guard in front of the stage to turn around. Nobody's going to rush the stage, he told the guard. "This is a jazz concert." Botti actually left the stage to play a son in the orchestra pit amid the concert goers there. He also signed autographs in the lobby during intermission. This seems to be more common at concerts I've attended. Monica Mancini signed autographs in the lobby of The Max (Detroit's Orchestra Hall) after her concert in February. I got Melissa Manchester's autograph at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in the Detroit area when she went to the lobby after the concert.

I did NOT get Diana's autograph after the show, although I tried. I will write more about this later in the Departure Bay section because I think this has more to do with the Fox Theatre than Diana.

[CM Wolff]

Thanks for the welcome, Coda...I have lurked here for a long time, but thought I should chip in on the Detroit show. Needless to say, I am a huge fan.

I was similarly impressed with Botti's set, which was professional, inspired, and entertaining. As you pointed out, Chris is engaging, warm in his comments, and generous with the room he allots to his bandmembers. Billy Kilson on the drums is surely as flamboyant as they come. However, I thought the classiest (and moving) touch of the whole night was Botti's guitarist (Mark Whitfield) noodling what seemed like a lead-in to the next song in the set, but eventually ringing out the dinstinctive melody of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely". Botti was smart enough to know what a great tip of the hat this was to a Motown audience and let Mark keep on going, creating a pretty remarkable full-bodied solo turn for Whitfield. An inspired piece of improvisation, a huge smile on Mark's (and everyone's) face, and a neat little memory to store away.

[Coda]

Yes, I loved hearing Mark Whitfield play Stevie Wonder's MoTown classic. On a similar note, I did enjoy Diana's quote of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during one of her songs (I think it was "Let's Fall In Love") as a nod to the Detroit Tigers' game playing right across the street from the Fox Theatre while the concert was on.

[christratton]

Thank you both for sharing. I am wistful, looking back on the lovely show I saw 10 days ago.

Thanks again,

-CS

[Samuel]

Thanks CM Wolff!

[mapache61]

Thanks for the setlist and review, Wolff. I tend to agree with you on the somewhat abbreviated show length, but I think that's to be expected when an opening act is involved, no matter the headliner. I don't think there's an opener for the Hollywood Bowl shows next month, so I'm hoping for an extended gig.

Sorry you didn't score an autograph, Coda. I have no doubt you'll meet DK somewhere down the road someday.

[CM Wolff]

Sorry about the non-autograph, Coda...definitely keep at it! Thanks for taking the time to post the details in the other section like you did.

[CM Wolff]

Thinking about the show with a couple of days of hindsight and comparing it to the Girl in the Other Room tour...

The largest difference between the two shows I saw is that the material from the Girl in the Other Room was deleted and essentially not replaced...as I mentioned, the set has been shortened fairly drastically. Besides the songs that are now gone, though, what is now missing is the challenge of new material (especially material as personal as the GITOR songs.) So by not even supporting From This Moment On by adding 3 to 5 songs from it, half of what is left of the set are tracks covered on Live in Paris in very similar tempos, styles, and arrangements. As enjoyable as these songs and performances are, the difference between a good concert (what I saw Saturday night) and a great one (what I was hoping for) often comes from the feeling of newness, surprise, and artist going out on a limb. Diana tackling retooled quartet versions of the horn-drenched material on From This Moment On could possibly have made such a difference.

Not trying to overanalyze, but I guess what is a Diana Krall forum for, besides overanalyzing her.

Kindest regards.

[Coda]

I also would have liked to hear something from GITOR...maybe "Black Crow."

By the way, they were selling mugs as well as keychains and playing cards and videotapes of "Live In Paris" and a variety of Diana's CDs (as well as Chris Botti's) and there was a poster with a picture that I thought was new (with Diana in a loosely fitting man's white dress shirt).

However, I just wanted to share a few comments from my husband, who has accompanied me on three of my four DK concerts. He's not familiar with Diana's reviews from earlier concerts on this tour. But on his own, yesterday, he asked me if I thought Diana's voice had a fuller timbre at this concert than at earlier concerts. He said he thought she already had a good voice and he admired her musical talent (even though he's not as much into jazz as I am). But he thought it was a nice change in her vocal quality.

Also, he was impressed with her delving into the BeeGees' songbook and he liked her version of "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." He even had a suggestion for another song for her to sing: Abba's "Thank You for the Music." He thought it would be perfect for her.

[christratton]

I just got to see Diana for the first time, twice in three days two weeks ago. I feel I saw one superb, A+ performance in Connecticut and one that might even have come in subpar in Boston two days later. I agree with much of your sentiment, CM. I feel the set is a little on the short side. The CT show seemed to have included a couple more songs than the average show on this tour, based on the setlists I've seen posted here. We got to see 15, possibly 16 songs (I think she may have worked in Exactly Like You as well as the rest of the list I posted, but I am not sure). And it was clear that Diana was adding songs on the fly during the show based on her mood, her feeling. In the CT show we got less extended instrumental improvization from DK's accompanists and herself and more songs, more of her singing. The Boston show started strong, to my mind, but faded over the last 1/3 or so of the show. The solos in Boston, especially on piano from DK and from her guitarist (I still don't have everyone's names down as a fan of only 5 mos) were a bit more rambling, less crisp as the show move into its later stages. (The bassist and drummer, however, were uniformly superb. Splendid, even.)

I attribute the difference in the shows partly to venue (the B of A Pavilion in Boston kinda stunk, IMO), partly to the contrast between the excellent Chris Botti ensemble and the quite poor one-diffident-man-and-his-guitar in Boston), and mostly to rest and fatigue. Boston was night three in a row, the first being the awe-inspiring CT show, the second being Friday night in Hyannis, the third being in Boston. The CT show came after a layoff of a day and surely after two nights' rest at DK and EC's home in NYC, after a Tuesday night show in Providence. So she was well rested, if demonstrably anxious and melancholic (probably due to EC being in Europe on tour - a night at home without her man understandably might have felt lonely), the crowd was well charged up by Chris Botti, and the mood was accentuated by the relatively intimate, familiar feel of the Oakdale theater (now commercially called the Chevrolet), so the sparks were flying. Diana channeled her intense mood of longing and her refreshed, high energy, plus the jazzed-up audience into the best show I ever saw anyone give. Better than a good Eagles show I saw last year, better than a very fine Norah Jones show a few months back, better even than the best REM has to offer (and I've seen them three times).

The CT show, happily, had that feel of a great artist at the top of her game, improvizing on the fly, calling audibles at the line of scrimmage, true to the finest traditions of jazz. I am so pleased I got to be there. It is always a treat to witness a first rate performer and entertainer, even more so, happy to say, to see her at her best.

-CS