Kate Miller-Heidke

November 3, 2010 @ Park West

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By Dave Miller

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When Kate Miller-Heidke stops in Chicago during some future headlining tour, perhaps she’ll reminisce about the time she played before a sparse crowd when she opened for Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies fame Wednesday night at Park West. The place was only a quarter filled, though everyone was spread out so it didn’t look as empty as that. It’s too bad the turnout wasn’t better because both performances deserved a sold-out crowd.

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It marked Miller-Heidke’s third stop in town this year. The Australian native is touring behind Curioser, her American debut that’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time. It wasn’t her fault the turnout was so small. She was very well-received when she opened for Ben Folds during his three-night stand at the Vic in April and she filled Schubas when she returned to play her own show in July. Her appearance as Page’s opener was shamefully under-promoted. She did not appear on Park West’s listings for the show. The only reason I knew that she was back in town was because of a Facebook ad. Only a smattering of those at the show seemed to know her, though Miller-Heidke quickly made new fans around the room, as she was as great as she was in her first two visits to town.

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Miller-Heidke is the total pop package. She’s smart and funny with the songs, voice and presence to match. Some artists would kill for a signature song and she has three already in “Politics in Space,” “Are You Fucking Kidding Me?” and especially “Caught in the Crowd.” And she doesn’t offer any run-of-the-mill songs, either. Everything she presents has something interesting about it right down to her album’s title, which is a nod to Alice in Wonderland.

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The 28-year old, who could pass as a modern day Alice with her blonde hair and her preference for interesting dresses, acknowledged the return of her and her accompanist husband, Keir Nuttall, to Chicago early in the set. “Our favorite town in America,” she proclaimed. Nuttall backs Miller-Heidke on guitar and subtly serves as her foil and straight man to the humor in and between her songs. Nuttall’s playing and presence are an essential part to the charm of seeing Miller-Heidke in concert. He can elicit laughs with just an expression. Miller-Heidke’s humor is readily apparent. She can be so funny that it can temporarily subvert her other glittering talents. You can almost hear people lock in on her songs once they stop laughing. And she can grab the attention of the room immediately with her operatic vocals, which she unveils only occasionally, leaving you wanting more.

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Miller-Heidke puts her considerable pop talents together to such an extent that she lifts the genre above disposable music and creates art. For this tour, on which this was only the second show, Miller-Heideke is playing a new cover, “The Real Slim Shady.” The joke at first is that she’s covering Eminem, but the art comes in how she makes it her own complete with operatic vocals. The first time rap and opera have collided? Let’s call it groundbreaking. Anybody can sing your average pop song or play a cover for a gag. Miller-Heidke takes you higher.

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The setlist:

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Our Song
Politics in Space
Caught in the Crowd
Dreams (I Love You)
Can’t Shake It
The Tiger Inside Will Eat the Child
The Real Slim Shady (Eminem)
Are You Fucking Kidding Me?
Words

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Start: 7:28 p.m./Finish: 8:10 p.m.
Totals: nine songs, 42 minutes

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Steven Page

November 3, 2010 @ Park West

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By Dave Miller

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I traveled to Park West to see Kate Miller-Heidke and truthfully wasn't expecting a lot from headliner Steven Page. I've never been a big fan of Barenaked Ladies. From afar, they've seemed harmless enough, but I was put off by their humorous schtick and never was attracted to their music.

So you can imagine my surprise when Page delivered a revelatory, personal performance. Sure, it featured some humor, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it was more like the dessert. The main course featured moving lyrics and a kaleidoscope of sound that jumped between power pop and, yes, rock. Who would have guessed? I had a feeling it was going to be a good night when the band took the stage. It consisted of a violinist and cellist along with a bassist, drummer and keyboard player. They also played some different instruments throughout the show ranging from guitars and tambourines to a flute and accordion. The night was about music. Schtick never entered the building.

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Page and the Barenaked Ladies reportedly had a falling out to where both sides agreed to a parting. While he’s expressed surprised that the remainder of the group has continued under the Barenaked Ladies name, Page has embarked on a tour behind his solo album, Page One, which was released last month. It made for nearly half his set with eight of its 12 songs receiving a showing. The new material fit nicely with select Barenaked Ladies songs such as “Jane,” “The Old Apartment,” “Enid” and “It’s All Been Done.” “A New Shore” kicked off the show with colorful orchestration as if it came from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

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The opener set a tone that this would be a new journey by an artist hurt by no longer being in a band he helped create, judging by a couple tossed-off comments about no longer being in it, and a successful musician still hungry to make it with new songs and a new band. He worked hard for the crowd and himself, seemingly enjoying the music and needing it as much as anyone in the room. He noted how disappointed he was in what the election results represented. “I’m depressed a little bit,” Page said early in the show. “Utopia is for jerks because that means you have to help people.” That was a small exception to an upbeat performance.

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The highest point of the night came late in the set during “Call and Answer” with Page singing “rebuild” over and over and over again with his strong voice reverberating throughout the room. He became lost in the music and took the crowd with him. The spell continued with the main set closer, the new “The Chorus Girl,” until Page broke it by talking during the song. At first I thought he derailed a special moment, but he knew what he was doing and added to it by talking about the magic of music as his band continued to play. “It has the power to change,” he said. “Music is a locomotive. It goes down the tracks and picks people up.” Page continued and laughed at himself as all the metaphors he was using, but he made his point. He ended the song by subtly enticing the audience to sing the “la la la” lyrics.” It was a beautiful moment, and Page’s reminder that even in this technology-driven, cold society that music can still affect us like it has in the past, which was represented by a bevy of old objects laid across the foot of Page’s stage such as rotary phones, typewriters, clunky old computers, walkie-talkies and a 45 rpm record player.

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Page encored with “Brian Wilson.” It might have been a clichéd crutch to close with a Barenaked Ladies hit, but it became something more when many in the small crowd moved to the front of the stage. It was a spontaneous and warm reaction to his giving performance, and the perfect way to end a wonderful night for the fortunate few who made their way to Park West.
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The setlist:

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A New Shore
Jane
Indecision
Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)
She’s Trying To Save Me
Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel
Pretty Young Thing (Michael Jackson)
I Live With It Everyday
The Old Apartment
Marry Me
Enid
Wilted Rose
All the Young Monogamists
Entourage
If You Love Me
It’s All Been Done
Call & Answer
The Chorus Girl
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Brian Wilson

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Start: 8:31 p.m./Finish: 10:08 p.m.
Totals: 19 songs, one hour and 37 minutes.

 

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