Adele @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Laura Burhenn has a beautiful voice. Pure, strong, clear, emotive. I've heard her live many times before, both as part of Georgie James and in solo performances, but her voice may never have sounded so astoundingly lovely as it did inside the acoustically perfect Sixth & I Historic Synagogue last night. And when Adele took the stage after her opener, she put the talented Burhenn to shame.
Adele turned 20 years old last month, and in that short amount of time on this planet, has managed to develop one of the most impressive vocal instruments I've heard in a very long time. Comparisons to Amy Winehouse follow the young Brit around like her shadow, and it's not without reason. Her inflection, her accent, her range, and her register all line up just about evenly with the bee-hived wonder that brought 60s-style female soul up to the front lines of the music industry (specifically, the British music industry). Before going to last night's show, I was comparing the recorded work of both to one another. Winehouse's backing instrumentalists are better. Hers is the more skillfully produced record. But I've also seen Ms. Winehouse live, and now being able to make that comparison too, Adele blows Amy out of the water.
So, what puts Adele ahead of Laura Burhenn vocally and Amy Winehouse on stage? Let's start with the voice. It's big, and it's capable of doing just about anything, it would seem. Last night's performance was practically a capella. At most, she was accompanied by keys and an acoustic guitar, usually one or the other, sometimes neither. She stood up there, unassuming in her jeans, tunic, sweater and hat, and completely captivated the room every time she opened her mouth. The audience was not only respectful (none of that typical D.C. during-show babbling), but incredibly excited by every song. She got more sincere applause and cheers after she finished every number than most bands get during an entire show. She's real and captivating — she seems like she's feeling the songs as she's singing them, and that she really wants to be here (that's what's lacking from Winehouse's live performances).
Adele had the luck to be in the right time and place to capture stardom for her particular genre. She's no twiggy pop starlett made famous as a result of disappearing when she turns sideways; she's got real, serious talent. She wrote all of the songs on her album (save a Bob Dylan cover), and brings them to soaring heights with her singing. She played pretty much her whole album (19), and three covers (of Dylan, Sam Cooke and Etta James). She spoke lovingly of each artist she covered, and charmingly told us, "this is another cover, simply because I have one album and I've run out of songs." The excitement in her voice as she told us how she's about to meet and perform with Etta James was exactly as adorable and adoring as a 20 year old about to meet her idol should be.
She was cute and gracious in her presence, telling stories in her thick (sometimes hard to discern) accent about how she's homesick for her house and her mum, or about how the night before she'd gotten drunker than she'd ever been in her life and was crawling on the sidewalk singing her hit "Chasing Pavement" to her mates and dropped her hat in a puddle (which, as it sat on her head, was still a bit wet). She quipped about a song it's hard to sing now because the friend it was about "turned a bit bitch." She admired the remarkable venue ("The reverb in here is insane! I have like 4 different voices in here."), and told us she was glad we were seated ("My love songs are really sad and mopey, so I'm very pleased you're sitting down, because you can't dance."). Between her songs and her banter, she was genuine, lovely and incredibly impressive. If she keeps producing this caliber of music and performances, she'll have a career that far outlasts most of her peers.
A final word on Laura Burhenn's set: anything Tom Hnatow and Winston Yu touch instantly becomes 10 times more beautiful than it started out. Laura should steal these guys away from their many other endeavors and make them play with her forever, because their respective pedal steel and fiddle combine with her voice and piano to produce some of the most wonderful stuff the insides of clubs around this area ever see.
In short: I really, really loved last night's show. The venue, the talent, the tuna sliders I got beforehand at PS7's. It was an enchanted evening. You should really buy Adele's album and see her next time she's in town.
Photo by Ben Rayner from Adele's MySpace page.