ravenguy2000
07-26-2006, 08:01 PM
Fiona Apple had a rough night Monday at Mohegan Sun, where she described herself with an unprintable word as she offered the crowd an emotional apology - and quite possibly a wrenching sob - for how she was acting.
"Functionally, things are fine," the eccentric singer and songwriter said later in the show, before trailing off. "Emotionally, I'm just ... "
<b>The first inkling that all was not right came during her very first song, "Get Him Back," when Apple seemed to blank on some of the lyrics.</b> Talk about inauspicious: She's never been known for feeling particularly comfortable in her own skin, and it showed for much of her 90-minute performance. <b>She seemed tortured, crying out between lyrics and flailing her arms around as if she was swatting at invisible demons tormenting her. There were long pauses between songs early on, and members of the road crew scurried onto the darkened stage in an effort to comfort the singer, who, to her credit, bravely tried to power through her 18-song set.</b>
Apple split her time between playing piano hunched over the keys and singing at center stage, where <b>she often bent double or crouched in a little ball near the speaker monitors, as if trying to escape notice.</b>
That's not so easy when you're the featured attraction, though, and her discomfort was almost palpable. In fact, Apple was the wild card throughout. Her band was tight, and her catalog is deep, so the performance depended on whether she wanted to color inside the lines or scrawl abstract fluorescent vocals all over the page. There was some of each.
Apple's singing was flat to start, and her voice was tentative against the backdrop of her smooth, skilled band, almost as if she was a nervous karaoke singer trying to keep up with the backing track. She got it together toward the middle of the show, though. Her throaty vocals took on an arch cast on "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)" and sounded desolate on "Paper Bag" as an ethereal organ floated over a gently wandering piano part. Her precarious equilibrium didn't quite carry over to the encore, which found her racing through the jaunty "Extraordinary Machine" and teetering on the edge of a breakdown as she screeched and bellowed on perhaps her best-known song, "Criminal."
The muddy sound in Mohegan Sun Arena was no help, either. Frankly, Apple was in the wrong venue.
She is far better suited to smaller theater gigs (a point reinforced by the sparse crowd). Her rolling, bassy piano lines were lost in sonic clutter on "Get Him Back," and the subtle, jazzy dynamics on "To Your Love" were completely buried.
Irish singer and songwriter Damien Rice went on before Apple and managed to play moody, tempestuous songs for nearly an hour without once being fully illuminated by the stage lights. He was largely shrouded in purple shadows while he sang, though backing singer Lisa Hannigan's dusky melodic counterpoints provided most of the musical momentum.
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Ok so seriously what is wrong with her. If she has this many problems on stage wouldn't she just have the option of not touring? I just don't get it.
"Functionally, things are fine," the eccentric singer and songwriter said later in the show, before trailing off. "Emotionally, I'm just ... "
<b>The first inkling that all was not right came during her very first song, "Get Him Back," when Apple seemed to blank on some of the lyrics.</b> Talk about inauspicious: She's never been known for feeling particularly comfortable in her own skin, and it showed for much of her 90-minute performance. <b>She seemed tortured, crying out between lyrics and flailing her arms around as if she was swatting at invisible demons tormenting her. There were long pauses between songs early on, and members of the road crew scurried onto the darkened stage in an effort to comfort the singer, who, to her credit, bravely tried to power through her 18-song set.</b>
Apple split her time between playing piano hunched over the keys and singing at center stage, where <b>she often bent double or crouched in a little ball near the speaker monitors, as if trying to escape notice.</b>
That's not so easy when you're the featured attraction, though, and her discomfort was almost palpable. In fact, Apple was the wild card throughout. Her band was tight, and her catalog is deep, so the performance depended on whether she wanted to color inside the lines or scrawl abstract fluorescent vocals all over the page. There was some of each.
Apple's singing was flat to start, and her voice was tentative against the backdrop of her smooth, skilled band, almost as if she was a nervous karaoke singer trying to keep up with the backing track. She got it together toward the middle of the show, though. Her throaty vocals took on an arch cast on "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)" and sounded desolate on "Paper Bag" as an ethereal organ floated over a gently wandering piano part. Her precarious equilibrium didn't quite carry over to the encore, which found her racing through the jaunty "Extraordinary Machine" and teetering on the edge of a breakdown as she screeched and bellowed on perhaps her best-known song, "Criminal."
The muddy sound in Mohegan Sun Arena was no help, either. Frankly, Apple was in the wrong venue.
She is far better suited to smaller theater gigs (a point reinforced by the sparse crowd). Her rolling, bassy piano lines were lost in sonic clutter on "Get Him Back," and the subtle, jazzy dynamics on "To Your Love" were completely buried.
Irish singer and songwriter Damien Rice went on before Apple and managed to play moody, tempestuous songs for nearly an hour without once being fully illuminated by the stage lights. He was largely shrouded in purple shadows while he sang, though backing singer Lisa Hannigan's dusky melodic counterpoints provided most of the musical momentum.
__________________________________________________ __________
Ok so seriously what is wrong with her. If she has this many problems on stage wouldn't she just have the option of not touring? I just don't get it.