By: David Rachac
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KT Tunstall at the Varsity - Photo by David Rachac
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This show was initially going to take place at the Ascot Room @ the Quest, but with the ongoing licensing troubles the Quest is having, it was moved to the Varsity. And what a positive change in venue it was – the Varsity is an absolutely gorgeous place for a show, maybe the best in town. With a comfortable décor and a large open performance space, the sightlines are second to none – and the live music experience is enhanced by a tremendous sound and lighting system. They have paid attention to the things that matter most to the music fan, so there is little confusion why the Varsity is quickly becoming THE place for local and smaller touring bands to play.
The show was opened by Willy Mason, a 20-year-old folk troubadour from Massachusetts who is signed to Conor Oberst’s Team Love label. Mason has received a lot of critical praise in the UK for his debut album “Where The Humans Eat,” and it was easy to see why. His gentle strumming and quiet vocal delivery made me think of Jonathan Richman, Jeff Buckley, Richard Thompson and Todd Snider, without sounding exactly like any of them. I wish that there had been a merch booth set up somewhere, because I would have loved to buy his CD. He will be touring with Beth Orton this spring, including a stop at First Avenue on April1.
Armed with a stack of crisp, well-written songs and a voice that varies from the ethereal shimmer of the Sundays’ Harriett Wheeler to the throaty growl of Melissa Etheridge to the pop confection of Michelle Branch (sometimes within the same song), KT Tunstall and percussionist Luke Bullen played a majority of her album (to be released in the US on February 7th) to the enthusiastic reception of the sell-out crowd of 450 people. Using an AKAI loop pedal (that she semi-affectionately named Wee Bastard) to layer background vocals, handclaps, percussive strikes on her guitar and other sounds (in addition to her guitar playing) allowed the two of them to fill the stage with sound to the point where you didn’t even realize there was not a full band onstage.
After starting with “Another Place To Fall,” Tunstall remarked how great it was to be in Minneapolis for just 15 minutes and already seeing a roomful of people. Following the dreamy “Under The Weather,” she asked if anyone had been involved in a long distance relationship. When several fans cheered, she laughingly called them losers (complete with the international loser symbol of the “L” on the forehead) before playing “Other Side Of The World” – a song about the futility trying to stay together when far apart.
When she played “Black Horse & The Cherry Tree” (her US single) midway through her set, fans got to see the full extent of her looping and vocal talent. As the song started out, she looped background “whoo-hoos” and percussive sounds to provide a beat throughout the song, but as the song continued, she added a variety of backing vocals lines, kazoo-type sounds and guitar fills. By the end of the song, there was this wall of sounds that she was wailing over, and when someone yelled after the end of the song to keep playing it, she turned the loop on again to reveal all of the different sounds she had accumulated.
After introducing “Stopping The Love” as a song about “young love and the awfulness of it all,” Tunstall ended her set with the uptempo “Suddenly I See”. Coming back for her encore alone (she said that Bullen was already drinking beer somewhere), she played a soulful version of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” – but only after a little help from the audience, when she could not remember the first line of the song.
Tunstall’s duo shows continue in the US for another week, but she will be back in the US with a full band in March, including a show at SXSW. No Minneapolis date has been set yet, but the response to last night’s show leaves no doubt that she would be welcomed back with open arms. See her while you can – there is no way that a talent like this is going to go undiscovered for long.
Set List:
Another Place To Fall
Under The Weather
Other Side Of The World
Miniature Disasters
Silent Sea
Black Horse & The Cherry Tree
False Alarm
Stopping The Love
Suddenly I See
I Want You Back
Location Info:
The Varsity Theater
Artist Info: KT Tunstall, Willy Mason
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