Rachael Yamagata (w/ The Fervor)
3/19/2009 - Hard Rock Cafe, Louisville, KY
Rachael Yamagata’s set at the Hard Rock Café moved beautifully like a slow burning candle. She weaved through a lot of the material on her new album Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart as well as classics from her eponymous debut album 2004’s Happenstance. Her voice sits on the pallet like a long drink of whiskey, while her lyrics seem to weigh 
as heavy on your conscience as they obviously do on
When she pulled out “Elephants”, “What if I Leave?”, and “Sunday Morning” from Elephants…, the songs carried a much more palapale charge than they do in their respective studio versions do. “Duets” is a stand out track on the album, however live it falls a little thin without Ray LaMontagne’s wavering vocals to accompany her rasp wrought voice.
As always she really stood out when she turned things up a notch and pulled out some of her more up tempo tracks. “Sidedish Friend”, which is a song I haven’t been able to escape since hearing it on the record, is a powerhouse live track. The song is about a shallow, strictly physical relationship with someone you don’t even particularly like or want to spend time with, and it works wonderfully with gritty guitars and one hell of a pop hook. Sadly though, the lyrics are so easily relatable it kind of makes me sick at myself. Hearing her versions of “Faster”, “Worn Me Down” and “Reason Why” (which was featured on The Last Kiss soundtrack) were also special treats 
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The only missing piece form the whole night, was Yamagata’s cover of R.E.M.’s “The Great Beyond” – a song that she knocked out of the ballpark last month at Carnegie Hall.
Local favorites The Fervor opened the show with an amazing set of moody while entrancing songs that revel in anguish and heart break. The band nails a quirky sense of sensuality with their gorgeous song “Same State”.
**Photos from Milwaukee, WI 3/24/2009**
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