Concert Review—

kd lang Immersed Palace Audience In A Waterworld Of Song

By John Voket.

WATERBURY — The last time I had the opportunity to see and hear the talents of k.d lang, she was clad in beach togs, singing light hearted ditties like “Summerfling,” in support of her Invincible Summer project. That was nearly eight years ago, which is apparently how long it takes to get lang from the beach into the water.

Aquatic metaphors aside, some of the strongest material from the Canadian singer-song writer’s Waterbury appearance at the Palace Theater last weekend came from her new, self-produced release, Watershed.

While she was dressed to impress, with a shimmering gray tux shirt and vest combination replacing the surfer shorts and polo shirt ensemble from her last outing, the Edmonton native was clearly focused on delivering a serious set, punctuated by a few light moments and some entertaining banter with several boisterous followers in the audience.

At one break between songs, lang just stood at the microphone with a broad smile creeping across her face, while several fans tried to outdo themselves shouting out “I love you’s” and tendering obscure song requests from her 13 previous albums.

“Yep, there’s apparently something in the Water… bury,” lang joked as the shouting began to subside.

A few songs later, lang drew howls from the mixed straight and gay crowd as she introduced her crack outfit of backing musicians, who each contributed extremely tight, impressive instrumental and vocal flair.

“At my age I’ve decided to surround myself with handsome young men,” lang related, with a quick over the shoulder take to the audience. Although she was low key about flaunting her alternative lifestyle, lang was shameless about promoting her new album, which she directed folks to pick up in the lobby.

“Yep, take a piece of k.d. lang home with you tonight,” she said. “There’s a deluxe edition of k.d. lang for everybody.”

The evening’s sparse selection of established numbers were dispersed among a generous helping of new material – at least nine of the 12 numbers from Watershed were performed.

But a couple of crowd favorites were culled from the remaining body of her work including the 1987 effort Angel With A Lariat. That album was represented near the end of the show when lang gathered her boys around an old-fashioned radio microphone center stage, zipping through the highly entertaining ditty “Pay Dirt.”

During the bouncy musical interludes she clowned it up with a few vaudevillian dance moves that had the crowd in stitches.

Her sultry, mid-set rendition of “Smoke Rings,” from the 1997 album Drag was also broken up in hilarious fashion as she moved about the stage to each band member, who in turn, harmonized as lang crooned the “…puff, puff, puff…blow, blow, blow” lyrics. At one point, pedal steel player Joshua Grange nearly toppled over his instrument because he was laughing so hard.

The show opened on the first of many Watershed moments, with lang miming a languid swim in between verses of “Upstream.” She followed with a beautifully sparse arrangement of fellow Canadian Neil Young’s touching “Helpless.”

This was one of the high points of the show, as lang pulled out all the stops with her precisely articulated Patsy Cline slide and fire siren belt. The next incredible rendition of Sunday’s show came a bit later, courtesy of another fellow countryman, Leonard Cohen.

lang’s breathtaking presentation of “Hallelujah,” from her tribute album Hymns Of the 49th Parallel combined her technical graces with a ripped from the soul delivery which had more than a few audience members daubing their eyes before most of the house leapt to its feet in grateful applause as the final notes faded into the night.

The barefooted country girl did little to dispel that image as she donned a five-string banjo on “Jealous Dog,” while Brazilian guitarist Grecco Buratto did his own heritage proud turning in fine flamenco guitar work on “Western Stars,” harkening to lang’s first commercial release, 1984’s A Truly Western Experience.

Keyboard and concertina player Daniel Clarke handled his double duty as musical director admirably, although lang admitted during his introduction that “Dan was three years old when my first record came out.”

Clarke took the lead first providing a slow groovy jam backing lang on “Je fais la planche,” proving the artist can even maintain her watery theme in French. The keyboard player then created a distinctly different, but even tastier flavor behind the sexy ballad “Sunday,” also from Watershed.

lang couldn’t get out of town alive without the obligatory “Constant Craving,” which she spiced up using off-tempo lyrical accents and some nice echoing five-part harmony from the band. The show wrapped with what lang described as “an existential lullaby,” closing as she opened with a new tune, “Shadow and the Frame.”

While most of the material k.d. lang showcased during her 90-minute set in Waterbury stayed loyal to her new, water-themed release, the choice of selections were neither gratuitous nor inappropriate. That’s because so many of the songs lang has performed in her career showcase her honest and awe-inspiring voice.

Her many compelling offerings don’t just wash over you, they cascade into you, immersing the listener in the varying depths of k.d. lang’s own deeply personal experiences.