Last year when KT Tunstall visited Charlotte, a Spring storm drenched the streets of the Elizabeth neighborhood and the line that formed outside the Visulite Theatre scurried inside, a bit before doors were scheduled to open. This time around, there wasn’t a rain cloud in site and clear skies gave way to a vibrant sunset behind the looming Charlotte skyline, which was incredibly fitting.
In 2016, KT released KIN, her fifth studio album, which musically places the listener in the front seat of a red convertible speeding down Highway 1 with the Pacific Ocean’s rolling waves drawing interest out the driver’s side window. It makes an awfully good case to travel to Cali, but on this night it was perfect for Charlotte. The singer-songwriter strolled out on stage, backlit by the vibrant sunset peaking into the amphitheatre behind her. She plugged in her acoustic guitar, gave the audience a smile and opened with “It Took Me so Long to Get Here, But Here I Am.”
Between songs, KT is jolly and jubilant, much like the unicorn emoji earrings that hung from both earlobes. She’s down to earth, extraordinarily authentic and has a knack for engaging with the audience that showed up early, specifically for her set. She shouted back “I Love You Too” and playfully acknowledged the five “super rad chicks” in the back who were wearing t-shirts that in order read “W E ♡ K T.” She told stories about how she know she’s made it when “hot middle-aged women dressed like Jane Fonda from workout videos” let you know that you are huge at jazzercise. And of course this led into the mega jazzercise hit, formerly known as “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.”
It’s at this point that KT introduced the audience to her band a.k.a. just her and a loop pedal. With the contraption, she’s able to own the stage herself and make more noises than just “Phoebe from Friends.” With a few thumps on the guitar, a couple whoops and the hit of tambourine, KT is a modern one-man band. She paid respect to the late Tom Petty with a cover of “I Won’t Back Down” before handing the audience off to Better Than Ezra and Barenaked Ladies with her hit song “Suddenly I See.”
She proved she’s the consummate entertainer and a very well-rounded one at that. The crowd cheered for more, but on this night KT was held to just six songs. However, fortunately she let Charlotte in on a little known secret.
“I’m going to be back in the fall, coming through your area and playing some new music so I hope to see you there,” she announced.
“Love you guys!”
No comments