Concert Review: Sheryl Crow with James Blunt at Sommet Center, Nashville, TN 7/24/2008

Tennessee resident (of late) Sheryl Crow drove up from her farm to Nashville's Sommet Center tonight for the latest stop on her current tour. I've enjoyed her music ever since her 1994 breakout hit "All I Wanna Do". With her impressive list of hit songs since then (several of which she performed tonight), and collaborations with many old-schoolers (Stevie Nicks, Chrissie Hynde, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, the Eagles and others) it seems Ms. Crow has been around a lot longer. And let's not forget her stint as a back-up singer on Michael Jackson's 1987 Bad tour. With this kind of resume expectations were high.

James Blunt opened up the show. I am not a big fan of Mr. Blunt. I had seen him on TV several times, just him and his piano. And while I think his material is catchy I also think, quite frankly, it is a bit wimpy, along with his voice. But when I mentioned to several people prior to the show that he was performing, most of them thought it would be a great opening act. And much to my surprise it turned out not too bad. With a full band behind him and some material a bit more upbeat then his hits "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover" (which he did play and I thought was still a bit wimpy, but better than the record), I found him quite enjoyable at times. The sound was excellent (especially for an arena) and you could hear every word. And his voice was stronger than I expected too.

Ms. Crow opened her set all by her lonesome with her acoustic guitar, doing "God Bless This Mess", one of a few political commentary songs she would perform. I thought the effect was good - there was no doubt this was her show. Then the curtain was lifted to reveal the rest of the band, who backed her up nicely on "Shine Over Babylon", another political commentary. This was followed by "Love is Free", and then the more popular "A Change Will Do You Good". Things were going pretty good, but there were two things that started nagging me a bit.

The first was that Crow's vocals were not coming through as clearly as Blunt's did. You just couldn't hear all the words. This was a bit perplexing since one would think they would be using the same PA system. I suppose it had to do with what's behind the vocals. Blunt's music features his voice so there's not as much coming from the band; there are more silent breaks behind him. Crow's band is more up front and rocking, so the music shares the spotlight with her singing. Nevertheless the vocal muddiness was an unwanted distraction.

The second nag was the lack of any big screen projection in the arena. Of course, this would be a night my seats were at the far end of the place, so the band was very distant. The screens were there, but pulled all the way up to the ceiling because they were not being used. This was quite disappointing because, after all, we go to see live music for both the audio and the visual experience.

The rest of the show included songs from various albums, including several from her latest, Detours. All were performed in fine form and Crow fans surely heard at least a few of their favorites. The notables included in the show were "Leaving Las Vegas", "Gasoline" (how timely), "Run Baby Run', "Soak up the Sun", "Strong Enough", and "Every Day Is a Winding Road". My personal favorites were the bluesy "My Favorite Mistake" and "If It Makes You Happy" (just love the way she yells out that chorus). Since these are my favorite Sheryl Crow songs, period, that's saying a lot about the high quality of this performance.

The encore was both expected and surprising. Crow did a true-to-the-original version of "All I Wanna Do" which the crowd ate up. She then surprised us with an impressive cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground". The band was particularly strong on this one.

Despite my bias against big venues such as indoor arenas like the Sommet Center, or worse yet, outdoor stadiums, and despite the lack of the projection screens and cleaner vocals, this performance came off quite well. Ms. Crow played everything her fans could want to hear, and then some. There was quite a bit more material than I included here, so we got great value for very reasonably priced tickets. There's enough familiar material for the casual fan and plenty of newer material for the avid fan, so go see this show if you get the chance.