Joanna Newsom enchants the Buckhead Theater
The acclaimed harpist played to a nearly sold-out crowd at the Buckhead venue.
It took Joanna Newsom little more than a few resonant harp plucks to silence a nearly sold-out crowd at the Buckhead Theater on Sunday, Sep. 11. The supremely talented harpist, pianist, and singer has scarcely graced the Southeast over the last few years, so the anticipation of her performance felt like a thick cloud hanging over the enthusiastic audience.
Newsom opened up the evening with the understated beauty of “Bridges and Balloons” off Milk-Eyed Mender. Her ornately decorated harp towered over the audience as the pastoral quality of her music was augmented by a backdrop featuring artwork from her most recent album Divers. Newsom was quickly joined by a quartet of world-class musicians, including her brother Pete Newsom who’s provided drums and arrangements on a number of her records.
The ensemble transported the crowd into Newsom’s singular world, where every second of 10+ minute songs are charged with feeling, and angelic harp glissandos play with thumb pianos, lutes, and dueling violins. Newsom treated the audience with a lengthy setlist, peppered with old favorites such as the emotionally devastating “Peach, Plum, Pear” and the technically dazzling “Have One On Me.” Her compositions are so intricately wound and stuffed with arrangements that you could see the same performance multiple times and still find new parts to sink your teeth into.
One has to wonder if Newsom ever gets sick of praise. In-between songs what she referred to as “polite hecklers” shouted cries of “you’re a goddess!”, “you’re a fairy!”, and the inevitable “I love you!” While some may have qualms over the timbre of her Kate Bush-inspired vocals, the depth of her creativity and technical expertise are unassailable.
When hearing her music cut off from its physical performance, it’s easy to take the arrangements for granted. Contrasting rhythms and contrapuntal melodies bounce from instrument to instrument, challenging the listener to keep up with the constantly expanding shape of every piece. However, her often inscrutable lyrics and complex arrangements don’t require an expert’s ear to appreciate. Newsom succeeds because she trusts audiences to absorb the feeling of her songs even if the little details fly over our heads.
Divers closer “Time, as a Symptom” is a perfect example of this effect. The large crowd was silent as Newsom struck the first opening piano chord, then shifting the pensive solo affair to a dense cacophony as instruments blended in with the song’s climax. No one in the audience needed to understand the intricacies of the thick string harmonies to feel their impact. When Newsom cried “joy of life,” everyone understood what she meant and internalized it in their own way.
After Newsom and the four-piece band exited the stage, it felt like everyone in attendance would spend the rest of their evening if not the rest of the week trying to fully process what they’d just experienced. Even if the precise words to describe the beauty of her performance failed to arrive, everyone knew the experience was too perfect to happen again.
Setlist
Bridges and Balloons
Anecdotes
Soft as Chalk
Divers
Emily
Waltz of the 101st Lightborne
Have One on Me
Peach, Plum, Pear
Sapokanikan
Leaving the City
Cosmia
Time, As a Symptom
Good Intentions Paving Co.
Encore:
Albatross (Judy Collins cover)
- Baby Birch