In her first Philadelphia appearance since her headlining show this past January at Johnny Brenda’s, Sharon Van Etten debuted a brand new lineup featuring just her alongside an extra guitarist Doug Keith and keyboardist/backing vocalist Heather Woods Broderick. This more stripped-down iteration fit in perfectly with the gentle, quiet vibe of this seated show, which was a benefit for Weathervane Music’s Shaking Through series, the organization that got Van Etten a lot of notice when she recorded “Love More” (her most recent album epic‘s beautiful, haunting closing track) as its initial artist. Playing a set focused on epic (which she played the entirety of) along with a few older tunes (including the beautiful “Tornado” from her debut Because I Was in Love) and a few new tunes that will hopefully be on her upcoming album to be released on her new label Jagjaguwar, Van Etten held the hushed crowd in quiet delight. “Love More” was performed without its signature harmonium, but worked just as well and the powerful should-be-smash “Don’t Do It” was another highlight of the fantastic set as well.
Opener Marissa Nadler, a psychedelic folk-influenced singer-songwriter whose music is not a million miles from Van Etten’s pre- epic, sparser solo recordings, played a strong, powerful set as well. In a show of solidarity, she watched most of Van Etten’s set from the seat next to mine after announcing how much she was looking forward to it during her own set.
Hezekiah Jones also opened the show with a set of affable roots rock that seemed to impress the crowd and set the stage for the other performers quite nicely.
It should also be mentioned that this show was part of the weekend-long Philadelphia Film and Music Festival. The show poster is from worldcafe.com.
