It felt like ladies night meets a Disney concert at the Marquee Theatre last night, as a fairly packed house full of female fans and parents came out to see songstress Christina Perri.
It's still kinda seemed unclear whether the 27-year old Perri's music is cool enough for the kids or if she belongs in your mother's music collection. Her massive debut single "Jar of Hearts" struck a nerve with music fans of all ages, but her Lovestrong record was much more adult contemporary than pop, as she is often labeled. While the record may have not held the attention of younger music fans, she got their attention in a big way when her "A Thousand Years" appeared in 2011's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 soundtrack. As a result, it turns out that both kids and parents are into Perri, and last night, her voice was a massive as ever.
As the lights went down and moody purple shadows covered most of the stage, Perri appeared in the middle of the stage and jumped right into the opening track "Trust" from her sophomore effort Head or Heart. The minimalist track served as a nice opener for Perri to showcase her vocal skills as sang just the first bars of the song a cappella. Her band then joined her onstage as the picked things up with "Shot Me in the Heart" as Perri played tambourine as she smiled from ear to ear. She continued to lean on material from the new record as "Run" and "Sea of Lovers" followed. Perri told the crowd that she has shot a music video in Los Angeles earlier that day.
Setlist: Trust Shot Me in the Heart Run Distance Sea of Lovers Burning Gold The Words Arms Lollipop (The Chordettes cover) Lonely Child A Thousand Years Be My Forever Please Please Me (The Beatles cover) Human I Believe
Encore: Penguin Jar of Hearts I Don't Wanna Break
Critics Notebook:
Last Night: Christina Perri at Marquee Theatre.
The crowd: Ladies for days, the guys like myself must have been dragged out of the house for date night or they escorted their kids.
Personal Bias: This was the fourth time I'd seen Christina Perri, and while I'd never play her records myself, my wife played the first record quite a bit and "A Thousand Years" was played during my wedding ceremony.
Overheard: Lots of "I love you, Christina."
Random Notebook Dump: This was the first show I've ever seen at the Marquee where there was no barricade between the artist and the crowd.
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