Headliners: The Cardigans, Liz Phair, Charlotte Martin, Katy Rose
Date: 08-11-04
Venue: Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas, Texas
Rating:
Reviewer: Leslie Flynn

With a name like “Chicks with Attitude tour”, you would expect a highly female-dominated crowd with the occasional discontented male dragged along against his will. So arriving at the Gypsy Tea Room to find a crowd equally made up of males and females came as a shock. With the air conditioner on full blast despite the fall-like coolness, the open space filled with a wide variety of people ranging in age. With the stage full of musical equipment, imagining how anyone would weave their way to their individual instruments, much less move around during their sets, left the crowd something to consider.

Starting the night off right, new-comer Charlotte Martin performed a thirty minute set of innovative pop songs with nothing more than her own piano accompaniment. Though most of the crowd was unfamiliar with her music, she won them over with her charming interaction between songs and her sense of humor. Point out that, from an outsider’s point of view, the majority of her songs seem depressing, Martin commented that it wasn’t so, joking “I have blonde hair; why would I be depressed?” Perhaps a momentary jab at those who write her off as another blonde pop star because of her looks, but her sarcastic wit carried into her music, especially the crowd favorite “I’m Normal, Please Date Me”, an ode to a aloof man who hasn’t quite responded to her stalker-like advances.

Occasionally Martin’s vocals reached operatic heights, especially on the dramatic “Steel”, surprising many who, at first, might have found her to be like a cleverer version of Vanessa Carlton. Throughout her set, she improvised the other instrumentation on the studio version of songs such as “Limits of Our Love” where stomping her foot against the stage took the place of the pounding drums. Ending with her spectacular cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”, the crowd cheered her on after an impressive a cappela version of the chorus that showed the extent of her vocal strength.

Changing the concert from dramatic to rock, Katy Rose performed her own half an hour set with a three piece band of boys in punk gear. Often compared to Avril Lavigne, Rose didn’t prove those comparisons false, bouncing around the front of the stage as she sang songs from her debut album Because I Can and creating a faux sense of rebellion much like her more famous counter-part. Towards the end of her set, she showed that her musical talent went beyond rocker-style delivery of sarcastic anti-everything lyrics, playing the piano during hypnotic “Snowflakes” and the guitar on a few numbers towards the end of her set. She received the most applause when she ended with the slightly more familiar first single “Overdrive,” allowing those who knew of her to sing along.

After a fifteen minute intermission, the six members of the Swedish band The Cardigans came out amidst applause, playing a mixture of old and new songs that were well-accepted by those familiar to them as well as those who weren’t. Lead singer Nina Person used her clear alto to carry along a mixture of old and new songs, such as “For the Boys” from their newly released Long Gone Before Daylight as well as the slight hit “My Favourite Game.” The rest of the band kept the set strong despite the mellowness of most their songs, proving a band doesn’t have to be loud to rock out. Surprisingly, they stayed away from their breakaway hit “Lovefool” from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack, perhaps wanting to concentrate on their more creative songs that, if as good on CD as they were live, should have been radio hits as well.

Though the crowd seemed to lessen after The Cardigans left the stage, those remaining crowded towards the stage, eagerly anticipating head liner Liz Phair. Once the roadies cleared the stage of the other acts’ instruments during an annoyingly long intermission, Phair came out to loud cheering, wearing a headset microphone and carrying a guitar as she went through the raunchy “Flower” from her breakthrough album Exile in Guyville. Previously known as an indie queen, her recent self-titled album full of (mostly) radio-friendly pop songs were better received than the angrier anthems of years past, perhaps giving into the pop stardom and “selling-out” as many have accused her.

She didn’t hide her edgy, older songs, however, though she performed them all with a smile on her face and teasing introductions; perhaps intentionally written under her natural singing range for additional degrees of rawness, glossing them over with her new more produced image lessened their effect. Taking a cue from the performance manual of Britney Spears, Phair writhed and strutted around the stage throughout “My Favorite Underwear” and “Rock Me,” teasing the guys in the front and possibly putting off older fans who knew her – and liked her better – before the pop princess act. If anyone didn’t understand the seventeen and up age restriction on the seemingly teen friendly Chicks with Attitude concert, Phair proved why in her encore of the often requested “Fuck and Run” and “H.W.C.”, an ode to an unconventional method of conserving one’s beauty.

With four seemingly incongruent acts, the Chicks with Attitude tour had something for everyone, whether you favor smart piano-based sarcasm, bouncy teenage rebellion, folk-tinged Euro-pop, or an indie rocker going through a mid-career crisis. Though occasionally hitting a weak spot, overall, the show was entertaining, proving that pop music wears many faces and appeals to many different people.