Jenny Lewis brought her acclaimed latest record, On the Line, to a sold-out gig at Brooklyn’s historic Kings Theatre on October 24th. Here are five things that stood out from the set:
Setting the Stage
Kings Theatre dates back to the late 1920s, and the venue was a perfect match for Lewis’ sense of old school cool. From the dramatic vaulted ceiling, resplendent gold carvings on the walls and massive red velvet curtain flanking the stage, the majestic backdrop proved to be an ornate showcase for Lewis’ crew. With the backing band donning matching suits and Lewis in a shimmering floor-length dress, the group seemed transported from another era.
Delivering a “Little Bit of Magic”
Lewis began the set behind the piano on the measured “Heads Gonna Roll” and “Wasted Youth”. But on the next track “Head Underwater”, she took centerstage and hit her stride. As she sang the “There’s a little bit of magic, everybody has it” line and pointed the mic towards the crowd to sing along to the chorus, the room came to life. And then on a few of the next tracks, she ceded the spotlight to her bandmates. On “Happy”, Jason Crosby delivered a rollicking fiddle interlude with Dylan Day interjecting with some discordant guitar licks. And on “She’s Not Me”, a string trio added some dramatic heft to the instrumentation.
Phone a Friend
After “She’s Not Me,” a landline telephone onstage began to ring. “Yo, is someone gonna get that?” Lewis asked before picking up the handset. As she sat on a heart-shaped podium to take the call, the voice on the other end asked, “How you liking New York?”
“I said, ‘I fucking love New York,’” she replied, earning a big cheer from the crowd. The gimmick was that The Watson Twins were the ones dialing in from backstage, and they emerged to take on a couple of their collaborative tracks, “Rise Up with Fists!!” and “Melt Your Heart”. On the former, the crowd in the pit thrust their arms skyward in unison. On the latter, Lewis’ pitch-perfect croon opened up the song before getting a lift from The Watson Twins’ harmonies and Day’s squealing riff produced from a steel guitar slide.
String Trio
The aforementioned string trio made a few more appearances throughout the set. For On the Line standout single “Red Bull & Hennessy”, Lewis tilted her head back before unleashing a soaring croon (evoking a bit of Stevie Nicks’ delivery) as the epic strings joined in.
The first song of the encore, “Taffy”, featured a pared-down arrangement, with Lewis on piano, supported by the sounds of the strings and the upright bass — perfect for highlighting her effervescent voice.
Throwback Thursday
“I’m gonna have a sip of tequila, then we’re gonna take it back,” Lewis teased for the penultimate track of the set. After taking a swig from a big cup that was perched on her piano, Lewis launched into Rilo Kiley’s “I Never”, from the band’s 2004 album More Adventurous. Lewis ascended to the heart-shaped podium once more, swaying rhythmically, holding a dramatic sustained note and giving way to the jamming instrumental coda.
The set took a turn into the whimsically absurd on closer “Rabbit Hole”. A guy in a full pink bunny suit (think A Christmas Story meets Donnie Darko) with a cigarette dangling from his lip emerged onstage to give Mad Hatter-esque top hats to Crosby and Day. He also placed a Modelo cardboard crown atop Lewis’ head and wrapped a bejeweled pink cape around her shoulders. As she finished the evening with the final lines of the song (“I am gonna go down the rabbit hole / Without you, without you”), the pink bunny absconded with Lewis in his arms, to raucous cheers from the crowd.
