Brandi at Benaroya Hall

Last night I saw Brandi Carlile play with the Seattle Symphony. I've been looking forward to this show for months and it was AMAZING. It was so different than all of her other shows I've been to and I was trying my hardest to take it all in.

The first part of the show as an acoustic set. She opened the show with her super depressing (but super awesome) Christmas song - The Heartache Can Wait. I've never seen her perform it live so I was thrilled.

It was a more formal setting and with everyone sitting down the whole time it made it hard to really get into it. I was tapping my foot and patting my leg, but I really wanted to be on my feet, clapping and singing along. I think it was a little bit of an adjustment for Brandi as well to have the crowd be so quiet.
*Photo by Brad Vest of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

During one of the lulls someone yelled out "I love you, Brandi!" to which she replied, "I love you too. Actually, I probably really do. You're probably my aunt or uncle or something." She kept joking about how 75% of the audience was related to her. Judging by the number of people talking to her brother and mom, I think it was kind of true.
After the intermission the symphony came out, Brandi came back on stage (without the boys for the first song) and sang Elton John's Sixty Years On. They ended up playing seven songs with her, all interspersed between the songs she played with just the band.
*Photo by Brad Vest of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

In case you know Brandi's songs and/or care, the symphony joined her on Sixty Years On, Follow, Fall Apart Again, Pride & Joy, Turpentine, The Story, and Hallelujah.

Here's a video of my all-time favorite song, Turpentine. If you don't want to watch the whole thing (I don't know why you wouldn't want to!) at least check out 4:54 when the orchestra comes in. So fantastic! I didn't hear it that way in the moment but it gives me chills listening to it now.



I love this photo of Brandi rockin' the boots and stomping like she does.
*Photo by Brad Vest of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

I think the song that took the cake for the night was the one encore, Hallelujah. It was just Brandi, her guitar and the symphony. The crowd was silent and the performance was brilliant.

We waited for a while after the show to get a picture with her and tell her how awesome the show was. But after 20 minutes we decided to take a picture with this poster of her instead and save the real deal for the cruise in February.

Countdown to Cayamo: 90 days!