This was my first time seeing KT Tunstall live, and beforehand, I knew it was going to be a good show. I have seen her do television performances, and am familiar with her and her music. To steal from a Veruca Salt song of the same name, KT’s a born entertainer!
KT’s set started right on time. And it started with Glamour Puss from her new LP Tiger Suit. She did no less than 8 songs from Tiger Suit. Including the terrific “Madame Trudeaux”, for which she was very excited to perform here! Of course, also tracks from her first two albums, Eye to the Telescope and Drastic Fantastic.
She and her band also performed “Uummannaq Song”, which was inspired by her trip to Greenland, and the town of Uummannaq, as a part of the Disko Bay Cape Farewell Project in order to witness the impact of global warming on the Arctic. Visit the Disko Bay section of the Cape Farewell website to see her and all the other artists that were involved (Feist, Vanessa Carlton, Martha Wainwright and more), and read her diary of the trip. Plenty of interesting reading, as global warming affects us all. I’d love to visit the glaciers while they still exist!
She interacted well with the crowd, and introduced numerous songs, and of course introduced her band members. “The Entertainer” being about musicians that are dicks (not the word she used) in real life despite making great music. She also told the story of doing some bookstore shows, and having people dressed like Olivia Newton-John in her workout video at her set, they ended up being jazzercisers, as they like “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” for jazzercising!
Doing “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”, it started with just her and her guitarist, and then ended with the entire band. During the show she of course went through many guitar changes from electric to acoustic of course, as she is a very good guitarist, and incorporates it well into her music. She also used a loop pedal on a couple of songs.
I cannot say there was any single highlight, as I like all of her songs, and they were all performed very well, and true to the album versions. She did a three song encore for the very enthusiastic crowd (myself included!) including an Erasure cover of “A Little Respect”, and ending with “Suddenly I See”. The whole show, encore included was just over an hour and a half! Oh, and KT is even better looking in person than pictures and the like!
She definitely does not need the extra promotion, however I am adding the remaining tour dates, and future ones, to do you the reader a favour, so you know when to catch a great show! As KT said (about her Toronto gig on Twitter), ace gig!
Get the most up to date concert listings at her official website, kttunstall.com.
26 Nov Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
27 Nov Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
29 Nov Boston, MA @ House of Blues
1 Dec New York, NY @ Terminal 5
19 Feb Galway, Ireland @ Radisson Hotel Galway
20 Feb Cork, Ireland Cork @ Opera House
21 Feb Dublin, Ireland @ Olympia Theatre
23 Feb Dunfermline, United Kingdom @ Alhambra
24 Feb Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy
25 Feb Manchester, United Kingdom @ Academy
27 Feb Leeds, United Kingdom O2 Academy
28 Feb Leamington Spa, United Kingdom @ The Assembly Rooms
1 Mar Bristol, United Kingdom @ Colston Hall
3 Mar Birmingham, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy
4 Mar Bournemouth, United Kingdom @ O2 Academy
Too Much Music (is a good thing) 