Walking into the Grand Ballroom at San Francisco’s Regency building, I first noticed the very diverse nature of the crowd here to see Corinne Bailey Rae. While that may owe in some small part to the international flavo(u)r of the artist performing—and that could well be true given the preponderance of anglophiles in the Bay Area—it speaks moreso to the broad appeal of her genre-smudging music. Looking at different corners of the room, one could think we were there to see Mary J. Blige, or Joni Mitchell, or even Fugazi; such was the variety of ages and looks present. Fortunately for us all, Mrs. Bailey Rae came with a little something for everybody.
She and her band took the stage rather nondescriptly, and that demeanor would persist for the duration of her set. She opened just as her latest album, The Sea, does, with the bare-bones rock of “Are You Here”, followed by the giddy whirlwind of “Paris Nights, New York Mornings”, a personal favorite of mine. It was at that point that I wished the ballroom was a little less packed (the show sold out), because a lot of the songs that we were going to hear begged for some dancing, bouncing and arm-waving. Ironically, that Corinne’s audience skews older precludes the possibility of a livelier crowd, so that wasn’t going to happen, but I did feel that we should’ve and could’ve given more to the band by actually using the dance floor as a dance floor. And never was that more the case than with the seductive sway of “Closer”, which was given the extended jam treatment, complete with perfectly-executed Minnie Riperton-style adlibs.
As the concert went on, Corinne’s singing throughout more than impressed. Because she played different instruments while singing, and also because I’m accustomed to singers not quite living up to what makes it onto the record, I found myself very pleasantly surprised at the great command she had over her voice. The strength of her falsetto was particularly impressive. Corinne’s stage presence left a little to be desired. There is a bit of girlishness still in the way she carries herself. Her manner is somewhat coltish, her speaking voice very timid. And that energy worked quite well for staid songs like “I Would Like To Call It Beauty” and “Love Is On The Way”, but uptempo rockers like “Paper Dolls” and “The Blackest Lily” could have used a few swings of the guitar. Likewise, slow burners like “Closer” and “Till It Happens To You” deserved a longer sway of the hips behind the mic, as opposed to Corinne’s leaning bounces.
Corinne’s band played well and provided the fullness required for her sonically rich music. She offered each musician an opportunity to solo on certain songs, and the choices spoke to her well-honed musical instincts, as none of the solos were out of place or indulgent. For example, her keyboardist stretched out on “Feels Like The First Time”, a song in which the piano is already prominent. But the extra sixteen bars of jazz piano resulted in a lovely elaboration. Such was also the case with the bonus blues guitar on “Till It Happens To You”. I do, however, think Corinne and company should invest in dedicated background singers, as while her band’s vocals proved serviceable, so many of her songs would benefit greatly from better singers.
The set was tightly constructed, and Corinne didn’t provide much commentary aside from props for her band. I particularly noticed that two songs, “Like A Star” and “I’d Do It All Again”, were not preceded by introduction. She has referred to the latter as something of a sequel to the former, and they may well be the strongest songs in her catalogue. That she just dove right into them, I felt, lent them an added significance. There were two covers in the set: the first one was a whimsical lovers rock version of “I Only Have Eyes For You”; and the encore, which was a poignant take on Sly and The Family Stone’s bluesy reinvention of “Que Sera Sera”.
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