Kelsea Ballerini At The Wiltern

12/8/16

Pam and I went to the Wiltern to see Kelsea Ballerini Thursday night.  We really like to see shows at the Wiltern, as it is a reasonably intimate venue, seating about 2,200 people.  With its small size, Pam and I feel comfortable sitting in the balcony to watch performances, as the sound system and acoustics are good and the view is fine.

Kelsea Ballerini is a young artist in every sense of the word.  She is in her early 20s, and this is her first tour as the headliner.  This was the first time we saw her perform live.  We tried to get tickets to see her last year when she performed at the Troubador, an iconic, but tiny, 500 person venue on the West Hollywood and Beverly Hills border, but it was sold out.  So we were happy to see that she was coming back to Los Angeles, and Pam purchased our seats as soon as they became available.  In the months leading up to the show, Pam and I had questions about the playlist, as the show was being billed as a holiday show.  We both had assumed it would be a regular concert with maybe a holiday song or two in the mix.  We were wrong.  It must have been billed as a holiday show because it was near the holidays, not because she played any holiday music, which she didn’t and which was just fine as far as Pam was concerned, as she is not the most ardent of holiday music fans.

The opening act, Morgan Evans, was very good.  He walked on stage with an acoustic guitar and just took control.  Many people eschew opening acts, as opening acts are like Forest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates:  You never know what you are going to get.  On Thursday night we got a good one.  Playing acoustic guitar accompanied by a loop pedal, Morgan was able to create interesting musical combinations of drum beats, background vocals, and rhythmic guitar chords as he built into each of his songs.  He has a great voice and was unbelievably comfortable in front of an audience.  He is an Aussie, which amazed us, as he didn’t sound Aussie when he was singing.  This should have come as no surprise, as there are many Aussies who sing country music and do not sound Aussi at all.  It obviously helped him, though, as he was great as he covered a Keith Urban song.  At one point in the show he stated that his job was to warm the audience up for Kelsea, and he did his job rather well.  We would enjoy seeing him again.

Kelsea Ballerini took the stage a little while later.  She made a dramatic entrance from a door strategically positioned in the middle of the stage.  It was a sign that she has spent a lot of time developing her performance style and persona.  Her showmanship and stage presence are spot on.  She should spend a little more time with her sound board, though.  LIke many young artists who have had hits on the radio but have not toured extensively, her team does not mix her songs well as she performs them live.  In her case the mix was not far off, but the drums and guitars did overwhelm her vocals on several of the songs.  In addition, she came across as screaming instead of singing on a few numbers.  This is really unfortunate, as she has a great voice and is an excellent live singer.  As usual, the highlight of the show for me was the portion of the show where she sat on a stool and played acoustic guitar.  During that time she covered “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton, arguably a very difficult undertaking, but one she pulled off with absolute perfection.  I love Chris Stapleton’s version, but, if pressed hard enough, I would probably say I liked her version a tad better.  She was just that good.

She has released one album and is working on a second.  She played some songs off the new album, and we enjoyed them.  She played many songs off her first album, The First Time.  All were good, but I especially enjoyed two of her more popular songs, “Peter Pan” and “Dibs.”  In total, she played about an hour, which was just about right.

She is very comfortable performing in front of an audience.  During the show, she was very interactive with the crowd and very thankful to be in LA.  At the beginning of her encore, she actually played right among the fans sitting in the orchestra.  She is a great talent, and we look forward to hearing more from her in the future.