Joan Osborne connects with fans in intimate way in triumphant return to Grand Rapids

Performing as a duo at Wealthy Theatre, the Grammy-nominated singer reinterpreted soul and blues classics — and her own songs — in impressive fashion. (Review, photo gallery)

 

Joan Osborne has never been afraid to test musical boundaries or the merits of a song.

Performing as a duo Thursday night with keyboard player and guitarist Keith Cotton in the cozy confines of Grand Rapids’ Wealthy Theatre, she did both in dynamic, effective fashion with inspiring, impressive results, whether soulfully delivering classic blues and R&B standards by the likes of Willie Dixon and Otis Redding or her own compelling material from her latest album, “Love and Hate.”

Oh, a full-band show certainly would have rocked the intimate theater as Osborne has often proven she can during her career – after all, she’ll resume touring with rock’s Trigger Hippy later this month and has played with the likes of The Dead and The Funk Brothers.

Still, just like the multi-Grammy-nominated singer’s last performance in the Grand Rapids area – performing for less than 200 people at Hudsonville’s The Pinnacle Center in 2001 – Osborne delivered a compelling, 89-minute show for a small Wealthy Theatre crowd of 325 or so, even if she had to depend occasionally on a $3.99 iPhone app for some programmed drum backing.

(The evening began with a strong half-hour set by Nashville singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly, who’s been touring with Osborne.)

INTIMATE, SUBTLE AND DYNAMIC

As Osborne told Local Spins, a duo performance is “more intimate and more subtle” in terms of engaging the audience with her music.

“We get amazing responses from the audiences,” she said. “It’s a stripped-down, bare-bones and essential setting. I feel that’s the real test of a good song. If you just break it down to the song, with just a voice and guitar, or a voice and piano, if it can stand up to that kind of scrutiny, you know you’ve got a good song. It’s a way for people to hear that and connect with the song.”

It may have taken the audience awhile to warm up to the duo format but connect they did, because not only does Osborn boast plenty of good songs in her repertoire – the covers she selects and the tunes that she writes – she wraps her emotions intensely around the words that she sings. It’s like experiencing the songs for the first time.

For many in the house for WYCE-FM’s Live at Wealthy concert, that was likely true anyway when it came to the charming material from her new album, from the uptempo “Up All Night” and “Mongrels” to the sultry, sexy “Work on Me” and “Raga.”

But that even applies to familiar classics such as Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Become of the Brokenhearted,” The Grateful Dead’s “Brokedown Palace” or John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery,” which Osborne and Cotton played as the encore on Thursday night.

RESONATING WITH POWER AND EMOTION

Every phrase in every song seemed to resonate with new power and a fresh spin when emanating from Osborne’s versatile vocal cords, whether exploring R&B, blues, rock, pop or country-folk – or even giving her own twist to a song like “Angel From Montgomery,” which she conceded she avoided performing for years because it had become one of Bonnie Raitt’s signature songs.

She shouldn’t have fretted. Osborne, 52, who also told the back stories behind many of the songs throughout the evening, put her own stamp on the vintage ballad to the delight of an audience that gave her a rousing standing ovation after her first performance in the area in 13 years.

But “One of Us” may have provided the most dramatic example of that as she re-interpreted her own hit song to accommodate the spare duo arrangement. Fans may have heard the 1995 single hundreds of times on the radio, but hearing Osborne’s languorous and emotional live rendition made its message so much more palpable and potent.

Suffice to say, that song – and many more – stood up to the scrutiny of an adoring crowd in a homey setting.

JOAN OSBORNE AND RUSTON KELLY: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Anthony Norkus

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Next up in the Live at Wealthy concert series: My Brightest Diamond on Nov. 12. Tickets and details online at grcmc.org.

Copyright 2014, Spins on Music LLC