The venerated Americana/folk/pop musician, activist and humanitarian captivated fans at Acrisure Amphitheater on Sunday with a career-spanning stop on ‘The Human Tour.’ Review, photos.
Cheering Grand Rapids and Its Fans: Brandi Carlile lighting up Acrisure Amphitheater on Sunday. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
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She may be playing bigger rooms than ever, but Brandi Carlile knows how to deliver an intimate performance in spite of crowd size.
It’s that voice: Carlile is uniquely gifted among mainstream artists in her ability to wring incredibly sincere, unabashed emotion out of every note and get her audience to join her in the vulnerability.
The multi-Grammy/Emmy-winning singer-songwriter (and bestselling author) did just that Sunday evening at Acrisure Amphitheater in Grand Rapids as part of “The Human Tour” in support of 2025’s “Returning to Myself,” her eighth studio album. An expanded edition of the album, “Returning To Myself (Sad Gay Version),” is set to release digitally in late September featuring reimagined versions of all 10 original tracks plus a Jon Hopkins collaboration on “Human.”
Not one to rest on her laurels, “Returning” follows last year’s “Who Believes in Angels?,” Carlile’s Grammy-nominated collaboration with the legendary Elton John. The project debuted at No. 1 in the U.K. and reached the top 10 in the U.S. Carlile, meanwhile, earned her first Oscar nomination in January 2025 for “Never Too Late,” co-written with John, Bernie Taupin and Andrew Watt for the Disney+ documentary of the same name.
Carlile: Career-spanning, 22-song set. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
It’s been a busy few years for the celebrated artist, who counts numerous musical legends — and even the Obamas — among a long list of fancy and famous admirers and fans.
Keeping both feet firmly planted, Sunday evening Carlile lavished praise upon our local crowd and venue and reminisced fondly about previous Grand Rapids performances at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park and The Intersection. And while she may have outgrown those smaller venues, the intimacy that’s always defined a Carlile show — stories about her wife and daughters, beloved twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth performing at her side after more than two decades — remained fully intact.
Grand Rapids’ beautiful new riverfront amphitheater marks the ninth stop of the Human Tour’s second North American leg, which kicked off earlier this month in Portland, Maine.
A two-plus-hour set of more than 20 songs included newer material (“Returning to Myself,” “Human,” “Church & State,” “Swing for the Fences”) and plenty of familiar, long-time favorites (“The Story,” “The Mother,” “Mainstream Kid” and as a special treat, “Broken Horses”), plus a brief section set aside for audience requests (including, for this show, “Raise Hell”).
Among the numerous standouts were a heart-wrenching, but beautiful, rendition of Linda Ronstadt’s tearjerker “Long Long Time” and a particularly sincere “Right on Time.”
A set-closing take on “The Joke” landed perfectly, as it pretty much always does, anchoring the primary set list and setting the stage for an encore that included a gripping cover of Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited” and a raucous “Hold Out Your Hand.”
Americana/folk/gospel trio I’m With Her opened the evening with a 45-ish-minute set that included Carlile joining for the final number. The trio returned the favor in kind for Carlile’s encore set, joining the singer for a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors.”
UP NEXT AT ACRISURE AMPHITHEATER: The Tedeschi Trucks Band and Alabama Shakes perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 25). Tickets, $73.85-$333.05, are available online here. Get the interview/preview at Local Spins.
PHOTO GALLERY: Brandi Carlile, I’m With Her at Acrisure Amphitheater
Photos by Jamie Geysbeek
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