8.14.2010 - Katie Herzig and Andrew Belle
August 29, 2010
Schuba's
Chicago, IL
For this show, we traveled up to Chicago to catch one of our favorite artists, Katie Herzig, at a venue called Schuba’s. Herzig and Andrew Belle are part of a group of artists called “Ten out of Tenn,” a sort of co-op for an emerging group of independent artists based out of the Nashville scene. Because of this cooperative, we had the distinct pleasure of seeing these two artists together in a sort of intimate venue in a pretty big city. Since we catch a lot of shows here in our comparatively smaller city of Indy and some other smaller cities, it was interesting to finally be in a large city to get a taste of the music scene.
Opening the show, Andrew Belle took the stage. This was sort of a homecoming for Belle, as he calls Chicago his hometown. There were a lot of locals that seemed to connect with Belle and his music, perhaps some knew him personally, but one thing was for sure…you could hear the crowd singing along to many of his songs throughout his set. Belle has gained some notoriety as of late, with some of his songs being featured in the new version of 90210 and MTV’s The Real World.
It seemed that throughout his set, Belle had a sort of nervous energy, perhaps from being in his hometown…heck, it might have even been because the venue was steaming hot by the time he hit the stage and he was wearing a plaid flannel shirt with skinny jeans. Even if he was nervous though, he delivered a great set of music. At one point early in the show, one of the strings on his guitar broke and he had to sub in the use of Katie Herzig’s guitar with her signature songbird decal on it.
Belle played quite a few songs from his latest album, called The Ladder. Some of the highlights for me were “Open Your Eyes,” “Don’t Blame Yourself,” “The Ladder,” and “Static Waves,” which could arguably be his most popular song and perfect for the evening since it features Katie Herzig’s vocals. Actually, I was taken aback by the fact that we were standing literally at the very front of the stage and could hear the crowd over Katie’s voice in that song. Andrew even did a cover of a Greg Laswell song, which he sang beautifully.
What I enjoyed the most about Andrew Belle’s performance is that I get the feeling that he creates the kind of music he would listen to. For whatever reason, I think that is a hard task for artists these days, who are all trying to find that edge to put them a step above everyone else. When Belle covered a Laswell song, I felt that he really connects with other singer-songwriters and their art. You get the impression that you are listening to a genuine expression of emotion when he sings and performs his songs. I think that sort of honesty, paired with some musical genius-ness will take Belle pretty far in this game.
Next up was Katie Herzig. I have to say that Katie is one of our favorite artists...you may have noticed that we have covered a couple of her shows. The trio of Katie Herzig, Jordan Hamlin, and Claire Indie has been playing together for a while and it’s easy to tell that they have a lot of fun onstage. We always enjoy the fact that Katie admits there is no set list, just a list of suggested songs that she writes down in a journal. The band opened up with “Songbird,” which I kind of think has become Herzig’s personal symbol. She played other songs that we are familiar with, such as “Forevermore,” “Hey Na Na,” and “Hologram.” This time around though, we saw the appearance of “Charlie Chaplin,” an older tune of Herzig’s, as well as a newer song written on the ukulele called “Wasting Time.” Katie has borrowed Jordan Hamlin’s ukulele for months and has been playing it throughout this tour…she may never give it back. It can also be noted that Herzig is still rocking a makeshift strap, compiled of Sixthman lanyards she acquired during the Cayamo cruise earlier this year. In fact, we happened to run into a couple of people we saw on the cruise, so that was really cool.
It seemed that the crowd may not have been as familiar with Herzig’s songs as they were with Andrew Belle’s music, but I still felt that everyone around us really enjoyed listening to the songs. Though Herzig was a headliner of this show, I got the feeling that this show was a bit of an introduction to her music, since she seemed to bring out some of her older material from the album Weightless, and took the time to introduce many of her songs from the Apple Tree LP. As of late, Katie has been playing many of her songs in the style of the Live In Studio: Acoustic Trio album, which I feel is Herzig at her best.
Throughout the show, her interaction with the crowd was interesting at times; she often tweets before her live shows, asking concert-goers to request songs. This is often interesting to watch, because I think someone requested a song that Herzig played with a different band in a former musical life, so we were treated to a sort of figuring it out version of a rare song. Also, at one point, someone offered Katie a hair band so she could put her hair up, since the band was sweltering in the heat of a small yet packed room full of lights, equipment, and people. Despite this draining heat, Katie and her band played a pretty extensive set of songs and never seemed to be worse for the wear; a true mark of a musician dedicated to her art.
| Previous Review | Next Review |
Follow Us!
