Tristan Prettyman w/ Satellite review – First Avenue, Minneapolis MN 4/16/13

It was “Taco Tuesday” as declared by Tristan Prettyman Tuesday night in a filled First Avenue Mainroom – not because Mexican food was being served, but because everyone in the room had embraced Prettyman’s mantra of ‘Peace, Love, and Tacos’ – three of her favorite things as emblazoned on her tour shirts and merchandise. “You guys made my year”, she exclaimed before even singing a note.


Playing to the largest headlining crowd of her career, Prettyman enchanted with an evening of wine, conversation, and songs- in town for the third time in recent months promoting her latest release, 2012’s ‘Cedar + Gold’ (Capitol).

SATELLITE

Nashville-based Satellite opened the show as a duo (Steven McMorran -voc/guitar and Josh Dunahoo- guitar, with Dunahoo staying to play Prettyman’s set as well), working through a well-crafted 9-song opening set. Playing songs from their latest, Calling Birds (Descendant Records/Sony Music Entertainment) highlights included ‘Brooklyn’, ‘Ring the Bells’ and a slowburn version of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘I’m on Fire’, before appropriately ending with a poignant tribute to the troops entitled ‘Til I Return’.



After a brief break, Prettyman, Dunahoo, and second guitarist Steve Miller (no, not the ‘Jet Airliner’/’Jungle Love’ Miller) took the stage for an 85min set of cathartic songs of heartbreak, flirting, and redemption. This was a more confident and comfortable Prettyman than we’d seen the previous two recent times here where she played abbreviated and support sets, opening for The Script and appearing at a radio event.



Being part of a public breakup has to be awkward, but Prettyman’s way of dealing with it, via the songs on her breakout ‘Cedar + Gold’ and punctuating most with a prefaced story while sipping on red wine, made the night seem somehow more intimate, relating to the crowd like a friend sharing her recent ups and downs.



The crowd reacted early to ‘Say Anything’, currently on radio airwaves, and vaguely recognized covers of Rihanna’s ‘Stay’ and John Mayer’s ‘I Don’t Trust Myself (with Loving You)’, both of which fit the setlist in between other Prettyman songs that had similar themes.

Playfulness returned with the set-ending ‘The Rebound’, a bouncy song about seeing someone attractive in a grocery’s fruit dept. and the encore of a surprisingly roaring ‘California Girl’, which featured a mid-song interlude of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ – Prettyman covering Zeppelin…it must be ‘Taco Tuesday’.



The evening wrapped with ‘My Oh My’, the first single from the current album, a simple yet showcase song highlighting how much larger and bluesy Prettyman’s beach coffeehouse sound has progressed.



The show also doubled as an anniversary of a radio show’s morning program which half-expectedly (and unfortunately) brought in a Basilica Block Party-like crowd that seemed more interested in their own conversations and cocktails, than whatever happened to be on-stage. This was very evident from the main floor and reports from the balcony were similar. Satellite’s set didn’t have much of a chance over the din of people talking and even Prettyman’s slower songs like ‘Deepest Ocean Blue’ and some of her pre-song stories, struggled to be heard- the only blemish to what was a mostly satisfying ‘Taco Tuesday’ at First Avenue.

john
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