the difference
between
the sprout and the bean.

should we go outside?

I disagree, I think the crowd was interested, but it's hard to maintain complete concentration while standing for a 16 minute song. My musings and additional photos are here:
http://www.bumpershine.com/2006/08/25/visions-of-joanna-with-neko.html

I have to agree with bumpershine. I was at the show for Neko as well. I had bought Joanna's CD a while back but had forgotten about it. But when they rolled out her harp and she came out and performed I was totally floored. And I was surprised at the love from the audience. Granted I was up front so maybe I had a different experience than others, but Joanna stole the show for me, and I went home and dug out the CD it's been in heavy rotation ever since.

Why Webster Hall?......I'm not one of those total anti- Webster people but it just seems a very ordinary / noisy rock venue for such an intricate show......seems like they could have done something a little more adventurous.....

aww poor joanna newsom. She doesn't deserve that, especially since she's considered an important figure in the freak-folk genre.

I passed out TWICE during her show at McCarren Park Pool. But I still loved it!

I saw her at McCarren and was just as excited to see her as I was to see Neko Case. Fantastic show all round. With the exception of the awful Martha Wainwright.

My photos from the show can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/farinas/sets/72157594260310940/ and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/farinas/sets/72157594260369172/

This is a bummer. I was hoping for a venue with a) good sound and b) an intimate setting....0-2!

.....but, I will still be there!

yeah, i don't mean to sound like a bitch but i feel the same way. and yes, i also will still be going. i wish it was town hall or basically anywhere else. damn

I was there too and like everyone else I wish I had heard her new album before I saw the show because I wouldn't had a much bigger appreciation for the new material. Just the harp and her for 10 minute songs isn't great for holding attention. Although she opened with a song from the milk-eyed mender and the crowd went nuts. Everyone loves her. Based on how she performs I figure she's excellent in bed. Very passionate. God I love her.

this review is fucking awful.

1. there was absolutely no crowd noise. only cries of love, tears or joy. it WAS so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

2. most of the crowd left after joanna. there was a bigger crowd for her than neko..

3. she asked the crowd if she could play new material; they all screamed and let her be her. and everyone loved it. no one complained and she captured everyone with the new songs as well as the old songs.

learn to do yr job better.

this review is fucking awful.

1. there was absolutely no crowd noise. only cries of love, tears or joy. it WAS so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

2. most of the crowd left after joanna. there was a bigger crowd for her than neko..

3. she asked the crowd if she could play new material; they all screamed and let her be her. and everyone loved it. no one complained and she captured everyone with the new songs as well as the old songs.

learn to do yr job better.

Brian must be a Joanna Newsom stalker!

Sure you have that Nov 18th Greensboro date right?
She's playing a Saturday night on her east coast tour at a dinky bible college in rural North Carolina??
I would suggest maybe Chapel Hill

if you are looking for an quiet/intimate spot to see her - the Philly show is taking place in a church SANCTUARY that was built in the 1800s. Seated show. (in the padded pews!)

Greensboro's not exactly rural, it's a university town... although I agree it's an odd place for her to be booked. I wish it was in Chapel Hill, it would save me a forty-five minute drive!

I was also at the McCaren park show and I would like to offer something in the way of a contrary opinion. I thought the show was absolutely great. Joanna and her music completely held their own on the big stage in the big setting (as they have done before). The audience was wholly rapt and enthusiastic about everything she played (that includes the new material she played, which fans like myself, in fact, had heard before the show from previous live recordings). She's the most enchanting and endearing performer I've ever seen and from what I could tell everyone there thought so too. That show was one of the last opportunities to see her play her new songs with harp alone now that she's playing with a band.

shaking, not smiling i hear in my head then invisible , close but no not close enough ...........................................................................................................joanna, it's me. i have a song u should hear. thank-u for even being alive.

Ms Newsom's harp hand position is horrible. I would be embarrassed if I were her harp teacher or if I were her. This is not the way to play the harp in any instance.