Keren Ann live

André saw Keren Ann live, November 27 in Bruxelles. Here's his report:

There’s a fine line between the artist on stage and the audience. The unwritten rules. The line is often crossed. Sadly enough, most of the time this happens for the wrong reasons. The rules are disrespected. By members of the audience talking through delicate songs. By the artist being too eager to please. Last night none of this happened. From the moment Keren Ann Zeidel took the stage of the Orangerie at Brussels’ Botanique the invisible line was drawn. The audience listened with respect and admiration, applauding enthusiastically in between songs. Providing handclaps where needed and laughing appropriately during Keren Ann’s amusing little stories. Apart from what appeared to be a radio station disturbing on one of the amps the sound was perfect too. Dressed in a sober black outfit and supported only by a guitarist and a drummer, Keren Ann stripped her songs bare to their essence and brought the focus where it should be: on her wonderful, lush voice. She only sang three of her French songs, but there’s no reason to complain with English songs like Not Going Anywhere, Chelsea Burns, Lay You Head Down and a great rendition of Big Yellow Taxi (which made me realise again how terribly bland that Counting Crows version is). None of this caused the fine line to be erased though. At the end of the encores it was still there. That’s when it happened: The audience just didn’t seem to want to stop applauding when Keren Ann reappeared on stage, to the point where it must have almost made her feel embarrassed. The line was already blurred. The enigmatic singer erased it completely by singing an Italian song a cappella (at least it sounded Italian to me). Magical.


Two live-tracks (not from the Bruxelles concert)
Keren Ann & Doriand - Le Dernier Pas (live)
Keren Ann - Hallelujah (live Leonard Cohen-cover) (thanks SOM)