I was there last night and it was amazing! So happy I was able to get a ticket, and just want to say thank you to Jesisca for alerting me to it. I haven't been overly active on here in recent times, so may have missed it as it was announced at very short notice! Here's a few random thoughts and observations from my day...
- I arrived at Omeara shortly after 3pm, as there's a nice little outdoor bar area right by the stage door - so I figured I'd have a quick drink and see if Jewel happened to be milling around the area. There were a few others doing the same thing, but only four or five of us in total, so not exactly a mob scene. Sadly, Jewel never did show up in the time I waited, and at 6pm I decided to head to the main line at the front entrance.
- The doors opened at around 7.10pm, and the timings posted up on the walls indicated that Jewel would be on stage at 8pm, without an opening act - so not too long to wait at this point! I managed to take up a position fairly centrally with about three rows of people in front of me, but fortunately they were all shorter than me so I had a really good sightline all evening.
- Jewel came out on stage at 8.10pm in a multi-coloured suit and her black hat with smoke pouring from the stage behind her, and went straight into an a cappella version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which was really incredible! She then started explaining how it's been 20-plus years since she last played in the UK, and asked the audience if any of us were there at the gigs during that tour (many, including myself, had been). She specifically referenced the Royal Albert Hall shows which I had been to, which was cool.
- Jewel then said that she was going to pick things off where she last left us (i.e. in 2002), and proceeded to play a song from each of her albums from 0304 onwards, starting with Intuition. It had a few new lines and updated references which I hadn't heard before, including something about Kim Kardashian in the first verse (I'll have to go back to the YouTube video to jog my memory!). It was fun trying to second-guess which song she'd choose to play from each of these albums, and Intuition was followed by the title track from Goodbye Alice in Wonderland, and then Rosey and Mick from Perfectly Clear. Some fans around me were convinced the latter was going to be Stephenville, TX, when she started strumming, but it was only going to be one song per album, it seemed.
- With Lullaby due up next, I wasn't sure if the children's albums would be included in this little retrospective - but shortly thereafter, Jewel introduced Kase to the stage (now 12 years old and with long flowing hair!) and they did a duet on Daydream Land, followed by another duet on a cover of a traditional song. It was familiar to me, but I can't recall the title, and it's not something Jewel has recorded. Kase was absolutely adorable but did seem a little like a deer in the headlights, and it must have been pretty daunting to be up on stage in front of so many people in such an intimate venue. He took the lead vocals for these two songs, with Jewel on backup/harmony, and did a really great job! The audience seemed to love seeing him up there too and it was a very cute moment :-)
- Next was due to be a track from Sweet and Wild, but it never materialised, and the previous format seemed to go out the window at this point. We never had a song from that album all night, I don't think, and no explanation as to why it was skipped either. Instead, Jewel went straight into a new song (the first of many new song she played), and then into My Father's Daughter right after. We got loads of the backstories before many of these songs (including how Bob Dylan had brought her up his dressing room years after they first toured and said, "You've sold a gazillion records!"), which was really cool too.
- We then had a couple of new songs from the latest album - Almost and Grateful - which kinda brought us all up to date! Jewel then spoke about the passing of Loretta Lynn and played a cover of The Pill, before opening up the setlist to the crowd and taking requests from this point onwards. Some of the songs she said she couldn't play anymore (such as Jupiter, which was requested), but she did play a huge amount of songs from Pieces of You (at least seven), and a few others from the other early albums also.
- The audience was getting a bit rowdy/obnoxious at times during this requests portion IMO, and there was one guy in particular who seemed to be heckling her and was really overbearing, constantly shouting out the most ridiculous things intent on drawing attention to himself. People around me were getting really pissed off about it. There were times when Jewel had seemingly decided on which request to take, only to then change her mind moments thereafter and go into something completely different. The requests were all over the place, but mostly confined to songs from the start of Jewel's career. It was so loud that I didn't even attempt to shout anything out, but I was just happy to be seeing her so it didn't matter too much what is was going to be :-)
- Sadly, at about 10.10pm and two hours into the gig, I had to call it a night and head home to make sure I caught the last train home. There was due to be a train strike the following day, and it seemed like they were shutting things down early the night before, so I just couldn't risk being stuck in the city for two days. As I made my way out, Jewel was talking about Steve Poltz, and asked us if any of us had seen him play in London (several had, a few years prior). I believe this then led in to YWMFM. As I got to the exit at the very back of the room, I had a quick peek back and realised just how lucky I had been with my view all evening, and just how bad the sightlines were from the rear of the venue. It was so packed that there were even a couple of people who weren't actually in the room at all, and were instead standing on the wrong side of the door frame having to watch from there. Yikes! The door was open, but still, not ideal.
- Based on what I've seen online, I ended up missing Break Me, WWSYS and Chime Bells. A shame, but these things happen, and I'm pleased I got the solid two hours I did, from the view I did, and with all the amazing material post-2002 that I've never ever heard before. It was actually quite surreal finally seeing her again after all this time, and getting to hear these songs from albums and tours that never materialised in the UK. At one point in the night, while taking requests, Jewel said something like, "What else do you want to hear? C'mon, we may as well get it all done, it's been 20 years since I've last been here and it'll probably be 20 years until I'm back"! I think/hope she was joking!
In seriousness though, there's definitely a demand here for another run of shows in venues larger than Omeara, and hopefully Jewel appreciated this based on the overwhelming turnout and reaction last night. So many people I spoke to had flown in from across Europe to be here (some from the Netherlands, some from Spain, some from Ireland - the list goes on), so fingers crossed we do get a lil' more love in the future!
Here's the approximate setlist, based purely from memory. The first eight or so are definitely in the right order, but the rest are probably jumbled up a tad:
1. Somewhere Over the Rainbow (a capella)
2. Intuition
3. Goodbye Alice in Wonderland
4. Rosey and Mick
5. Daydream Land (sung by Kase)
6. Unknown cover (sung by Kase)
7. New song (unknown)
8. My Father's Daughter
9. Almost
10. Grateful
11. Near You Always
12. The Pill (Loretta Lynn cover)
13. Morning Song
14. Foolish Games
15. Love Me, Just Leave Me Alone
16. I'm Sensitive
17. Pussy (new song)
18. Hands
19. Life Uncommon
20. Single Mom (new song)
21. Alibis
22. Little Sister
23. You Were Meant For Me
24. Break Me
25. Who Will Save Your Soul
26. Chime Bells
Oh, and I attached one of my photos that I was particularly happy with too!
