Photos by Bill Brownlee/Special to The Star
Jewel's concert Wednesday at the Midland by AMC opened with a stunning a cappella rendition of "Over the Rainbow." Her show concluded two hours later with a delightfully ridiculous yodeling demonstration.
The emphasis on her voice was appropriate.
Jewel has many assets -- an engaging personality, a large catalog of popular songs and striking physical beauty among them -- but her voice shines brightest at her performances.
It's strong and clear, but Jewel's voice is not a monumental instrument like Celine Dion's or k.d. lang's. Instead, Jewel sings like an actress, employing vocal affectations that allow her to convincingly inhabit the various roles demanded by her songs. She moans like a sultry lover, cries like a indignant victim, sobs like an alienated adolescent and shouts like a strident folkie.
Wednesday's performance, then, resembled a one-woman play. Accompanied only by her guitar, Jewel enthralled an audience of about 1,000 with engaging stories and an impressive string of decidedly feminine songs.
Included were the hits "You Were Meant For Me," "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "Foolish Games" from her debut album. Their folk-based sound made Jewel a pop culture phenomenon in the mid-'90s.
Now 34, Jewel has not been able to replicate that fluky commercial success. It's certainly not for a lack of trying. She's traded in several styles of music- her most recent release is a country album- and worked in television, theater and movies.
Jewel noted that one of those efforts, "Ride with the Devil," was filmed near Kansas City.
"I got to ride horses and shoot guns," she recalled. "I was like, 'Sign me up!'"
Many of her charming stories and rambling song introductions were funny and self-deprecating.
More than once, however, her explanations transformed simple songs into deeply affecting statements of purpose. That was especially true of her introduction to "Hands." She explained that she'd written the song about the temptation to shoplift during a low point in her life.
"I was just insulting myself," Jewel suggested. "Noboby can take your choices away from you."
She noted that "Hands" was used as an inspirational anthem in the wake of 9/11. Heard in this context, "Hands" provided the evening's most memorable moments. Also particularly powerful was a new song about grief. "Hole In My Heart" may eventually be recognized as one of Jewel's finest songs.
During "Stephenville, TX" Jewel mocked her public persona. The song suggests that she's "a blonde bombshell deity... (with) neat ideas without big words and a little bit of cleavage to wash it all down."
Jewel proved she was more than that on Wednesday night.
---
Jedd Hughes is a slightly-built man with a reedy but captivating voice. He preceded Jewel's performance with 30 minutes of smart songs about shaky relationships.
| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star
Ol' "snaggletooth" is still quite lovely. I try not to let the fact that she hooked up with the egregious Sean Penn early in her career cloud my opinion of her and her Starbuck-approved music...........
Posted by: Uri Geller's bent fork | January 29, 2009 at 01:47 PM
Jewel is great, she is a ... well .... a jewel
Posted by: whatup | January 29, 2009 at 02:33 PM
It WAS Jewel up close and personal. She was sporting the Big jewel on THAT finger. Looks like life isn't so bad for a chick who used to live in her car. It was sort of a monologue with some nice acoustical music. I mean we can listen to her CD anytime, right? The crowd was badly behaved for what should have been a mellow show. They had to arrest the woman next to me? Was I at Jewel or Slipknot?
Posted by: Ivy | January 30, 2009 at 12:10 PM