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Concert Tue Aug 09 2011
My Brightest Diamond@Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park 8/08/11
It seems like the cards were stacked up against Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. Chicagoans who have friends in London were certainly worried and, making violence even closer to home, a man was killed just a couple of hours before My Brightest Diamond was set to play in the loop vicinity. In addition, concert goers in Chicago may have already been exhausted from a three day straight Lollapalooza, which turned into a giant mud pit at the end with storms wracking the city. Monday saw it's share of storms as well, keeping people off of the park's lawn and into the seats.
Watch a youtube video of her performance done by my friend Sei Jin Lee here.
But even though it was a smaller gathering than it may have been if the concert was held a week later, fans were relieved that they had made the effort to come when they saw and heard Shara Worden, who emerged wearing a gorgeous shimmering dress with black and silver diamonds and a gorgeous fuzzy black cape that resembled wings from some angles. Playing with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Worden brought many of her original pieces to an even more pronounced enchantment. Lingering somewhere between the world of fairy tales and unsung heroes, her velvety vocals poured over us just as delightfully as the rain outside kept coming down.
Songs that were transformed last night hailed primarily from Worden's 2008 album A Thousand Shark's Teeth with a couple of new songs as well for an upcoming release. "From the Top of the World" and "I Have Never Loved Someone" were clear highlights of the set overall. Worden herself didn't let the rain get her down. She was thankful for the audience present who had braved the storm and danced around the stage light heartedly. She told stories about Laurie Anderson inspiring her, telling her sometimes it takes a lifetime to learn how to love. She brought forth a huge sense of gratefulness for the orchestra and happiness that the moment had come where she could perform with them. Worden herself is a multi-instrumentalist and played guitar, harp, and ukelele at different points of the set. She succeeded in putting the audience under her spell and just for a moment, we felt a little safer from the storm and the rest of the world.
Katie / August 9, 2011 10:45 PM
Hey, great review. I went to the show and loved it. One thing I noticed though- you mentioned that "Songs that were transformed last night hailed primarily from Worden's 2008 album A Thousand Shark's Teeth with "From the Top of the World" and "I Have Never Loved Someone" being highlights." As far as I know, the song "I Have Never Loved Someone " is not from A Thousand Shark's Teeth, but is due to come out on her new album in September.