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Vienna Teng at Rockwood Music Hall

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We’ve been up later than normal this past week, including one 2am night. It was all great, but at our age, it takes its toll. 😉 We were looking forward to vegging this weekend so we headed to the house on Thursday evening with the intention of not emerging from our cocoon for as much as a week.

The best laid plans…

I follow many musicians on Twitter. Early yesterday afternoon Vienna Teng (@viennateng) tweeted that the act scheduled for 7pm at Rockwood Music Hall had to cancel, and they asked her to fill in on short notice. Lois was out for a few hours with a friend so I had to wait until 4pm to see whether she was up to it. She was.

We left at 5:20pm which should have had us at Rockwood by 6:10. We experienced the worst NYC traffic in a few years and got there at 6:55pm. We made it and got seats before Vienna took the stage. Whew.

I’ve written really long posts about Vienna twice before, here and here, and I encourage those of you who are unfamiliar with this brilliant woman to read them.

Aside from a few surprise special guests who joined Vienna, last night was more pure Vienna, on the most intimate stage we’ve seen her, with a grand piano but no Alex Wong with his incredible percussion and myriad other instruments.

Vienna’s voice is extraordinary and her piano playing is mesmerizing. Put it together with her brilliant songwriting and she really needs nothing and no one else on stage to captivate the audience.

ViennaTengPiano

Of course, if you’ve seen her, or if you’ve read either of my previous posts, you know that she’s also a master of effectively using electronics (looping and synthesizing) live on stage, which she did wonderfully last night, to create the sound of five people.

In addition to being an amazing performer, she is also the epitome of grace. During one of her songs, someone’s cell phone went off. The woman let it ring in her bag until it went to voicemail (in other words, a long time). Then it rang again (during the same song).

This time, the woman retrieved it and walked to the door to answer it. Vienna joked (mid-song) that it wouldn’t have been so bad if the ringtone was in the right key! When she finished the song, she played the exact ringtone on her piano (in the correct key, of course), as a finishing flourish. A very nice, funny and classy touch.

There’s a reason most places still find it necessary to remind people to silence their devices…

Vienna asked for requests and Lois was first to answer with Homecoming (which Vienna didn’t play at City Winery). Vienna played it perfectly. Thanks! 🙂

One of the people we’ve been wanting to see live was Ari Hest. He joined Vienna for two songs last night. The first was a song that must be pretty new (I think it’s Ari’s song), because he wrote the lyrics on his hand so he wouldn’t forget them.

AriHest AriHestViennaTeng

What was visually cool was that he brought up one of the table candles on stage to illuminate his hand to read the lyrics. He held the candle the entire song, and the effect was wonderful. So was the song, by the way. Ari has a really good voice, and we look forward to catching one of his shows ASAP.

AriHestCandle3 AriHestCandle1 AriHestCandle2

Ari also joined Vienna at the piano where he harmonized (looping and all) on The Last Snowfall (a song we simply can’t get enough of).

ViennaTengAriHestPiano

Vienna then invited Paul Freeman to the stage. She sang Antebellum (another amazing and very powerful song with stunning piano accompaniment), and Paul sang the Alex Wong part (Alex co-wrote the song with Vienna). Paul has an excellent voice, and he did a very nice job.

PaulFreeman PaulFreemanSinging

Vienna then invited up another of our favorite musicians/people, Alex Berger. In a surprise move, she relinquished the piano and turned it over to Alex. Vienna took center stage to sing. Last Monday we attended Alex Berger’s show at The Living Room as did Vienna. Alex sang an old Jazz favorite, and it inspired Vienna to want to break one out as well.

AlexBergerPiano

She chose A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (fitting, since Alex is a Brit). She had just pressed it into duty so it wasn’t a shock that she lost the lyrics for a second 2/3’s of the way into the song. That gave Alex the opportunity to sing a bit as well (always welcome!), to get her back on track.

AlexBergerViennaTeng

Vienna finished up the show with her rousing Grandmother Song. Awesome (as always).

We returned to the house immediately after the show. Was it worth driving 145 minutes (round trip) for a 45-minute set? Are you kidding? Did you really have to ask? YES, it was more than worth it. 🙂


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3 responses to “Vienna Teng at Rockwood Music Hall”

  1. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    I have seen you guys at the last few Vienna shows I've been at and I just connected you two to this blog when Vienna said “Hi Lois” last night. I've been reading your over the past few months to read recaps of shows especially ones that I can't get to. The entries are wonderfully written. You summarized last evening perfectly. Even though I've been a fan of Vienna's since 2003, this is the most intimate venue I've seen her at since she's risen in popularity: a perk of her move to New York! NYC traffic last night really was horrific – I was only coming from Jersey, but it took me much longer than I had anticipated. As you said, it was totally worth it. I was lucky enough to get a parking spot a block away. I was sitting next to the cell phone woman and I couldn't figure out why she wouldn't reach to turn it off. Maybe she was embarassed to admit it was her? (I don't even have that ringtone and I checked each time to make sure it wasn't me.) Vienna's reaction was yet another reason to support her music: she really does have that on the spot old school classiness that is not so common in my generation. Will you be going to City Winery on Monday? If so, I look forward to another blog about it. =)

  2. hadar Avatar

    Cool! We've been lucky to connect with a few readers of this blog over the past few years, and we look forward to adding you to that list!

    Yes, we'll be at the City Winery show on Jan 25th (a fundraiser for Haiti for those of you who want to help, and hear some awesome music in the process). We are coming with another couple, and will be there early for dinner. We always sit as close to the stage as possible, given that Lois is effectively legally blind.

    Please come and say hi. And yes, there will definitely be a blog about that show as well. 🙂

  3. […] that Ari sang during her set was a song he debuted during a Vienna set in January that I covered in this post. He didn’t write the lyrics on his hand this time, and therefore didn’t need to use a candle to […]

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