Saturday night we went to the Ingrid Michaelson concert in Salt Lake. I have decided that it was the best concert I’ve ever attended. Here’s why:
•She let us sing along. Actually, she asked us to sing along. Sometimes she even had us carry our own part of the song and she’d sing some cool counter melody, or we’d do a call-and-answer sort of thing. She’d stop the song in the middle sometimes to coach us on our audience singing.
•I didn’t feel like I was just listening to her recorded music—instead, there was something new, funny, or impressive about the way she performed each song live. For example, “Far Away” sounded like a hoe-down, complete with a mandolin and accordian. Completely different from the recording, and so fun to listen to.
•She and her band members were multi-talented. Besides for the guitar, bass, Ingrid’s mini-guitar, and percussion, we saw a euphonium, an accordion, a mandolin, and the piano make their way onto the scene from time to time.
•She rapped the words of “Vanilla Ice” and “Fresh Prince of Bellaire” over the bass line to her song, “The Way I Am.” She also sang a parody of her own song, “Maybe.” The new song was a tribute to Mexican food, and instead of the lyrics, “Maybe…in the future…you’re gonna come back…you’re gonna come back around,” she sang, “Burritos…and tacos…chimichangas…and quesadillas.”
•She was so—normal. Jeans and a t-shirt. And funny. Instead of making us scream ‘Encore’ for her to come back onto the stage at the end of the show, she told us she had another song, and that they’d just hide for a few minutes and come back and sing it for us. So we all felt cool because she didn't try to trick us. Instead she let us in on the joke. And people still screamed until she came back.
•She messed up a couple of times, and laughed about it. One time she was like, “Dang it, I totally just started singing the wrong song.”
•She writes her own songs, and they’re fun, and catchy, and unique. Cool!
