Atlantic Recording artist Jewel performed an acoustic show at Kleinhans Music Hall on Saturday, Nov. 9. Jewel, who was on tour to support her 2001 album, "This Way," played solo for approximately one hour and forty-five minutes, ending the night with an encore featuring a cappella yodeling.
Californian-slash-Virginian Jason Mraz opened the show. Like Jewel, Mraz was on a Taylor guitar, and he was joined by stand-up bassist Ian Sheridan and bongo-beating Toca Rivera. In his half-hour set, Mraz used his impressive vocal range and sense of humor to warm the crowd up for Jewel.
Joking about his headliner, Mraz said, "Jewel really put me on the map. Literally, she handed me a map, pointed to Niagara Falls, and said, 'Meet me here,' and got on her plane and left." Receiving a standing ovation, Mraz was gracious and polite when surrounded by newly acquired fans, signing autographs and talking about his time on the road.
His album, "Waiting for My Rocket To Come," was on sale at the show. During intermission, Mraz was mobbed as he and his band walked into the lobby to socialize with the audience. They were treated not only with autograph requests, but record sales as well.
Playing a custom-made Taylor model acoustic guitar, and hailing (famously) from Alaska, Texas, and California, Jewel made a shining impression on the sixth-most acoustic venue in the world. She engaged the audience in a performance that was a combination coffee house and VH-1 Storytellers-like show, with tales and quips, including stories from her life living out of her car in Southern California as a teenager. She even opened her act by asking how many bootleggers were in attendance, remarking that even when she feels a show or specific number went well, a bootlegged recording will make her feel bad about the way she sounded.
Her fourth album, "This Way," was an intriguing hybrid between folk, rock, and country/ western that at times was a departure for the usually soft-voiced act by including sometimes startling vocal wailing along with her signature acoustic guitar. Her performance, which included five tracks from "This Way," gave Jewel a chance to show off her extensive range of song-writing, singing, and playing abilities.
Her departure in the song "The New Wild West" was especially jarring. "The New Wild West" is also the name of her tour. After playing a number of songs back-to-back without a rest, Jewel brought the roof down with a vocal note which resonated for several seconds, drawing enthusiastic applause from the diverse audience, ranging from small children to elderly couples.
Jewel, also known for her political views through lyrics like "What good is power if you can't act like a rock-star?," sang a particularly startling lyric for the Buffalo crowd in the song "Jesus Loves You." Likely alluding to anti-abortion killings with lyrics like "Abortion will send you straight to a fiery Hell, that is if the fanatics don't beat Satan to the kill." The lyric, which could have been in reference to the murder of an abortion doctor in Amherst in 1998, elicited no response from the audience.
Jewel spent much of her performance taking requests from the crowd, even trying to play the Lynard Skynard classic "Sweet Home Alabama." Although forced to give up when she was unable to remember the lyrics, she made a show of playing the opening riff a number of times with a faux rockstar scowl. Jewel, who was particularly gracious toward the audience, interrupted her show a number of times to sign autographs for fans while she told stories behind her songs.
Her stories ranged from a tale about the first time she met Bob Dylan to the tragic account of writing a song for her best friend Jackie, who died of cancer four years ago. However, she also made quips about hitchhiking, being blonde, how the deepest and most profound songs were always polkas, and how when she heard her first single (1995's "Who Will Save Your Soul") on the radio on the highway she cried - thinking the chorus made her sound like Kermit the Frog.
The filled auditorium gave Jewel three well-deserved standing ovations. She brought down the house playing new as well as old songs, including old favorites "Foolish Games," "You Were Meant For Me," and "Hands," as well as other, more off-beat numbers. At one point, she said that she loved her audience because they would show up regardless of whether she had a song on the radio.
