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A Fine Frenzy
with Among the Oak and Ash and Landon Pigg
Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
10 Nov 2009
Photos by Rachel Coppenhaver

"That's what happens when you eat Cheez Its right before the show."
-- Ali Sudol after her voice cracked during "The Minnow and the Trout"
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After hearing sets from opening bands Among the Oak and Ash, and ---- the full house was thrilled to see fiery haired front woman of A Fine Frenzy Ali Sudol took the stage. |
While “Heart of Glass” was full of energized movement, the performance of “Almost Lover” was beautifully quiet. The song is a fan favourite and one that stirs up a lot of emotion. After sharing how much she appreciated finding out that she was not the only person that has gone through these feelings, Ali sang the song and invited the audience to sing the last chorus with her. “Are there a lot of singers in here? I know where to go if I need to hire a choir. In the shire..” she quipped after the song, lightening the mood once again.
A Fine Frenzy played lots of other favourites from both albums, ending the set (but not the encore) with the current single “Blow Away”. With the three-song encore, the show was about an hour and a half, but went by all too quickly. Ali and her band put on truly a memorable show.

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| The band helped open the show with all of them contributing vocals to get things started. Opening with “What I Would Do” from the new album Bomb in a Birdcage, the crowd immediately fell under the spell of A Fine Frenzy. Throughout the show, Ali kept the crowd entertained, not only with her songs, but also with little stories and the occasional dancing around the stage. At one point in the show, she pointed to a section of her hair that was sticking out and said, “Can you see this? I took a nap. I couldn't quell it so I had to go with it.” The charm and simple honesty displayed during the show is perhaps what made it one of the best that I have been to recently. It made it seem like more of an intimate experience rather than just watching an artist perform song after song.
The two best moments of the show came with the cover of Blondie's “Heart of Glass” and “Almost Lover” from A Cell in the Sea. The Blondie cover was done very well (and as a Blondie fan, I would have been upset if she wasn't able to pull it off) and Ali seemed to love every moment of performing it, full of smiles and dancing around stage. She also shared that she's encountered some of her younger fans during the tour that were unaware of Blondie and loves that she has been able to give a tiny bit of musical education during this. |
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