Quirky NY Chick: Corinne Bailey Rae Charms NYC

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Corinne Bailey Rae Charms NYC

1:14 AM | Posted by Quirky NY Chick

Corinne Bailey Rae: December 7 @ Hiro Ballroom, New York, NY

Songstress Corinne Bailey Rae paid a visit to New York's Hiro Ballroom Monday night. Bailey Rae is on this side of the pond for a series of shows to preview material from her upcom

ing record, The Sea, which is scheduled for release on January 26, 2010 here in the States.

It was my first visit to Hiro Ballroom and my first time seeing Bailey Rae live. Hiro is a nice, warm space with Japanese themed decor. I wasn't sure what to expect from Bailey Rae live. Okay, do you say Bailey Rae or simply just Rae when writing names such as hers? Blast my senile mind for not remembering that rule of writing! But, I digress ... happens from time to time.

Now, back to what I was saying. I wasn't sure what to expect. To be honest, having only heard her on record, I thoug

ht she would have a voice that was more on the wispy side live. But, I was wrong! So, needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how strong her voice was. Bailey Rae is a charming performer and as a lady near me in the audience exclaimed, "she's adorable" and she is. She has that nice girl next door vibe going on.

Bailey Rae played before a sold out crowd of very happy fans. She and her band performed a fourteen song set (fifteen if you count the do over) informing the audience at some point that with the song she was about to play, it would mean that she had played us all the songs from the upcoming record. The performance was being filmed for the PBS program Artists Den. No word on when it will be aired though it'll probably be sometime next month, around the time her record comes out. Keep an eye on your loc

al listings folks! As a result of the show being filmed, she re-did "Paris Nights/New York Mornings" after her encores of "Put Your Records On" and "Till It Happens To You" because of some mess up. That being one of the song highlights of the night for me, I had no complaints about hearing it again and neither did anyone else in the audience. As a matter of fact, everyone wanted her to do more songs. The other highlight of the night for me was, "Paper Dolls." The set, which also included her cover of "Little Wing," was strong and had a good flow.

It was a fun show and I had a good time. The rest of the audience, the band and Bailey Rae herself all seemed to feel the same way I did. And, after hearing the tunes live, I look forward to visiting The Sea.