Concert #786 - Mary Fahl at McCabe's Guitar Shop (November 18, 2016)

This was my second time to see Mary Fahl in concert and just as I expected, Friday night's concert was pretty much in line with the show that knocked me out last year, also at McCabe's - the song selection, the banter and her stage presence were, more or less, a replay of last year's show, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Once again, I was thoroughly impressed by Mary's voice, an instrument that can be both powerful and gentle, depending on what she sings. Her set list included self-penned songs, some from her October Project years, others more recent, from her solo career, and there were a few covers as well, such as Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage". Heck, we were even treated to one of the opera world's best known arias, Puccini's "Nessun Dorma", delivered by Mary in decent-sounding Italian.

Mary Fahl at McCabe's

Mary Fahl's set list

To these ears, the highlight of the show was "Both Sides Now" and her own "Gravity", a song inspired by her husband, American oceanographer Richard Lutz. By the way, Mary mentioned his name quite often during the show.

Overall, I had a great time and I know that I will see her again, preferably at McCabe's.

Mary Fahl at McCabe's

Mary Fahl at McCabe's

The merch table

The stage

The venue

Concert #760 - Mary Fahl at McCabe's Guitar Shop (November 13, 2015)

I first saw Mary Fahl's name in print a couple of months ago, when her concert was added to the calendar of my favorite venue. My instant reaction was Mary Who?, and I probably wasn't the only one to say that. Still, I bought my tickets almost immediately, after watching no more than one or two persuasive YouTube videos.

Friday night I witnessed one the finest shows one could ever catch at McCabe's: Mary's performance left me mesmerized and in awe of an artists who supplements her incredible vocal prowess with a pleasant personality, humility, good looks and a sense of humor. The timbre of Mary's voice is something to behold and I do disagree with author Ann Rice, one of Mary's best fans, who feels that  Mary's voice has an androgynous quality to it - to these ears, Mary's vocals are decidedly female, but of a unique nature.

Mary Fahl at McCabe's

A self-proclaimed "unabashed francophile", Mary Fahl opened her show with a few words about the day's tragic events in Paris, followed by a heartwrenching rendition of "La Vie En Rose", the world-famous French song first recorded by Edith Piaf in the 1940s. The show continued with a mix of numbers culled from Mary's solo repertoire, her days as the front-woman of the October Project and a handful of outstanding covers. I loved everything I heard, so I won't even try to single out any highlights.

The hand-written set list does not show Nina Simone's "Wild Is The Wind", Mary's own "Like Johnny Loved June" and "Exiles (The Wolves of Midwinter)" and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now", which were performed by Mary at various points during the show.  We also heard a short snippet from Blind Willie Johnson's "The Soul Of A Man".

The set list

The show ended with Mary summarizing her own appearance at McCabe's as "pure delight", which happen to be precisely the words I would use to describe the time I had watching Mary Fahl perform.

Mary Fahl at the end of her show

Mary Fahl getting ready to meet fans and sign autographs

The stage

The merch table