KT Tunstall w/ Conner Youngblood – Lincoln Theatre, 9/14/2016

Tunstall, who’s largely faded from the public eye despite releasing some excellent material since her breakout with “Black Horse & The Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See” 10 years ago, kicked off her North American tour with a bang Wednesday night, less than a week after the release of her latest album KIN. Her vocals were somewhat lost in the mix during the first two songs of her 100-minute performance, but she recovered nicely to deliver an energetic and engaging performance for the rest of the evening along with her three bandmates, with a solo mini-set in the middle.

 

Highlights – final song of her main set (“The Healer”) followed by her encore (cover of Springsteen’s “State Trooper”), “Everything Has Its Shape” (from the new CD), and the concluding “Suddenly I See” … clever interpolations in the middle of “Black Horse & The Cherry Tree” (“Seven Nation Army”) and “Hold On” (“Walk Like An Egyptian”) … “Invisible Empire” and “Feel It All” from her previous album … great cover version of “The Boys Of Summer” … “Maybe It’s A Good Thing” from KIN

 

Young multi-instrumentalist Conner Youngblood opened with a half-hour set, playing some guitar and keyboard parts himself and accompanied by a rhythm track (which was at times too repetitive and overbearing for my taste).