Diana Krall Summer Nights Tour 2012

Jazz fans in the Lancaster County area were in for a treat this past Wednesday night at The American Music Theater when multiple Grammy winner Diana Krall took the stage as part of her "Summer Nights Tour".    

This was the first time Krall had been in Lancaster and graced the stage with her three musicians shortly after 8pm and for nearly 2 hours held the audience captive.  You could've heard a pin drop as she sat at her piano and went from one song to the next.  Her fingers quick on the keys and that beautiful lush, rich voice touching each word effortlessly.  The light changing colors on the swatches of fabric behind her and the band moved from light blues to deep reds, complimenting and bringing an extra dimension to the stage. 

The set list for the evening was an interesting mix of songs pulled from all corners of her career.  Her latest album, "Quiet Nights",  was released in 2009 and she is currently working on new music, so this tour gives her the freedom to pick and chose.  It seemed as if during the first part of the set that she was deciding most of the set list as she played, looking back and talking to her guitar player for suggestions and settling on quite a few by one of her inspirations, Nat "King" Cole.   

Seven songs into the concert, her band left the stage and Diana began to converse more with the crowd.  She shared stories of her childhood, growing up playing piano at her grandparents house, late night parties, but mostly she talked about her children.  One of the stories that amused the audience was how she wanted to get her twin boys (around 5 years old) haircuts but one wanted his hair long because he wanted to be a rock star and "Rock stars have long hair" he replied.  When she asked her second son what he wanted to be when he grew up he replied "I want to be normal".  She chuckled and said "Good luck with that one".  For those who don't know, Krall's husband is Elvis Costello, a fellow famous musician.

After a few songs of Diana alone at her piano, including Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You", Fats Waller "I'm Gonna Sit Down & Write Myself a Letter" and Jimmie Rodger's "Prairie Lullaby", the latter she said she sings to her sons to help them sleep, her band re-emerged and settled into an all out jam session of "I Was Doing All Right".  A cover of Tom Waits' "Jockey Full of Bourbon" followed along with 2 encores, both from her "The Girl In The Other Room" album.  

One thing you gotta hand to Krall is that she primarily doesn't seem to like to be the focus of all the attention.  She is constantly giving props to her band and letting them jam and show off their skills.  Even before welcoming the audience, three songs into the set, she introduced her band and only welcomed the audience after another song or two later.  You can tell how proud she is of these incredible musicians that she shares the stage with each night and each night Krall and company keeps those "Summer Nights" warm. 

SET LIST
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I've Just Found Out About Love (And I Like It)
Let's Fall In Love
So Nice
You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)
Let's Face The Music & Dance
Devil May Care
Frim Fram Sauce
*A Case of You
*I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself a Letter
*Prairie Lullaby
I Was Doing All Right
Jockey Full of Bourbon
--Encores--
Narrow Daylight
Almost Blue

The Band-
Diana Krall-Vocals/Piano
Anthony Wilson-Guitar
Robert Hurst-Bass
Karrem Riggins-Drums

*Diana & Piano only 

(Show was an hour and 45 minutes)

(the picture at the top is from the tour t-shirt available on dianakrall.com, the pictures of Diana & band in concert are from the Facebook page of the American Music Theater http://www.facebook.com/AMTShows, to find out more on shows at AMT check out their website at: www.amtshows.com, I don't own the images displayed, I just wanted to share them)