Aimee Mann

As Aimee took the stage, she remarked, jokingly, how great it was that the venue had provided seating, as her music would likely put everybody to sleep.  While her sound isn't exactly dance material,  nobody was thinking of sleep.  Aimee and her bandmates Jebin Bruni and Jamie Edwards had the room under their spell for the better part of two hours, in what could best be described as real "musical chairs".  For the first 45 minutes, they stuck to a set of Mann's classics that showcased just how experienced and comfortable Mann is on a stage, ("Momentum", "Par For The Course", "Amateur", "Save Me"), as the trio took turns around the stage playing various drums, pianos, keyboards, bass, and even a recorder, with several "chat breaks" along the way. 

Aimee took a moment before "This Is How It Goes" to explain that the recorder had ended up in their instrument collection because it was the only thing left that would fit in the van.  "Unfortunately", she joked, "they are also NEVER in tune, and any song they're in is usually about gnomes and Stonehenge."   They were joined by another drummer, Barry Mirochnick (from Neko Case, Veda Hill) at this point.  Although she was quite engaging with the crowd between, and during songs, even stopping a few bars into "Build That Wall" to announce that it sounded like "shit", then starting again to a round of laughter and applause, it was the later portion of the show that things got really personal.  Aimee invited the audience to write down their requests on a piece of paper ("No, I'm not doing Freebird!"), and bring them up to the stage, and they would play as many as possible, even if they didn't remember how to play them.  Where most artists would likely invite a train wreck with this idea, the show took on an improv feel as the band decided who would play which instrument, and had to remind each other of the chord progression. 

Pictured: Jebin Bruni

Of course this kind of invitation to interact brought out the comics in the crowd: Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" was requested (and became a running joke throughout the set) and one male fan made sure Aimee received his request personally: "Will you marry me?"  (she didn't say yes or no).  For the next 75 minutes or so, the "all-request live" portion of the show included:

Pavlov's Bells
Guys Like Me
Humpty Dumpty
I Can't Help You Anymore
This Is How I Knew This Story....
She Really Wants You
Freeway
High On Sunday 51
Little Tornado
Ghost World

Pictured: Jamie Edwards

For "Little Tornado", Aimee asked the crowd to do the background whistling melody, which was probably not the most musical moment of the night, but then again, it's pretty hard to whistle while you're smiling, as most of the audience were.  Another instance of whistling in "Ghost World", this time in the form of ear-piercing wolf-whistle from some dude in the crowd, actually brought the band to a stop as she laughed incredulously at whoever had done it;  "Did you really just wolf-whistle me?".  Another fan yelled out "I LOVE YOU AIMEE!!!!", to which she sweetly and casually replied "Thank you for your love.  I appreciate love."

Pictured: Aimee Mann

How Mann has managed to maintain her modesty is a mystery (say that ten times fast!), but she rolled with the whistles and adoration and gave it all back tenfold. She closed the set with a rare, chilled-out performance of her 'Til Tuesday hit "Voices Carry" (yes, from 1985!!), drawing perhaps the biggest applause of the night, then followed up with a three-song encore (including "It's Not", "Driving Sideways") that culminated with a fittingly depressing version of Three Dog Night's hit "One" (from the Magnolia soundtrack).

I didn't even realize until my way out that Mann hadn't brought any merch at all.  No CDs, no shirts, no stickers, nothing.  Maybe there was an issue getting stuff across the border, but this really made me realize just what an unusual show this had been.   Tonight was clearly about the music, the fans, and, judging by the smiles on their faces, the band.