Review + Photos | Fiona Apple + Blake Mills @ The Colonial Theater (BOS)

Photos by Boston Concert Photography

[O]n a cold evening in fall in Boston, as the lights from the Fenway Park lit up for the World Series, the real show was going on on the other side of the city as an evening with Fiona Apple & Blake Mills warmed the crowd’s spirits. This being my first time seeing Fiona Apple, I wasn’t all that familiar with the deeper side of her catalog, but I knew exactly what I’d be getting with Blake Mills.

As with what had happened a few weeks back with Fiona & the crowd in Portland, there was this overarching sense of love pouring out from the crowd in Boston, overcompensating, but just reaffirming where Apple sits in our culture. When you watch her on stage, there is a sense of fragility that comes from her, but also a sense of pure power. That duality makes for an interesting show, her slight trembled vocals into her booming power, push and pull, again and again.

What truly makes the show special (insert “you’re a superfan!”) but it’s Blake Mills and his keen ability to insert himself into nearly any situation, play along with the song, and elevate it into the stratosphere. He could be his own one man show, but you get the sense that’s not really who he is. He plays with maddening machine precision, but extreme human fluidity and creativity. Even on an “off night” as he might have thought it was, he thrills the audience with every note that pours out of his amps.

It was obvious the two have been on the road together, sharing jokes, smiles, and playing the hell out of Fiona’s tunes, and a few of the very special Blake tunes that we have come to love. If you’ve got the greenbacks to get to the show, I absolutely recommend this duo. And we can hope one or the other records more together, to see just what they can do with the boundless amounts of talent that sat on stage Wednesday night.

Check out our photos from the show.