Liz Phair has grown up. Her music has changed, and she shouldn't be chastised for giving up her defining 20s for a less encumbered look at the world in her 30s.
She proved Wednesday night at the Pabst Theater that she can still rock and that her songwriting is an honest reflection of each stage of life she has experienced so far: youth, love, marriage, children, divorce, love -- the benchmarks of a full life.
Phair played a tight set list on Wednesday, mixing two-parts old-school Liz to one-part "Somebody's Miracle," her new 14-song album of more upbeat songs, which still feature Phair's sharp tongue, even if it sometimes does have a saccharine coating. Songs like "Lazy Dreamer" showed a more mature, less pissed-off side of Phair, reminiscent of the Go Go's rock style, where as old school fans of Phair might find "Planets and Stars" a little too Brady Bunch-like in its rhythm and melody.
The Pabst audience followed the show closely, dancing in their seats while the 5-foot 2-inch blonde kept their attention as they sang along with favorites like "Baby Got Going," "Polyester Bride," "Mesmerizing," "Cinco de Mayo" and "Divorce Song." But thankfully the 38-year-old's voice cut clear through the crowd of back-up singers so the experience was true and not mired by a tone-deaf audience.
Highlights included audience members giving Phair updates on the White Sox score in game four of the World Series (the Sox swept the Astros for their first World Series win in 88 years, with a 1-0 win Wednesday night). After the 1-0 score in the eighth inning was announced, Phair and her four-man band gave Milwaukee a shortened version of "God Bless America," which they sang on Oct. 22 in the seventh inning of game one of the World Series at Comiskey Field in Chicago -- Phair's home town. Another included an impromptu Liz-style riff on "Wild Thing" singing "you make the boys spring, you make everything expensive," and dedicating "Only Son" to her brother Phil, who she described as an a**hole, while her band mate described him as the "Ernest Hemingway of bullsh*t."
Phair kept her story-telling to a minimum, preferring to link the songs together in a tight musical experience, but still maintained a comfortable dialogue with the request-shouting audience. "F*ck & Run" from "Exile in Guyville" was a favorite request, which Phair responded with, "Did you really think I'd play a show without that?" She switched between instruments easily, shouting "Freebird" as she pulled out the electric guitar after relinquishing the acoustic for "Headache" and moved to the keyboards for "Chopsticks" in her encore. She played the Pabst as though it were a 300-person club, a format she was comfortable with before the "Exile in Guyville" explosion brought her from an unknown to the female savior of indie rock in the '90s.
To hear Phair sing live is to hear her in her element. Only she can so artfully work "f*ck" into a song where it retains its full meaning and not come off as trite. Although some prefer her angry, bad-girl self of the 1990s, for many fans, Liz has provided the song track of their young adult lives and we are happy to grow with her.
