It took three albums and a decade of dominating the alt-folk scene for Beth Orton to pit stop in Milwaukeee, but she finally arrived in Brew City on Sunday night to perform for a charged-up audience.
Dressed in a peasant-ish charcoal gray dress and black tights, she appeared to be every bit the sweet, lanky and slightly awkward woman who charmed listeners now 10 years ago with her first record, "Trailer Park."
Orton warmed up the audience with the same song -- "Worms" -- that opens her third album, "Comfort of Strangers." This was her one offering on the piano, and she went on to perform "Heartland Truckstop," "Rectify" and a variety of other lullaby-esque tunes -- including the beautiful "Safe In Your Arms" -- while playing a myriad of shapely guitars.
Orton, like many Pabst Theater performers, acknowledged the beauty of her performance space. "This is a very lovely theater," she said. "Do you come here often? Because if I lived here, I would."
Later, she talked about swimming in either "a lake or a river" and -- after playing a song -- confirmed it was a "at least two miles north of the bad smell part." (Big Bay in Whitefish Bay, perhaps?) She also referred to the Bradford Beach area as "posh poo," based on the condos along the stinky beach.
Set against a stage strung with simple strands of red "Christmas tree lights," Orton was the shiniest thing on stage, but it wasn't until halfway through her almost two-hour performance that the vibe morphed from sweet-and-mellow to almost-rocker with "Conceived" -- the seventh song on "Strangers" that was surprisingly the highpoint of the evening.
The show definitely picked up momentum as it progressed, but overall, Orton was lovely. Her performance of "Sweetest Decline" was down-right "pinch me" and her voice was more soulful and rich than her studio albums can begin to showcase. Now in her late 30s, Orton is already proving to be an edgy kindred to Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones.
But fans might have walked away more even more satisified if she would have thrown a feel-good bone. Favorites like "Stolen Car" or "Central Reservation" were obviously ignored, and although the audience can respect her decision not to perform her catalog's classics, those of us who waited 10 years for the British maven to surface in our city would have relished the opportunity to hear one of her most-coveted cuts.
But then again, the absence of such tracks allowed fans to appreciate her more obscure choices like "Put A Little Love in Your Heart." And the fact she came out for not one -- but three -- encores further proves that Orton connected with and cared about her listeners, even if she wasn't willing to completely give up the goods.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
