Fiona Apple Live

Fiona Apple
Riviera Theatre, Chicago
Sunday, December 4, 2005

Will the real Fiona Apple please stand up, please stand up? Overlooked in the hoopla surrounding the long-awaited release of her Extraordinary Machine is Apple’s renaissance as a songwriter. Formerly the precocious and bratty wunderkind whose only real problem in relationships was herself, the “new” album finds her exploring and playing along, closing the drapes on the little girl who confronted the world with its ritualistic turkey genocide.

Without ever having met her, somehow it seemed she matured and figured out if she wanted, she could project way beyond her Lilith Fair stereotype. Exorcising the majority of her debut album from Sunday’s setlist seemed the right step (keeping “Shadowboxer,” “Criminal,” and “Sleep To Dream”), but the one thing Apple couldn’t fully contain was herself. Calmly moving through her opening salvo of “Get Him Back” and “Better Version Of Me” while seated behind her grand piano, she looked every bit reserved, if a little confined.

Though she can’t be helped. Apple has to be aware of her public perception, but played right into its hands. Explaining at one point how she frequently has bouts of just plain “hating” people in general, varying degrees of being “uncomfortable,” and even apologizing to some fans for looking angrily at them while she sings in character, she systematically drags the focus from the concert back onto her — “Look at me! Look at me!”

It’s a shame since Extraordinary Machine sheds new light on its obnoxiously named predecessor that begins When The Pawn. “To Your Love,” “I Know,” “Limp,” “Paper Bag,” and “On The Bound” struck with new vitality free from the shadow of that fucking album title and self-impeding outbursts. New songs “Tymps,” “Oh Well,” and “Not About Love” surprised with their legs outside the recording studio, only to be squashed by Apple, whose attitude reins with impunity.

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly