White Dove Feathers

Fiona Apple and Blake Mills @ Beacon Theater 10/22/2013
Tipple / The First Taste / Every Single Night / Unworthy (Blake song) / Anything We Want / Curable Disease (Blake song) / Regret / It’ll All Work Out (Blake song) / Not About Love (with Questlove) / Seven (Blake song) / Dull Tool / Don’t Tell Our Friends About Me (Blake song) / Left Alone / I Know / Waltz (Better Than Fine)

Fiona Apple “Regret”

This was by far the most cheerful Fiona Apple performance I’ve ever seen, and that’s really saying something since she performed “I Know,” “Regret,” and “Left Alone,” three of the most agonizing songs in her catalog. Those songs had the appropriate emotional punch, but the dominant feeling through this show was very warm and positive. You could just tell how much she and Blake enjoy playing together, and their camaraderie with the rhythm section. To be honest, Blake’s songs weren’t all that memorable, but they were fine enough in the moment and didn’t distract from Fiona’s material as much as you might expect. They were like bluesy little palette cleansers after the heavy emotions of Fiona’s songs.

“Regret” was the song that really got under my skin last night. That chorus is always gutting, and maybe a bit more so when she’s belting it out in person, but I’m always a little more unnerved by the verses, in which she sings about being gradually poisoned by someone else’s depressive negativity. It’s rattling a bit because I can’t really decide which side of the song I relate to more. I hate to admit that in public, but there it is.

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