There’s something to be said for an artist who makes a point of remembering where she came from and rewarding those who’ve supported her along her journey. In other words, there’s something to be said for Brandi Carlile, who played to sold-out Seattle crowd to celebrate the release of her fourth full-length studio album, Bear Creek, on June 5th.

Dozens of people lined up early outside of Easy Street Records on the album’s release day to be a part of a special in-store concert for those who pre-ordered to celebrate the record’s release.   The crowd was allowed into the homey record store at close to 8:00pm and the crowd’s excitement was palpable.  Brandi made her way to the stage about 15 or 20 minutes later to a roaring crowd and opened with “Raise Hell.”  The rest of her five-song set included “Hard Way Home” and  ”Keep Your Heart Young” – a song written by the Twins, Tim and Phil Hanseroth.  She explained that she didn’t immediately love the song when the Twins approached her with it because she thought it sounded like “a boy’s song,” but it grew on her – she then moved into “Promise To Keep” and an intimate version of “That Wasn’t Me” with Brandi moving from playing the guiar to the piano.

 

 

When she left the stage after the last song, the crowd stood waiting and hoping for an encore – I’d say they especially hoped for it since this was such a short set to begin with.  Sure enough, a smiling Brandi came back out to the stage and the crowd went nuts.  She brought up the fact that this was the biggest crowd she’d ever had at Easy Street and she excitedly said that when she found out the place was packed she thought: “if you’re cool in Seattle, you’re F*CKIN’ COOL!”  Ain’t that the truth?!

Her encore consisted of a performance of “The Story” from the 2007 album with the same name and “Dreams” from 2009′s Give Up The Ghost.  Though I think we all had hoped for a longer set, it was a cool experience to just be a part of such an exciting time for Brandi.  The woman has got a lotta love in this city, there’s no doubt about that.

Special thanks to Jason Tang for letting me use his great photos on this post.