REVIEW: Wet in Portland
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY GEORGE AWWAD ☆
Singer-writer Kelly Zutrau is no stranger to Portland, OR. It was here where Wet’s recent Two Lives album was almost entirely recorded. With its very namesake capturing a turning point in Zutrau’s life. One where she imagines how it might be to live a second life alongside her current livelihood.
Just this past Saturday night Wet stopped by Aladdin Theather, one of the oldest venues found in the bridge city. With a mixed audience, of both seated and standing fans, the show promptly began through a setlist of the new record from “Coffee in the Morning” to “Rosy” and “My Everything”. It wasn’t long before the band played their standout hits from The Letter Blue such as “Clementine” and “Bound”. The audience quietly sang alongside the backing vocals from Blood Orange, the co-writer on the single and the moments after gave Zutrau time to reflect on the band’s history.
It was here that Zutrau shared an anecdote of her time in Portland with the story leading to one of the band’s earlier works in “Don't Wanna Be Your Girl”. There was a short intermission just after this. The audience cheered for an encore until Zutrau emerged back out on her own to give us a reprise of “Blades of Grass”. Ultimately the band returned to continue performing Two Lives and in a way, the setlist became its own juxtaposition of the record’s name with the band signing off with these newer songs, perhaps as a commitment to moving forward with Zutrau and the band beginning its own new era.
