KT Tunstall - Roseland Ballroom - New York (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)

KT Tunstall - Roseland Ballroom - New York, NY - November 21, 2007

This was one of very few KT Tunstall US shows in 2007 to promote Drastic Fantastic – Tunstall's follow-up to last year's slow-burning smash CD Eye to the Telescope.

This Thanksgiving-eve show was a low-key affair. Tunstall didn't even bring her whole band, just doing an acoustic set with only herself on guitar and vocals, a drummer and two female backing vocalists.

And yet she rocked this legendary venue, with her enthusiasm, strong vocals, sweet-natured charm and already-rock-solid songbook easily seducing the packed house.

You knew you were in for a different night early on, when an stripped-down version of the normally lush "Other Side of the World" stunned with new textures and and even more direct longing than the band performances.

This was just the first of many wonderful surprises – the most significant of which is how well the songs of Drastic Fantastic, which has seemed to receive more public resistance than the debut album, held up with the earlier, more well-known tunes.

Tunstall gave a hilarious insight into the writer's head when she explained her motivation behind writing the good-natured tune "Ashes." Apparently, Tunstall was surfing the net and stumbled across a site which offered to take the cremated ashes of family members and pets and turn them into jewelry. "You can turn man's best friend into a girl's best friend," she cracked.

Other new songs which stood out were her current-kinda-hit "Hold On" – in which Tunstall gamely mocked her own beat-boxing skills – as well as the wonderfully well-grounded (for an entertainer) "Saving My Face," which argues for aging naturally.

Of course it goes without saying that the songs from Telescope rocked the house, with "Another Place To Fall," "Under the Weather," "Stopping the Love" and "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" keeping the audience rapt. By the time she wound down with a propulsive "Suddenly I See," the audience was totally in her hand.

This concert was a hell of a place-holder for Tunstall. Still, as much as I enjoyed this show, I'm looking forward to her returning again with a full band.

Jay S. Jacobs