Amanda Shires soars at sold-out Amsterdam Bar show

Amanda Shires performed at Amsterdam Bar in St. Paul on Monday, November 7, 2022.Andy Witchger for MPR

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November 08, 2022

“For all of you that came here on purpose tonight, thank you so very much. I know what it takes to put on clothes that aren't sweatpants. For those who just drunkenly wandered into a bar and don't really know what's going on right now, my name is Amanda Shires, and everything is going to be OK.”

Shires was addressing the crowd at Monday night’s Amsterdam Bar show for the first time. While the sold-out show didn’t leave extra space for drunken wanderers, it generously rewarded those who were there on purpose. Many of the songs in the Grammy-award-winning singer, songwriter, and fiddle player’s set came from her latest album, Take It Like a Man, which is also the tour's name.

Opening the show was Toronto-based, by way of Atlanta, country crooner Honey Harper. Joining Harper onstage were a guitarist and bassist, introduced only as Adron and Kyle, respectively. As the trio took their places at the front of the stage and launched into a mainly a cappella song, with some gentle backing from Adron and Harper’s guitars, the crowd's din ceased immediately.

The three voices harmonized perfectly with a beauty that felt otherworldly, fitting for Harper. His critically acclaimed debut album Starmaker rightfully earned him comparisons to cosmic country originator Gram Parsons. While Starmaker and its 2022 follow-up Honey Harper & The Infinite Sky feature a full backing band, Harper opted for a much more stripped-down approach on this tour.

But stripped-down does not mean simple.

Adron, in particular, showed off her impressive guitar skills during the set’s second song, “Reflections.” During “Starmaker,” her awe-inspiring abilities extended past the guitar after a spectacular whistle solo drew so much applause from the crowd that it was a literal show-stopping moment. Adron herself had to quiet the crowd’s cheers so that Harper could sing the last few lines of the heartfelt song, which he wrote to honor a friend who passed away.

After “Starmaker,” Adron and Kyle left Harper alone onstage. He explained that he writes all of his music with his wife, who isn’t on this tour because she recently gave birth to their child. Before playing the as-yet-unreleased “4:30 a.m.,” Harper says he wrote the song at two different times. He wrote the first half when he found out they were going to have a baby. The second half came when he found out he’d be heading out on this tour so soon after the birth.

With lines like “Is it too late to say it’s too late?” and “You’ll just have to trust me that I love you, and I’m doing this for us.” “4:30 a.m.” is a beautiful and emotionally crushing ode to love and missing that love while out on the road.

Adron and Kyle rejoined Harper onstage for a cover of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” before taking their final bow and leaving the crowd’s anticipation to build for Amanda Shires.

A woman plays a guitar and sings into a microphone — Amanda Shires performed at Amsterdam Bar in St. Paul on Monday, November 7, 2022.
Andy Witchger for MPR

A few minutes before the start of Shires’ set, the stage lights darkened, and the sultry bass line of Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker” blasted through the house PA. Cohen’s gravelly baritone joined the mix, and one by one, Shires’ band (bass, drums, guitar, and keys) took their places onstage. Finally, Shires herself entered to explosive applause and wasted no time getting on with the show by launching into a block of tracks off of To the Sunset: “Break out the Champagne,” “White Feather,” and “Swimmer.”

The power in her voice was immediate, as was the genuine delight emanating from Shires and all four members of her backing band as they worked through the first few songs. Throughout the set, she bantered with her band, introducing each one with personal details about them. (“We play a lot of Pac-Man together.” “He likes making Greek salads on the bus.” “He's got four dogs, but he only likes one of ‘em.”)

As Shires addressed the crowd for the first time, a call for a medic came from somewhere in the crowd. Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency of some kind, someone had to be carried to the exit as a plea to call an ambulance rang through the now-silent Amsterdam Bar. Onstage, Shires watched the situation and proceeded with the show only when everything was under control.

And proceed, she did.

We were three songs in to the Take It Like a Man tour at this point and had yet to hear any tracks off the actual album. That was about to change. For the next eight emotion-laden songs, Shires invited the crowd into her most intimate and vulnerable space — her feelings. On songs like “Empty Cups” and “Fault Lines,” she gave the crowd a front-row seat to real-life challenges in her marriage with husband, Jason Isbell. On more seductive tracks like “Hawk For the Dove,” “Here He Comes,” and “Bad Behavior,” she explored her sensual side.

Shires sang each song as if it was the last she’d ever sing. At times, her signature vibrato broke into an even more intense and emotionally-complex wail of sorts, further punctuating just how much of her heart and soul she put into these songs. She injected every ounce of emotion she felt while writing them into her performance.

But it isn’t just Shires’ voice that conveyed her emotions. Her fiddle also had a say.

Shires’ fiddle acted as an extension of herself while she pushed it to its limits. During “Hawk For the Dove,” it sounded powerful and raw, like a thousand hawks going in for the kill. (Better watch out, dove!) On “Take It Like a Man” and “Empty Cups,” it changed into something much more akin to a violin, warm and beautiful. During an extended introduction to “Parking Lot Pirouette,” it served as a way for her to connect and jam with her band.

By far, the most moving part of the set came just after “Parking Lot Pirouette.”

“I don't know about y'all, but I'm not feeling comfortable about tomorrow.” (Tomorrow meaning Election Day.)

She talked about the abortion she had before being ready to have a family and the ectopic pregnancy that ruptured while onstage last year, nearly killing her.

“It sucks that we aren't allowed to govern our own bodies, and the government feels they can. It's okay to be sad, but know I'm on your side.”

After a long embrace with a fan in the front row, Shires and guitarist Zach Setchfield went into “The Problem,” a song about abortion that she wrote in 2020 to raise awareness for the Yellowhammer Fund. This acoustic version of the song was simultaneously beautiful and heart-wrenching. At that point in the set, one thing became clear: It’s not possible to go to an Amanda Shires show and leave with dry eyes.

The final three songs of the main set were covers — sort of. Two of the three (“Highwomen” and “Don’t Call Me”) are tracks from the Highwomen, a country supergroup that Shires founded. The Highwomen also features Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby. Shires’ solo performance of the two songs was flawless.

The final cover was John Prine’s “Saddle in the Rain,” which allowed Shires to let loose and rip a blazing fiddle solo. When she finished her part, Shires left the stage while the rest of the band played the last few bars before they, too, retreated backstage.

As at the start of the set, one by one, each band member returned to the stage for the encore and started playing a groove together as they settled back into their places. Finally, Shires joined them, a large pair of black bird wings affixed to her back. She grabbed her fiddle, and the groove morphed into an impressive, nearly ten-minute rendition of “Look Like a Bird.” As the final jam session wrapped up, she approached the mic one last time.

“Thank y'all very much. I'm Amanda Shires, and y'all are the f***in’ best!”

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