Nicole Atkins @ Bowery Ballroom (February 13, 2014)

Last night I braved the elements in order to catch Nicole Atkins’ performance at Bowery Ballroom. I’m glad I did because it was an electric performance that proved that Atkins is one of the more underrated female artists going today.

I was running a bit behind schedule before getting there so I only caught the final two songs of first opener Domino Kirke’s set. She’s the sister of Girls star Jemina Kirke (Jessa), who I actually spotted in attendance. From what I could tell she seemed to have a very pleasant sound.

The same can be said of 2nd opener Arc Iris, which is the new project of Jocie Adams who departed The Low Anthem last year. They had a well orchestrated sound that was easy on the ears, with grand almost classic composition. Their debut album comes out April 1.

I knew about Nicole Atkins for a while, but didn’t truly discover her until I caught her open for Midlake last year. That was a solo set from her, which featured just her and and an acoustic guitar. Last night’s set was completely different, featuring a full band and a lot of new songs from her newly released album, Slow Phaser. It was much grander in every sense.

Her new material was very vibrant and full of terrific amounts of energy such as lead single “Girl You Look Amazing”, the funky cool “Who Killed The Moonlight” as well as set closer “It’s Only Chemistry” which featured some help on vocals from members of the band Common Prayer. Older tracks such as “Cool Enough” and “The Tower” got great reactions from the crowd, who sang every word back with a heightened sense of urgency.

It was my first time catching a full effect show from Nicole Atkins and it didn’t disappoint at all. Go catch her if she’s playing near you, and be sure to check out Slow Phaser. It’s a good one.

Find the setlist posted below, along with photos.

Setlist:

1. Vultures
2. Who Killed The Moonlight
3. Cool People
4. Girl You Look Amazing
5. We Wait Too Long
6. Theme
7. What Do You Know?
8. Gasoline Bride
9. Red Ropes
10. The Way It Is
11. Cool Enough
12. The Worst Hangover
13. Sin Song
14. It’s Only Chemistry

Encore:

The Tower

Nicole Atkins: