The Occupy Tucson protestors marched in a throng just across the street from Fox Tucson Theatre Tuesday night as a line of folks made their way inside to see Colbie Caillat.
The protestors' chants echoed so loudly some folks wondered if they would be able to hear it from inside the theater. Thankfully, once the doors closed and Caillat took the stage, you couldn't hear a thing, even the clicking of dozens of cameras folks had snuck into the theater.
Caillat's show was a sunny antidote to all that confusion outside on Congress Street.
The California pop singer dressed the stage up in backyard barbecue casual — throw pills tossed at the front of the stage, bamboo accents and tiki-like lights. The swirling colored lights that zipped over the audience of about 700 was blinding at times, not unlike, I suppose, an Arizona afternoon.
Backed by an impressive six-piece band that included opening act/boyfriend Justin Young — her go-to songwriting and duet partner — Caillat was at her vocal finest. In a 90-minute show, she cruised through her catalog from her three albums: "Bubbly," "Realize," "Make It Rain," "The Little Things," "I Do," "Falling For You" and her latest radio hit "Brighter Than the Sun."
In between the songs, Caillat, who admits she's a bit gun-shy talking to her audiences, told little stories, like how "Dream Life, Life," was inspired by her sister and friends in Cali who wanted Caillat to come off tour and hang out in the back yard, live that dream life as life. And how she wrote the ballad "Midnight Bottle" for her sister and her husband.
Young backed Caillat on an inspired cover of The Script's "Breakeven," which she mashed up with a line or two from Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." When she and Young sang together it was almost like eavesdropping on a private moment.
Young had his own amazing chops — behind the mic and behind the pen. In his five- or six-song opening set, he reminded me of John Mayer before the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter's personal life and public gaffaws stole the spotlight away from his music.
Young has a crystalline voice that dips more to the tenor range, soft and soulful, playful and spirited. His songs are well-thought-out journeys that need nothing more than an acoustic guitar. He also borrowed a couple players from Caillat's band to round it out.
It's going to be exciting to see where Young's career takes him.
