Beth Orton at the Irish American Heritage Center, 11/10/22

Beth Orton at the Irish American Heritage Center, 11/10/22

In a small, quiet residential area of west Albany Park, historically named Mayfair, and south of the even more historic North Mayfair, is the Irish American Heritage Center. Driving past you’d be forgiven for assuming it was one of Chicago’s many turn-of-the-century public schools, because for most of its history it was. In 1985 though, the center transformed the old Mayfair school, into a bastion of Irish heritage, one complete with a public house on the south end, with a bar built from classroom materials and a chalkboard counter.

Still, the center often avoids expanding its booking beyond the usual folk revival and river dance performances, so when Beth Orton, the author of one of 2022’s greatest albums, announced her tour schedule, it was a welcome surprise.

Heather Woods Broderick took the stage first, opening for Orton on a few other tour stops this year as well. With her long, banged hair and slender build, plenty of the audience applauded under the impression Beth Orton was beginning her set. Broderick, to her credit, introduced herself, opined about playing on a stage that used to be the school auditorium, and that now was draped in orange curtains, wood beams, and a bespoke crest above the performer.

Her music was a fitting pairing with Orton’s too. Broderick blended the cello compositions from her pandemic album from earlier this year, Domes, with more straightforward singer-songwriter tracks. The balance complimented each other as Broderick began by layering loops of her cello playing until they became louder and more dramatic, before imbuing it with a soft dissonance to provide the backing to her keyboard and vocal work.

These soundscapes continued to weave in between the four proper songs and bound the performance to only a few breaks between playing. Broderick’s best moment though was indulging in the recently released first single from her next album. “Blood Run Through Me” was immediate in its evocation of desperation and human connection, and as Broderick built up her instrumentation throughout, she gave each chorus an added degree of emotional anguish, especially given that it was one of her first times playing it live.

Although only playing for an hour, Broderick was able to elicit the same reverence for production and groove that Orton’s music demands. After much of the audience had given up traversing the hallways trying to decipher the Celtic typography for the word “bathroom”, the theatre slowly began to refill, and Orton was provided a glowing announcement over the PA. Given the residential area of the surroundings for the show that night, Orton had only a little over an hour to perform, but she made quick use of her time by delving into the first four songs off of Weather Alive, the title track, “Friday Night”, “Fractals” and “Haunted Satellite”.

In fact, she played every song from her new album, something that probably annoyed some of the Trailer Park purists in the crowd, but for an album as great as Weather Alive, didn’t bother most. Even better was the fact that 15 days into the tour, her band had hit its stride, finding the right blend of well-worn precision and the excitement for debuting these songs to a live audience.

That six-piece band featured Broderick on keyboards and cello, along with members playing bass, drums, guitar, saxophone, flute, and Orton herself on another set of keyboards, strung up with Christmas lights. Unfortunately, the first four songs were beset by Orton’s vocals being mixed too low, especially during the rhythm-centric “Fractals”. Regardless, the follow-up, “Haunted Satellite” proved to be one of her strongest tracks that night, and afterward, Orton switched to acoustic guitar to treat the crowd to some fan favorites.

Giving her love for Chicago, Orton provided an expressive performance of the Central Reservation highlight “Sweetest Decline”. A soft and sweet rumination on acceptance, before delving into another great track off that album “Pass in Time”. For that song, Orton began the piece as a solo acoustic number, before slowly layering on electric guitar, drums, and eventually, of course, cello.

After continuing a run through “Blood Red River” and “She Cries Your Name”, Orton finished her set with what is quickly becoming a greatest hit in its own right, “Unwritten”. Beginning with a slow build, the track eventually gets locked into a soloing groove, which within its wholly restrained parameters, was as thrilling as any heavy drum work that came before it. Orton barely partook in an encore afterward leaving the stage and coming back on in less than a minute, and really only as a pretense to get the rest of her band off the stage.

As dark as Weather Alive is, “Lonely” sounded especially riveting in its fractured plead as only it could have been, with Orton delivering it alone on the keyboards, surrounded by unaccompanied instruments staring right back at her. That also enhanced the dynamics as she closed the set with the raucous “Shopping Trolly”, a song that absolutely necessitated every member on stage. As they finished, Orton and her band took a group bow, and the audience got up from their seats, which automatically folded up behind them.

This was a part of her first headlining tour in the U.S. in five years, which sounds like more than it really is, especially given Orton’s knack for disappearing and reappearing throughout her career. Still, she has produced both an album and a concert that proves she is as consistent as she’s ever been and doesn’t plan on staying away for too long.