NonCOMM Recap: Jade Bird delivers sassy Free at Noon performance

Jade Bird | photo by Ashley Gellman for WXPN | agellmanphotos.com

British acoustic queen and Glassnote artist Jade Bird stopped by World Cafe Live this afternoon to play some songs from her powerhouse catalog. She is slight and unassuming, but the moment she starts speaking with that bright lilting voice and absolutely tears into her guitar, you know you’re in for something special. She has undeniable roots in country, but there’s something more, something almost unplaceable that makes her special. She is uniquely herself, and she isn’t afraid to show it.

Jade opened with a series of fan favorites, including “I’ll Be There.” She paused and addressed the crowd, always with a laugh, to say “As you can tell, I’m a long way from home, but nonetheless it still feels like it,” before stepping into a perfectly suited “Something American.”

Most of Bird’s songs today spoke of love or loss or anger, and she portrayed each emotion onstage flawlessly. She didn’t have to tell us that her new song, “Good At It” was “a sassy number.” It was written all over her face and in the way she used her voice to fit the mood.

The following songs, “Cathedral,” “Good Woman,” and her current favorite to play, “Furious,” were so incredibly vibrant. She is a performer. There wasn’t a single moment that I wanted to look away, except to take down something that I had to write about so I wouldn’t forget how cool she is. There were moments when she would reel and reel the crowd in with these belted, extraordinary notes, and then all of a sudden she would quickly back off and whisper the next line. Amazing.

She ended with her current radio single, “Lottery,” and her voice was worn from singing in the best way possible. It was raspy and angry and entrancing. I don’t know how she wasn’t tired. She left the stage with a happy goodbye and I was left in the crowd wanting ten more songs.

Jade Bird was the perfect act to precede Brandi Carlile’s Free at Noon set, because they’re both rooted within a common genre. These ladies are powerful, and the audience knows it.

You can catch Jade this summer at Firefly Music Festival, and back in Philadelphia on September 29th at The Foundry.