I’m compelled to frame this review with a few disclaimers: I don’t own any of Jewel’s music; other than one or two songs, I am not very familiar with Jewel (what can I say? Her music isn’t exactly played in heavy rotation on KCRW and KMUW, the public radio stations I listen to); I have seen her in concert once before.

Therefore, I went to this concert almost blind. But blind was fine for this concert because my takeaway was, “What a voice!”

Jewel was well rested after a day off (during which she saw a movie in Wichita). She was relaxed and chatty and in fine voice–all very important for an intimate, stripped-down acoustic show. I was impressed by her ability to draw the audience in. She is, after all, tiny and had little more than three guitars to help fill the stage.

Wichita’s historic Orpheum Theater was a perfect fit for Jewel’s barebones show. For anyone who has concerns that the Intrust Bank Arena poses a threat to the Orpheum’s ability to attract high-caliber acts, fear not. Each venue has its own set of attributes and there is plenty of talent to feed to hungry Wichita audiences.

Despite competition from the Dress For Success Women of Distinction and Butler Community College Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame events, Jewel played to a sold-out house that included many Wichita notables, including Larry Fleming and Kim Dugger, Richard Overby, Kate Mix, an aisle-dancing Harvey Sorenson, and birthday boy and Wingnuts’ biggest fan, Brad “Go Nuts!” Horning. The crowd was decidedly older than I expected, perhaps a result of the rather steep ticket prices.

The price of admission was justified by Jewel’s talent. The powerful songstress showed tremendous vocal range and, frankly, more diversity than I expected from just a girl and her guitar. Her song selection included an acappella version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and her two-song encore was capped with some impressive yodeling.

Jewel held the audience captive for almost two hours by telling stories. Sure, most were in the form of song, but many were of a personal nature and by the end of the night, I felt like I had made a new friend. And now, to get to know her better, I’m going to take a closer look at the pictures on her website, learn more about Project Clean Water and Give A Drop, and maybe spend a few bucks in iTunes.

(image credit)

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