Tristan Prettyman – House of Blues 04.04.08

This past weekend I watched Tristan Prettyman perform at the House of Blues.

Tristan is a fairly familiar name in Chicago, having supported Jason Mraz and others over the past few years. She rose to fame with her critically acclaimed debut, TWENTYTHREE.

I arrived at the venue right before the opener was to step on stage, and I realized the show wasn’t upstairs, but at the downstairs ‘back porch’ stage. The stage is set up in the back half of the restaurant but it is a nice sized stage. I was really impressed by the simplistic yet effective lighting and sound system. It is perfect for those relaxed type shows, probably why it is named the ‘back porch’ stage. While not as beautiful as similar sized room, Schuba’s Tavern, there was certainly a laid back feel. Sometimes, that is lost in the corporate atmosphere of House of Blues.

Whitley was the opening act, and he warmed up the crowd by playing solo acoustic. His voice was similar in tenor to that of Jason Wade of Lifehouse but that is where the similarity ends. His proficiency on the guitar was notable, and he won the crowd over with his introspective lyrics.

Tristan Prettyman hit the stage right around 10:30 and immediately took the crowds attention from their drinks. Striking an subtly imposing figure with her acoustic guitar, Tristan fronted an able trio as she played songs from her back catalog as well as her upcoming release, ‘Hello’. Although some make comparisons to Jewel because of her San Diego music background and some leanings towards folk, Tristan is an excellent guitar player and includes a wide range of influences, including Chicago favorite blues.

After playing plenty of new music from the new record, she played an encore which leaned heavily on her one full length release, TWENTYTHREE. ‘Simple as It Should Be’ brought a rousing crowd reaction and calls for her to play her song ‘Shy That Way’ (which features Jason Mraz) were refuted with the simple phrase “We don’t play that song anymore”. The crowd was enjoying every last second before she stepped off stage after a fairly short set.

I finished up my 6 dollar beer and headed for the door. A new fan was converted.