LIVE: MINDI ABAIR – April 3, 2021

Venue: Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre

City: Clearwater, FL

Date: April 3, 2021

Review and Photographs by: Todd “Toddstar” Jolicoeur (www.toddstarphotography.com)

With a greatest hits release that dropped the day before, Mindi Abair and her band were ready to rock the night away with a sold out and socially distanced crowd at Clearwater’s Bilheimer Capital Theatre.  With no opener and almost no wait for the show to start, the crowd was energetic and amped up from the moment they took their seats waiting for Mindi to do what she does best — perform for her fans.  Opening the set with “Wild Heart,” we were all off on a jazz-filled evening filled with great music and vibes.  Each song brought a story with it, from detailing “April” and how it came to be on the front end of the pandemic to offering up a signed CD to an audience member that correctly guessed which track they were about to play from the latest hits CD had never been recorded by Abair and her band in a studio [spoiler – a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine”].  After a couple opening tracks and the previously mentioned “new” songs, the band stripped it down and played a couple tracks from the front of the stage in an unplugged setting, including “I’ll Be Your Home” and one of my personal favorite “Be Beautiful.”  To break the set up further, Mindi invited a local jazz musician to the stage to perform with her.  Who knew former New York Yankee Bernie Williams was so good on guitar?  they ran through three tracks together including “Ritmo De Otonio,” which Williams wrote.  More music was to follow as Abair and her band got into their musical pocket together and ran through hits “Smile” and “Lucy’s” as well as the track Mindi named her label after “Pretty Good For A Girl.”  When you see her perform – playing sax, singing, chatting with the audience – you realize how wrong she was; she is damn good.  At times, you could see her wanting to bust out and rock as loud and hard as she can within the confines of her music and what the crowd would allow, but what fun for her to invite the crowd to get their cellphone “lighters” in the air or to see her throw the rock horns on occasion when she was working to get that high note on certain tracks.  If Mindi demonstrated anything tonight, it was that she is as good as she has ever been and she has been as anxious and excited to get out and play live music as we have been to hear it.  I cannot wait to see and hear her soon on any stage near me, as this is a show not to be missed.

Setlist: Wild Heart – True Blue – Bloom – Imagine – April – I’ll Be Your Home – Be Beautiful – Ritmo De Otonio – African Blues – The Chicken Shack – Smile – Pretty Good For A Girl – Flirt – Lucy’s – Baby Get It On – The Joint

[Show as slideshow]

FULL SET OF MINDI ABAIR SHOW PHOTOS HERE

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Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries