Hoo boy. I am exhausted. I’ve gone out every night for the last five nights. In fact, I almost decided to ditch last night’s show at the Echo in favor of potato chips and netflix instant viewing. But no, I picked myself up and said, “Rachel, don’t be lame! Get out and see Juliette Commagere’s solo show!” Why? Because her music is super pretty and I knew I’d kick myself for missing it. Besides, I’d seen her kick vocal ass two nights in a row. Why not go for a solid three?

In fact, I think Juliette Commagere must have a supernatural amount of energy. I saw her perform in Puscifer (the Maynard James Keenan of Tool’s side project) at the Nokia Club on Saturday AND Sunday. And those were an hour and half sets! I’m a huge Tool freak, so I immediately have a huge amount of respect for those who collaborate with him. Still, her performances with him were so badass that I knew I had to see her perform a third consecutive time.

But unlike her art-metal cohort, Juliette Commagere provided more gentle, delicate sounds. Her voice is haunting and angelic, as if descending from some twilight horizon. She sang about looking out from skyscrapers and queens dying proudly. She clearly had super mad skills as a singer and could have carried all of her numbers a capella. Instead though, she was supported by large crowd of super talented musicians. With trumpets, cellos, guitars, keyboards and synths, this ten-person team made her work amazingly layered and versatile. She didn’t hide behind them, she worked with them. In fact, she even made a point of saying, “I’m Juliette Commagere. And this is band is… also Juliette Commagere! We’re all Juliette Commagere!” Together they even got the place jumping with some pretty dancy numbers.

And (of course) the highlight of my evening came when Juliette brought up Maynard James Keenan and Puscifer:

“So… I woke up with these Puscifer lyrics stuck in my head. Wanna hear? ‘This vagina mine teach ya patient diligence. Keep the chain-gangs waiting, make a cat-bird sing…’ Oh wait, this is an All-ages show! Maybe I shouldn’t say vagina! Whoops!”

It was pretty hilarious and I loved her shout out to Maynard. Did I mention I’m a huge Tool freak? Yep…

Anyway, Juliette Commagere’s twinkling, layered songs were a real delight. After her set ended, she proceeded to sing another full set supporting the Bird and the Bee! That’s… four sets in three days. See? Supernatural amount of energy. I was still pretty tired when I got home last night, but I am so glad I didn’t stay in.

-Rachel K.
www.loudvine.com