‘I’ve waited to stand on this stage since I was 12 years old,” said Brandi Carlile, and somehow, she made her achievement feel like everyone’s success. Within three songs of appearing at theRoyal Albert Hallshe had invited her 5,000-strong audience to sing along with her. You and Me on the Rock’s evocation of family life became the best wedding karaoke ever.
Carlile has been a voice for the marginalised in the rural roots scene for two decades. But her largest headline show in the UK – part of a five-date UK and Ireland tour climaxing at Glastonbury – suggests her outlier-country is now legitimately mainstream here. Her No 1 album withElton Johnplayed no small part and this setlist paid gracious tribute to her collaborator. She even serenaded him with a yearningly harmonised version of its title track as he sat in his box like a silent angel.
Despite his retirement Elton seemed a constant presence on stage, from the 80s pop-rock of Swing for the Fences to his protege’s patter about a recent dinner with David. He even approved the tie to go with her natty black suit, although not her cover of Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You. She sang it anyway – sparingly solo, with woozy panache.
Elton may have encouraged Carlile towards her recent rockier sound but it’s a gear she has always had. Few artists are so authentically versatile they could open with a lush and timeless crooner ballad, entreating us to Stay Gentle, then immediately unleash the hot-rubber-and-leather vibes of Broken Horses.
Her clarinet-smooth voice stretched to ever greater technical feats throughout the night, until ululations turned to screams and individual notes threatened to hang forever in the ceiling. A fingerpicking acoustic medley paired two her greatest songs about motherhood, and their Art Garfunkel tenderness unleashed waves of catharsis in the largely female audience.
On their feet for Hold Out Your Hand – half Lumineers, half Charlie Daniels Band – the mom rockers were less confident as Carlile ventured into grungier territory and by the time she was duelling guitars with the Hanseroth Twins they seemed a little lost. The show’s landing was its sole stumble: a dazzling but late interlude by violin and cello duo SistaStrings indicated that Carlile was on the move, and up she popped up in Elton’s box, spotlit by a condenser mic, her BFF sitting silently beside her.
Was it worth the effort? By the time she had raced back for her closer, the show had lost momentum and an expected encore (the house lights staying defiantly down) never came. Still, a minor quibble of an artist who shines just as bright without the reflected sparkle of her diamond-bright duetting partner.
Brandi Carlile is touring the UK and Ireland until 28 June