Photo credit: Kelsea McCulloch
It goes without saying that the 1990s were an important time for music. Those who experienced the decade themselves can vouch for the massive roster of prolific artists who changed the course of music history during a mere 10-year timeline. From hip-hop to grunge, pop-punk to Pavement, the decade was full of tunes that still influence our Discover Weekly playlists today.
In 1993, 26-year-old Liz Phair solidified her place in ’90s music history with Exile in Guyville, her magnum opus that helped transform her tiny dive-bar shows into a Rolling Stone cover story. Phair is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her seminal album with her current Amps on the Lawn Tour, which made a stop at a sold-out Turner Hall Ballroom on Friday.
Phair may not have had the social legacy of some of her peers, but Guyville’s cult status is undeniable. The singer/songwriter has a special place in the heart of a generation of angsty, Clinton-era teenagers. Today, those teenagers are adults with full-time jobs and children, but that doesn’t mean their passion for Phair has wavered in the slightest.
Upon opening with “Supernova,” Phair was immediately connecting with her legion of supporters. Crowd members were dancing and singing beginning with the very first word of the song. In fact, there were several fans who continued to sing along to nearly every single song in her set. The five-piece band sounded extremely full, despite Phair’s slightly muffled vocal mix. At times, her voice was buried beneath layers of guitars and drums, making it difficult to decipher her lyrics and some of her witty stage banter.
Many would argue that Phair peaked with Guyville, and a slew of less-than-impressive follow up albums proved unpopular with both fans and critics. (Pitchfork gave her 2003 pop-heavy self-titled album a scathing 0.0 rating.) But Phair, who has always played by her own rules, slipped tracks from almost all of her albums into her set.
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“Everything to Me” was a rousing, energetic performance of a mid-aughts pop track, while “6’1”” was a brooding, unique take on the Guyville favorite. Phair’s smile hardly left her face throughout the duration of the show, and her quips were lighthearted and goofy. She noted that she was “tripping balls” on cold medicine and compared the experience to the late Jim Morrison. Even while talking about bloated, deceased rock stars, Phair was still beaming.
To use the phrase “’90s nostalgia” while discussing Phair’s performance would, quite frankly, be insulting. Nostalgia often implies that something is better in memory than it is in actuality, and Liz Phair is still just as enthralling today as she was when audiences first fell in love with her. Give her another 25 years, and she’ll still be wielding a guitar like her very own weapon.
