Photo credit: Potawatomi Hotel And Casino
Macy Gray
Macy Gray’s five-piece band strode onstage wearing coveralls, looking like they just finished work at the 10-minute oil change, but bedecked in brightly colored wigs. As they took their places playing a second-line tune, Gray followed in sharp contrast wearing a floral-print evening gown and leather biker gloves.
Gray is one of modern music’s true eccentrics, a complicated blend of sheer talent and humility with just a hint of insecurity. Her voice resides at the crossroads of Billie Holiday and Al Green. You get the impression there is zero affectation to her onstage presence; that she couldn’t fake it if she tried. With her 1999 debut LP, On How Life Is, she seemed to have appeared fully formed.
August 29 at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s Northern Lights Theater, it felt Gray took a few songs to get comfortable, choosing not to venture to the front of the stage. But when she finally warmed up, Gray demonstrated why she connects with her audience.
Touring on her latest album, Ruby, Gray took extended introductions to many tunes, cajoling the audience good-naturedly and reminding them how beautiful they were. “Sing along even if you don’t know the words, just like you do to the radio,” Gray said, starting “Creep” by Radiohead as if to prove once and for all that great songs know no boundaries.
Generous with the limelight, Gray left the stage mid-concert to let the drummer take over. (Her references to “me and m’band” were sincere.) As the band reassembled, they segued into an instrumental “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” a tune befitting Gray’s evergreen youthful spirit. She re-emerged in another evening gown with matching biker gloves.
“I had a dream to come to Milwaukee to see you all dance,” Gray said. “MLK had a dream, why can’t mine come true? I’ll turn my back and I hope you will be dancing when I turn around. If not, I’ll go back to L.A. I’ll be sad, but I’ll never get over it,” she laughed.
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Like Patsy Cline before her, Gray mines dysfunction in relationships and her’s is an open book. After she broke into an a cappella “I Try,” the band sculpted a sublime buildup of the anthemic pop-soul masterpiece from Gray’s debut album. Engaging the audience with a cover of Andrew Gold’s “Thank You for Being a Friend,” Gray kindly alerted the crowd, “Sing along. This is your encore!”
