“light the sky and hold on tight..” -Shawn Colvin

January 25, 2019

With Shawn Colvin

 

“light the sky and hold on tight..”

-Shawn Colvin

Another night, another concert. This time it was a show at the Key West Theater featuring Grammy award winning singer, songwriter and musician Shawn Colvin.  A multiple Grammy nominee and award winner, mostly for her work in the early 90s, Colvin has enjoyed a successful thirty year career and yet was making her first appearance on a Key West stage at the KW Theater.

 

Again, Kathy and I were fortunate enough to have VIP access which allowed us to attend a private acoustic performance prior to the main show, which also featured a really cool question and answer session. Colvin was charming and open in the really amazing intimate gathering with about a dozen lucky fans. It was a pretty special experience and it certainly made us excited for the actual show. We headed over to grab a drink at the Grand during the break, before heading back for the actual show.

 

Shastina

The opener was local teenage sensation Shastina Chiles. This was a prime gig for the 19 year old local, who has cut her chops playing around town at various bars and events for years and seems primed to break through to a bigger stage at any time, having already put in years honing her craft.  It was cool to see a young talented local share the stage with such an established star and Chiles delivered a strong, well-received set.

Colvin was fantastic. Her voice is as strong and crystal clear as ever and she seemed at ease and happy, bantering playfully with the crowd and delivering a wonderful set that featured a collection of her originals sprinkled with some terrific covers including a great cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher than the Rest”. Of course she also delivered a rousing rendition of her biggest hit, “Sunny Came Home” that had the crowd enthralled.

The weekend also featured another wonderful wacky and unique Key West event as the annual Onesie Bar Stroll happened and I just happened to be downtown to catch some of the craziness. The Onesie stroll is just about what it sounds like, a stroll from bar to bar, with participants dressed in whatever wacky animal onesie that they may have.

Hundreds of adults, dressed in what is basically large children’s pajamas is certainly an odd sight to see, but for Key West it is basically just another day. I caught the very beginning of the stroll which started at Tatoos and Scars before heading down the street to Sloppy Joe’s before going on to who knows where.

Like many of Key West’s craziest events, this one was again a fundraiser for some deserving charity and it gave locals an excuse to do two of their favorite activities, drink and dress crazily, all in the name of a good cause and a lot of fun. It seems to be a very popular event, though one that I prefer to watch rather than participate in. Neither Kathy or I own a onesie and Kathy is still on her New Year’s no alcohol pledge that will last until Valentine’s day. 

http://shawncolvin.com/