Joan Osborne

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Joan Osborne with The Weepies Live

Fox Theatre

Tucson, AZ

January 27, 2022

by Mary Andrews

Joan Osborne returned to Tucson to a very welcoming crowd after having to change concert dates due the pandemic. Osborne expressed he appreciation of the crowd taking the necessary precautions to experience live music. This time The Weepies were opening for Osborne that turned out to be their final show. Many of the attendees were fans of The Weepies and were very familiar with their music. It was a night of phenomenal music and here are some details.

Osborne has seemed to avoid the spotlight after her huge breakthrough hit the Eric Brazilian song “One of Us” in the 1990s. Her Relish album went three-time platinum in the United States alone. Osborne is a master vocalist of rock Americana, R & B and blues music.

She has been a longtime admirer of Bob Dylan’s music and, in 2017, released an album of the songwriter’s music, Songs of Bob Dylan. She followed it up in 3020 with the album, Trouble and Strife, filled with original music that delivered content that kept listeners engaged from beginning to end. As a side note, Osborne mentioned in a recent interview that Dylan recommended her album on Facebook. That is something he does not usually do.

Tonight’s show featured songs from both of the albums mentioned as well as a new song from her new album that will be released later in February called Radio Waves, “Shake Your Hips.” The album is a collection of songs she “has sung hundreds and thousands of times over decades of touring across the globe that have never been recorded.” Many of the songs are from many radio station appearances.

During this show, Osborne played guitar and percussion while Jack Petruzzelli played guitar and Keith Cotton played keyboards. Petruzelli’s guitar work is an incredible addition to Osborne’s vocals whereas, Cotton’s keyboards delivered as much nuance to fill in any gaps. Both musicians sang backup vocals.

Highlights of the set included Dylan’s “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” “Trouble and Strife,” and “Pensacola.” Osborn explored different arrangements to very familiar tunes that refreshed the familiar tunes. Osborne has a mezzo-soprano voice with an easy command that finds the vulnerability behind a song. She has a confident, good-humored stage presence.

The Weepies’ 15 song set opened with “Nobody Knows Me at All.” They have 20 years of material to scrunch into a one-hour set. They are known for their harmonies and their songwriting and as mentioned earlier there were many fans very familiar and appreciative of their music. Deb Talen and Steve Tannen gave a tremendous acoustic set filled with their spellbinding songs. Sadly, they announced that this would be their last live performance