Can you believe this is Brandi Carlile’s very first show in France? Titled The Lost Time Tour, this run of concerts is precisely what it sounds like: Carlile is making up for lost time, finally performing in countries and venues she’s long dreamed of playing. Just a few days ago, she made another long-awaited debut at the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London, with none other than her friend and collaborator Elton John in the audience. What a privilege it is to witness this moment in her career.
Le Trianon is, fittingly, sold out. The crowd is made up mostly of American expats or fans who’ve traveled from the U.S. to be here, a pattern we’ve seen with several recent country or Americana-adjacent artists touring Europe, culminating most spectacularly with last year’s four-night Taylor Swift takeover.
For someone whose songs are so personal, intimate, and deeply human, Carlile transforms onstage into something else entirely. She’s a true superstar, magnetic, flamboyant, and commanding. Her stage presence is electric, in striking contrast to the vulnerability of her songwriting. It's that push and pull between earnest and dramatic, the quiet and the grandiose, the personal and the universal, that makes her albums and her shows so memorable. In that way, she brings to mind another great American performer who bridges intimacy and spectacle: Bruce Springsteen.
For 90 minutes, Carlile took the audience on a journey through her entire career, performing songs from her latest album In These Silent Days, as well as her recent collaboration with Elton John, Who Believes in Angels? and a splendid duet with opener Audrey McGraw on "Unchained Melody." But for this reviewer, the real highlight came from deeper in the catalogue: selections from her breakthrough second album, The Story. Chief among them was an exquisite rendition of “Cannonball,” performed entirely off-mic, with the band’s harmonies floating unamplified through Le Trianon’s natural reverb.
Carlile’s gratitude was palpable throughout the evening, and it was more than matched by the crowd’s. Fans sang along to every lyric, turning the night into a communal celebration. Organic, emotional, transformative, and just plain fun, it was everything live music should be, and more.
