Missy Higgins @ The Chart House

Missy Higgins performed an intimate concert at the Chart House yesterday, hosted by Cities 97 to help raise money for the Special Olympics Polar Plunge. Before the show I was able to chat with Missy about her going-ons now that she's moved to the States. Missy says she's currently just "touring and riding out this America thing for now" cause the girl loves to tour (check tour dates below), but "I've got a few little things on the backline, and I'm not sure when the new album's gonna be." She recently recorded a cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This" for Warner Brothers and wrote a song entitled "Run So Fast" for a new film. When asked about her new home-away-from-home in L.A., Missy said, "It's really fun - its a fun place to live, like there's so much good music and so much good art and really interesting people move to Los Angeles, they've all got a really interesting story" but later stated that outside of L.A., she's spent the most time in Minneapolis(!).

Missy sang three songs for the live broadcast and then gave the rest of us an intimate performance, saying "just shout out what you want to hear." Armed with her guitar and a keyboard, Missy put on one heck of a show. Her vocals were flawless, strong and free, and she sang with absolute conviction. Her songs are honest and straight from the heart- when I asked her about her songwriting technique she told me that she doesn't really like to sit down and record while she's songwriting because she finds it interferes with the "in the moment experience" of expressing an emotion through a song. This is probably a key reason why her songs never feel overworked. She's also one of those artists who are adept at maintaining good rapport with the audience - each song had a story and she kept things chill and upbeat. She ended up singing a total of 10 songs before her manager told her it was time to go, but it was a great experience and I look forward to seeing her again in March when she comes back to Minneapolis.

Peachy [mp3] (iTunes)

Upcoming Tour Dates:
Feb 19 - House of Blues - Houston TX
Feb 20 - Antone's - Austin, TX
Feb 21 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
Feb 24 - State Theater - Tampa, FL
Feb 25 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Feb 26 - House of Blues - Orlando, FL
Feb 27 - The Loft - Atlanta, GA
Feb 28 - The Handlebar - Greenville, SC
Mar 2 - 9:30 Club - Washington DC
Mar 3 - Ram's Head on Stage - Annapolis, MD
Mar 5 - Theater of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
Mar 6 - Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Mar 7 - House of Blues - Boston, MA
Mar 8 - Revolution Hall - Troy, NY
Mar 10 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
Mar 11 - Royal Oak Music Theater - Detroit, MI
Mar 13 - The Vic Theatre - Chicago, IL
Mar 14 - Pabst Theatre - Milwaukee, WI
Mar 15 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN