Glen Phillips, Rachael Yamagata, Jamie Cullum

Fox Theater, Boulder, CO.....

Cullum was a consummate pro, as I discovered a few months earlier at a different radio conference. That early impression was confirmed by seeing this more typical performance.

Glen Phillips is a bit of an enigma to me. He had a couple of great years with Toad the Wet Sprocket, but the rest of his career has just been OK in my estimation. He had released his solo album Winter Pays For Summer (great title) back in March, with the first single "Thankful," and it was... adequate. I always feel like her has the tools in the toolbox to be very good but it never seems to come together, in my view. He was good live, but nothing to write home about.

Rachael Yamagata was one of the coterie of young female singer-songwriters with albums out in 2004 that had shelves-full of reviews using phrases like "think Tori Amos" or "a la Tori Amos" (including Vienna Teng and Charlotte Martin). Her music is also just OK.

There was a bar right next to the Fox Theater called Players Club (formerly Tulagi), and for these radio convention showcase performances, conference attendees could go back and forth between venue to see the artists performing at each with staggered set times. Here's who was playing at Players Club this night. 

 




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