Review: Chelsea Cutler
Photos and Review by Nicole White
August 31, 2021
The first night of Chelsea Cutler and Quinn XCII’s 23-date North America co-headline Stay Next To Me Tour started at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA on August 31, 2021. This was Chelsea Cutler’s first time returning to the Bay Area since spring 2019 since her show in San Francisco in March 2020 got cancelled as the city went into covid-19 lockdown for the first time. Thus this was the first time the Bay Area got to see Chelsea perform songs from her 2020 album How To Be Human.
With a huge smile on her face, Chelsea walked onto stage as the two backing musicians in her band played her in and kicked off her set with “Sad Tonight.” Fans screamed and danced along with Chelsea as she moved around the stage. There was an overwhelming sentiment that everyone was happy to be back after going so long without concerts during the pandemic. Although it wasn’t an enforced venue requirement, many fans chose to wear face masks for the entirety of the show and proof of vaccination / negative covid PCR test was required for all concertgoers. It felt more covid safe in the open-air amphitheater than it would have in an indoor venue of a similar capacity.
Chelsea brought out her guitar for “Crazier Things” and played a beautiful arrangement of the song that ended with her singing a cappella and foregoing the instrumental outro that is in the studio version of the track.
As she was going into the chorus of “nj”, Chelsea said “Berkeley, California if you know it!” and held out her mic to the audience to sing the lyrics. Fans' vocal melody filled The Greek.
The audience was also treated to seeing both of Chelsea’s new 2021 singles, “Walking Away” and “You Can Have It”, live in addition to a solo version of her hit duet “this is how you fall in love” with Jeremy Zucker and some older songs like “Cold Showers” and “The Reason.” She even flawlessly covered “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers with her own personal flair and the crowd excitedly sang every word of the song with her.
Chelsea had a midi pad next to her mic stand that she used throughout her performance to trigger different sounds and isolated stems. As the sun set, more of the visual production came in from the giant, suspended touring light rig. Some strobes were used towards the end of her set for a more dynamic effect. She also stood on top of the bass drum for a couple songs and caught a lot of air jumping off it.
A highlight of the night was when Chelsea announced she was working on her next album and was so excited for everyone to hear it.
She closed her set with “Your Shirt” but came back onstage at the end of Quinn XCII’s set to perform four songs together, including the live debut of their unreleased collaborative track “Calling All Angels”. It was easy to tell that the longtime friends were having a blast performing together as a duo. The audience lit up the venue with their phone flashlights for “Flare Guns” for a magical sight on the warm summer night. Chelsea and Quinn ended the show with a stellar rendition of “Stay Next To Me” which was only fitting for the tour name.
The tour will be looping back around to Northern California on October 7th for a show at Heart Health Park in Sacramento. Here’s to hoping we’ll hear “Snow In October” upon Chelsea’s autumn return!
The first night of Chelsea Cutler and Quinn XCII’s 23-date North America co-headline Stay Next To Me Tour started at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA on August 31, 2021. This was Chelsea Cutler’s first time returning to the Bay Area since spring 2019 since her show in San Francisco in March 2020 got cancelled as the city went into covid-19 lockdown for the first time. Thus this was the first time the Bay Area got to see Chelsea perform songs from her 2020 album How To Be Human.
With a huge smile on her face, Chelsea walked onto stage as the two backing musicians in her band played her in and kicked off her set with “Sad Tonight.” Fans screamed and danced along with Chelsea as she moved around the stage. There was an overwhelming sentiment that everyone was happy to be back after going so long without concerts during the pandemic. Although it wasn’t an enforced venue requirement, many fans chose to wear face masks for the entirety of the show and proof of vaccination / negative covid PCR test was required for all concertgoers. It felt more covid safe in the open-air amphitheater than it would have in an indoor venue of a similar capacity.
Chelsea brought out her guitar for “Crazier Things” and played a beautiful arrangement of the song that ended with her singing a cappella and foregoing the instrumental outro that is in the studio version of the track.
As she was going into the chorus of “nj”, Chelsea said “Berkeley, California if you know it!” and held out her mic to the audience to sing the lyrics. Fans' vocal melody filled The Greek.
The audience was also treated to seeing both of Chelsea’s new 2021 singles, “Walking Away” and “You Can Have It”, live in addition to a solo version of her hit duet “this is how you fall in love” with Jeremy Zucker and some older songs like “Cold Showers” and “The Reason.” She even flawlessly covered “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers with her own personal flair and the crowd excitedly sang every word of the song with her.
Chelsea had a midi pad next to her mic stand that she used throughout her performance to trigger different sounds and isolated stems. As the sun set, more of the visual production came in from the giant, suspended touring light rig. Some strobes were used towards the end of her set for a more dynamic effect. She also stood on top of the bass drum for a couple songs and caught a lot of air jumping off it.
A highlight of the night was when Chelsea announced she was working on her next album and was so excited for everyone to hear it.
She closed her set with “Your Shirt” but came back onstage at the end of Quinn XCII’s set to perform four songs together, including the live debut of their unreleased collaborative track “Calling All Angels”. It was easy to tell that the longtime friends were having a blast performing together as a duo. The audience lit up the venue with their phone flashlights for “Flare Guns” for a magical sight on the warm summer night. Chelsea and Quinn ended the show with a stellar rendition of “Stay Next To Me” which was only fitting for the tour name.
The tour will be looping back around to Northern California on October 7th for a show at Heart Health Park in Sacramento. Here’s to hoping we’ll hear “Snow In October” upon Chelsea’s autumn return!