Grade: B+ | Genre: Pop Summary: Vanessa was incredible. Her voice was crystal, bold and alluring. Her finesse at the piano and the maturity developing in her songwriting continue to show tremendous promise. Smith's Olde Bar was a fabulous, quaint venue to take all of her in and if it wasn't for select obnoxious members of the audience, this would have been close to perfect show.

Any of you even remotely thinking of dismissing Vanessa based on pop radio driving the spike that was "A Thousand Miles" completely through you, check yourself. Vanessa Carlton is an extremely talented artist who just happens to have a label that pushes her lighter, radio friendly tunes leaving her more introspective fare quietly tucked away on the album. Even Vanessa realizes it. After finishing "Winter", she setup "A Thousand Miles" by saying that this is the song she was going to be playing for the rest of her life but that's ok because it gave her the opportunity to write songs about vampires and unicorns [in reference to "Winter"].

Who shows up early to a Vanessa Carlton show to loudly talk through the opener's set? I don't care if the opener is a tone deaf American Idol contestant, they still deserve your respect when they are on that stage. They've agreed to open their musical life to us for the evening by stepping up on that stage to round out your night with a larger dose of music than you were expecting. The least you can do is be quiet and turn an ear in their direction. You never know. You just might find that your new favorite artist is standing right in front of you yet you'll never know it because you are babbling on senselessly. If your conscious doesn't poke you over being unfathomably rude to this hard working artist, take a second to consider everyone else around you whose good time you are ruining with your shallow self-importance. It's not a coincidence that everyone else is quiet. They didn't pay their hard earned money ($20 in this case) to have to suffer though you running your trap. As for those who go above and beyond the call of duty and heckle the artist, like this particular gentleman did by screaming at Ari, "we want Vanessa", you are pond scum. If you are this person in the audience (there seems to always be at least one and you know who you are), shut the hell up! If you feel an unyielding desire to talk, do us all a favor and go to the bar where you won't be disturbing everyone. I apologize to the 99% of you this doesn't apply to, but if I can get through to 1 person I've improved the concert going experience for all of us. All right I've said my piece and I'll abdicate my soapbox.

Vanessa entered the stage looking stunning in her black dress and settled in behind her classic piano. I had previously had the pleasure of seeing her at the Eleven 50 when she was in Atlanta touring to support Be Not Nobody. While that show was very good in it's own right, the venue was fairly large which fostered an inevitable detachment from the artist. Smith's was just the opposite. I was about ten feet from the stage and I could see every tinge of emotion come across her face and watch her voice dance through the harmonic spectrum at will.

She played a full set mainly focusing on her new material drawn from Harmonium. She did include some older favorites from Be Not Nobody as well as a duo of unreleased tracks. She was definitely feeding off the more intimate environment lapsing into VH1 storyteller mode to usher many of the songs. It was cool to discover what salient moments in Vanessa's life gave birth to these pieces whether it was the unrequited lust of a next-door neighbor "Wanted" or a ghost she imagined living in her room as a child taking the form of "She Floats".

The two best moments of the evening were "Private Radio" and "White Houses". She made a point to sufficiently warn us prior to "Private Radio" that since the track had two Vanessa's singing, her sound guy would be queuing up a vocal track to support her. She wanted to make sure we were all in the know lest we think she was pulling an Ashlee Simpson on us. Everyone loved that she was knocking her talent challenged contemporary because we all knew that she was the real deal. There was no smoke and mirrors in this act. She also showed that she could laugh at herself. When the vocal track wasn't queuing up correctly, she stopped playing and had an impromptu practice session with her sound guy as we sat as witnesses. It was a moment that Vanessa became human and we loved her all the more.

The somewhat controversial "White Houses" was the best moment of the evening. Due to lyrics referencing a girl losing her virginity in everyday high school America, its been censored by both MTV and VH1. Now let me get this straight. Booty shaking, cleavage hoisting MTV has the audacity to censor Vanessa Carlton for a subtle lyrical reference to sex? The hypocrisy is staggering. She explained that the song was basically about growing up, not sex. Sex was a part of that growing up. An undercurrent of emotions and feeling arose in her when performing this track. You could tell it was something very personal to her and it transformed an already impressive song into the shining moment of the night.

Vanessa was incredible. Her voice was crystal, bold and alluring. Her finesse at the piano and the maturity developing in her songwriting continue to show tremendous promise. She had a great rapport with the audience through her VH1 storyteller moments dressing featured numbers and her general lightness in the asides. Smith's Olde Bar was a fabulous, quaint venue to take all of her in and if it wasn't for select obnoxious members of the audience, this would have been close to perfect show.

Be sure to check out Vanessa Carlton's latest album Harmonium.