k.d. lang at the Beacon Theatre

Kathryn Dawn Lang was born in Edmonton, Alberta, but at age nine moved with her family to the Canadian prairie in Consort, Alberta. While attending college, she became fascinated with the life and music of Patsy Cline and decided to pursue a career as a professional singer. After her graduation in 1982 she took on the professional name k.d. lang, moved to Edmonton, formed a Patsy Cline tribute band called the Reclines in 1983, and began recording albums in 1984. Lang first earned international recognition in 1988 when she performed as "The Alberta Rose" at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. A Canadian women's magazine, Chatelaine, selected Lang as its "Woman of the Year" in 1988. Lang was known for her country twang until her 1992 album, Ingénue, a set of adult-oriented pop songs that had little country influence and included her pop hit, "Constant Craving." Since then, the four Grammy and eight Juno award-winning lang has been a pop crooner. Her most recent album, case/lang/veirs, a collaboration with Neko Case and Laura Veirs, was released in 2016. Lang presently lives in Portland, Oregon.

k.d. lang's current tour celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Ingénue album, and so the performance tonight at the Beacon Theatre featured lang singing the album in its entirety plus a few additional songs. Lang came on stage in a dark suit and barefoot, backed by a seven-piece band. The mezzo-soprano immediately showcased an enormous range, singing clearly and loudly, unencumbered by the band's subtle accompaniment. The charm was that her singing seemed honest and uncontrived; there were no gimmicks or calculated crescendos, just a naturally unadorned voice with perfect pitch, strong timbre and soft vibrato. After the third song, lang spoke to the audience, framing the intent of the concert, then stated that she would say no more until the completion of Ingenue so as not to disturb the "hypnotic" nature of the album. That said, the music varied a bit with jazz, pop and Latin undertones. She concluded the main set with covers of her three favorite songwriters, which she pointed out all happened to be Canadian. Her encore included "Sing It Loud," the title track of her 2011 album, and she dedicated the song to yesterday's young participants in the March for Our Lives. For those who anticipated a country segment, lang moved away from that genre 25 years ago; her music now is middle-of-the-road adult contemporary and she did this extraordinarily well.

Visit k.d. lang at www.kdlang.com.

Ingénue

Save Me

The Mind of Love

Miss Chatelaine

Wash Me Clean

So It Shall Be

Still Thrives This Love

Season of Hollow Soul

Outside Myself

Tears of Love's Recall

Constant Craving

Honey and Smoke (case/lang/veirs cover)

I Dream of Spring

Help Me (Joni Mitchell cover)

Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover)

Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover)

Encore:

Sing It Loud

Sleeping Alone