Review | Sara Bareilles’s ‘Good Grief’ Tour

Sara Bareilles’s songs are the perfect songs to play during dramatic moments. I imagined the comebacks I would so know how to say to boys when I had dated them long enough to actually have a break-up conversation with them while listening to “King of Everything” on the way to middle school. In high school, when the time came to give those confident comebacks, in reality I listened to “Gravity” and replayed the bridge over and over in bed, unable to move or feel anything. In college, I played “Manhattan,” standing at Grand Central Terminal, feeling existential. 

While these moments make me chuckle at myself a bit in hindsight, I am being completely serious when I say that these songs are amazing soundtracks to any emotionally potent moment — and I would recommend you take advantage any time you can.

Born and raised in California, Sara Bareilles is a singer-songwriter who first made waves with her song “Love Song” in 2007. Crossing over into the theatrical space later in her career, Bareilles earned two Grammy Awards and nominations for both Primetime Emmy Awards and Tony Awards. She has sold more than three million albums and 15 million singles in the United States and wrote the music for the Broadway musical Waitress. 

I went with some friends to Bareilles’s show, on a tour that is celebrating her most recent album, Good Grief. It’s her first solo album in seven years, as she contends with the death of two close friends and infertility.

The show opened with a giant tarp over her and her band, with the name of the album lit across the top. They went straight into songs from the record, including “Wind Is the Weather,” “Home,” and “Still Crying.” She also played older songs “Many the Miles” and “Gravity” early on in the set, and she moved from guitar to piano for both, playing the latter solo. “Something always brings me back to you. It never takes too long. No matter what I say or do, I’ll still feel you here ’til the moment I’m gone.”

Before the show, I had read her book Sounds Like Me where she says she wrote the song at just 19. “Can you believe it?” I exclaimed to my friend on the way over.

In between songs, she would sometimes play a voice note left by a fan, sharing their story with grief. Some were sweet, some a bit funny, and all were devastating in their own way. Bareilles shared how two of her closest friends had died, and shared some funny stories about her friendship with them both. She noted how her career wouldn’t be anything without them, and saw it only fitting to celebrate their lives through the show. 

Bareilles was able to bring a balance of levity to the show with a cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” as she asked the crowd to stand up and dance. She also took a moment to interact with some fans in the audience, doing a little jig and impromptu song with the band when a mom said it was her 11-year-old daughter’s first show. “Sorry for saying ‘vagina’ … just kidding,” Bareilles joked about a story she told earlier, as the audience roared in laughter.

Then, luckily for me, Bareilles played a run of “Love Song,” “King of Anything,” and “Brave” at the end of the show. As “Brave” played, I remembered another moment I had with her music. It was a smaller one, but it felt big. When the song was initially released in 2013, I saw it at number one on the charts on iTunes. I thought it was crazy seeing her there since I had never seen her so mainstream, then played the preview. I got chills, which was a bit odd, since I typically don’t like empowerment anthems. 

It wasn’t too much, yet just enough. An inner mantra for shy girls everywhere. Then, in a moment that feels almost ancient now, I bought the song.

Now, it felt apt to soundtrack a show centered on giving power to pain by sharing it onstage through her and her fans.

“Silence won’t do you any good … let the words fall out.”