Nicole Berke Rocks Toad And Says Au Revoir
It was sweet, yes, but bittersweet when Nicole Berke played her last local show at Toad recently. After a strong opening set by Cody James, Nicole sang 17 songs – some old, some new and with a few really good covers mixed in. Nicole has moved to the west coast, Oregon, for her last year of college. Boston has been fortunate to have her in town these past years and performances like this one prove it. Even with some new musicians thrown in the mix, she delivered a rock solid set with great songs and stunning vocals.
Those who know me and follow the blog probably know that I’m a big fan of Nicole Berke. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her perform five times over the last two years. But most of those performances were either short sets with only a few songs or in coffeehouses. When Nicole lets loose in a place like Toad, it’s a very different show indeed.
And Toad was the perfect venue for this show. I call it her Au Revoir (until we meet again) show because Nicole has a lot of ties to the Boston area and I believe we will see her perform again, either because she moves back or because she is touring. I’d prefer the former, but I’ll take the latter too. Even the Boston Globe caught on – running a short story on Nicole just before this show. She is a rare talent across three important dimensions: songwriting, piano and vocals. She is incredibly strong in all three and she’s not even out of college yet. While on stage, and in conversations I’ve had with her, she’s talked about wanting to continue to play and perform full time. Let’s all hope she gets that chance because her music is compelling and her delivery solid.
I caught up with Nicole after the show and asked about her move.
“I’m sad to leave Boston,” she said, “but I’m excited for what’s coming in my move.” She talked about this on-stage as well, remarking that she had found such good musicians to back her in this last local gig just before having to leave. The performance featured James Williams playing percussion and Alex Nichols on guitar. Although Alex had practice with Nicole for this show, James came on completely cold. Nicole had met him a few nights earlier when he was playing in a band that opened for Jesse Dee. By the way, Jesse Dee is another local artist to watch – that man can sing and swing like nobody’s business. I found that out when I saw him open for Etta James and the House of Blues. Hopefully I’ll be able to cover him soon. But I digress. Nicole asked James to play and he did a great job. With no opportunity to rehearse, he came on and sounded great. Here’s the three of them playing Come On, which is perhaps Nicole’s catchiest pop tune. It’s on the EP Frondescence which I encourage you to go and buy.
James Williams, Nicole Berke and Alex Nichols at Toad
Nicole opened the set by thanking Cody James:
I’d like to thank the amazing Cody James, for opening. I’d also like to thank all my old friends and fans that are here and all of you out there that I don’t know. I’m excited to play, so let’s get started.
After the song, she lamented:
I’ve been living here for two years and now I just found an awesome drummer and guitarist. Why do I have to go?
The next few songs showcased Nicole’s songwriting skills. From Head On A String (You wouldn’t believe it // But she’s got her head on a string ) to Subconscious Heart, which is loosely based on the T. S. Elliot poem The Hollow Men. She’s not the first artist to latch onto that poem’s final lines: (This is how the world ends // Not with a bang but a whimper). In Nicole’s case, the lines preceding those famous words are evocative: (He woke with a fright // In the middle of the night // Saying, “what if the world ends?”). Then Nicole played After the Flood. She explained that she had written this song on guitar, which she was learning, but decided to play it on piano. I’m pretty sure she debuted this song at Perk’s Coffeehouse, because I was there and am one of the only people that’s actually seen her play it on guitar.
Nicole Berke performing After The Flood
Her next song was also special. She explained that she wrote it several years ago, but have forgotten about it until her mother mentioned it. So she played it for her mother, who was in the audience.
James, Nicole and Alex perform You Don't Know Nothin' About Love
Set List
- Nothing New
- Come On
- Pain In My Heart
- Head On A String
- Subconscious Heart
- After The Flood (piano version)
- Face Up
- Words (working title)
- Recognize
- You Don’t Know Nothin’ About Love
- Dark Days, Bright Nights
- The Phoenix
- Chain of Fools
- Stormy Monday
- Can’t Help It
- Box of Blues
- Move On
Now this is the point where things got really intense. For the next song, Stormy Monday, Nicole didn’t play piano. She had Alex play guitar and she stood up and sang. And the transformation was incredible. Nicole has a great voice and without the distraction of the piano, she didn’t just sing it, she delivered an incredible, powerful song. It literally put shivers down your spine. She would slide up to key so confidently, so deliberately that you just hung on the edge of your seat waiting for her to hit it. And when she did it was dead on perfect. When she finished, the whole club was screaming and cat calling – some were even standing and applauding. It was truly remarkable. I have never seen Nicole sing like that and it was just a fantastic moment to watch.
Nicole Berke Singing Stormy Monday
After the applause had died down, she remarked, tongue in cheek, “maybe I should have done that one last.” But she wasn’t finished yet. During Can’t Help It, she did some improvisation with James. She sang the refrain while he laid a beat down and you could see her thinking, sensing the mood of the crowd and then singing through it again, improvising until she brought the piano back in an finished the song. At one point in the middle of this, she said, “Oh, why not, I’m having too much fun,” and launched back into the lyrics.
As the night drew to a close, Nicole ended with the appropriately titled, Move On. Before singing it, she addressed the audience one last time:
I have just one more song and I want to that this really means a lot to me. I can’t get sentimental – I’m sure I’ll come back and so this is not a farewell…
And I hope that’s true, because Boston, maybe Cambridge, more strictly speaking, is really going to miss such an amazing talent.
