Review: Stella Donnelly in Seattle

Q&AMusic

Sep 21

☆ BY KEEGAN MANGAHAS ☆

UPBEAT, SOMBER, OPTIMISTIC, BRUTALLY HONEST - This is just the start of describing the theater-play feeling of a show that Stella Donnelly puts on. In over a bit over an hour I went through a series of ups and downs caused by a perfectly laid out setlist.

Stella and her band walk on stage with a smile. She picks up a guitar, and to my shock also attaches a harmonica to herself. The night starts with opening songs “Season’s Greetings” and “How Was Your Day?”. The pianist and bassist are jamming together, the guitarist and drummer are grooving with each other, all while Stella is playing guitar, harmonica, and singing at the same time. Alongside the band's cheerful attitude and impressive impression, everyone around me is dancing and singing along, together creating one of the happiest venues I’ve seen.

Talking to the audience in between songs and interacting with the sweet comments yelled out to her, Stella manages to create an environment where I no longer feel like I’m at a show, and instead with a group of close friends listening to one of us perform. It’s a sense of intimacy that I have found hard to come by at shows, and it really gives an honest insight into Stella's personality and desire to express herself.

The band walks off the stage leaving just Stella and her pianist. As she sets her guitar down and takes a seat at the second piano on stage, it’s here that the show starts to take a calm turn. Everyone quiets down and stops moving, now staring and giving full attention as the songs ‘Restricted Account’ and ‘Underwater’ are given to us. Singing the latter as a duet, I’m hit with something that I’d like to describe as ‘sorrow, but with the feeling that things will eventually get better.’

Once the song ends and the claps fade away, just enough time passes for the rest of the band to get back on stage. I was surprised when instead of having a planned setlist, the audience was asked what songs they wanted to hear! This combined with the crowd interaction and quick conversations between songs added so much to the experience of the show, it’s always a treat when each show on tour is unique in some way. To add to this, I got the privilege of hearing one of my personal favorites, “Mosquito” because of the crowd pick.

Closing out the night was a three-song run all off her album Beware of the Dogs, consisting of “Die”, “Tricks”, and ending with “U Owe Me”. The talent of all the musicians making the most that they can out of a five-piece band, combined with genius songwriting and poetic lyrics, brought this stellar night to a close. Stella Donnelly is an artist I’m lucky to be able to say I’ve seen live. I’ve never seen a show before where the audience and artist seemed so connected with each other.

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We couldn’t be more stoked to have Suriel Hess as our new headliner for our upcoming LA show 🤩 🫶 Not gonna lie, us & Notorious Noise kinda went OFF with this line up & you’re not gonna wanna miss it - ticket link in bio 🎫