Lorraine's Reviews

Ramapo College 2002

This was the first time I had the pleasure to hear Ms. Snow in concert since her appearance at Bergen Community College in 1999, so my anticipation level was high. The venue itself was comfortable and intimate, but unlike the sold-out/people looking-for-tickets-the-night-of the former performance, the later had way too many vacant seats as far as I'm concerned. To continue the comparison, while the former's audience was attentive, appreciative and in-tune with Phoebe in every way that a good audience should be, the latter’s was dull and unappreciative of her dry and witty humor. In short, they were too old. I have a feeling that many in the audience had season tickets to Ramapo's fall season (if Ramapo has a fall season) and they attended only because they had already paid for it in advance. One older couple actually got up and left before it was over! Unthinkable! Unbelievable!

This reviewer cannot enjoy a concert, even when it's Phoebe, unless the audience of which I am a member shares my enthusiasm. On this Saturday night, while I, of course, reveled in her fascinating voice and delivery, I was distracted by who I felt to be a mostly undeserving audience and I was upset because I think she felt it, too. The standing ovation at the end of her first and only encore was too little, too late.

Unfortunately, since my last review of that former, memorable performance, I have gone into premature, chemically induced menopause and my once clear and fact-filled brain is now cloudy and somewhat empty. While I was able to remember every song she sang then, I can now only remember that she sang Poetry Man, Something Real and Love's in Need of Love and also a few new ones that will appear on a yet-to-be released CD. But the fuzziness in my memory of her playlist is not because it was an un-memorable performance. She was in top form, her band was tight and fine, and when it was over, I still wanted more. I'll always want more. Unfortunately, we'll be celebrating my daughter's 12th birthday on December 13, when she'll be appearing at Joe's Pub in the city, and I'm sure that a Joe's Pub audience will more than make up for again, what I felt to be a lukewarm reception at Ramapo. Maybe I'll see some NY/NJ Phoebe fans on New Year's Eve, when she'll be performing at Montclair's First Night. I can't think of a better way to “sing in” the New Year.

Bergen Community College 1999

Thought I'd let you and all our other die-hard Phoebe fans hear a first-hand review of her performance (which I never would have heard about if not for your wonderful web site)...

New Jersey's jewel - Bergen County's pride and joy - gave a stellar, sold out performance last night at Bergen Community College's small, intimate theatre to an appreciative, mostly baby boomer audience, some of whom graduates of Ms. Snow's Teaneck High School class of (not mentioned out loud!) (A former classmate actually got Phoebe to sign her yearbook early on during the two hour show.)

She opened the show with "Love's in Need of Love," a too-infrequently heard Stevie Wonder anthem which brought tears to my eyes. She and her absolutely fabulous back-up band paid homage to our real divas (Mariah Carey? please) - with Dusty Springfield, Etta James, Janis Joplin, and Joni Mitchell covers, and thrilled her fans to some concert standards - Poetry Man, Two-Fisted Love, Rockin Pneumonia and Boogey Woogie Flu, Every Night, Tossin and Turnin.

She also gave us a few bars of an a capella aria (sans microphone) to show us what five years of opera training has produced.

In all the years this writer has seen Ms. Snow perform, she has only mentioned her daughter, Valerie Rose, very briefly, if at all. Last night, she not only spoke of her now 23 year old "best friend" and of her perilous first year of life due to birth injuries, but also dedicated a Bob Dylan cover (I Believe in You - but I'm not sure if this is the actual title although it is line repeated throughout the song) to her. She also mentioned that she has (or will) be submitting a story to the prime time "Touched By An Angel" TV drama (CBS) about her daughter and then followed up that news by singing Your My Angel (even she was incredulous covering an Aerosmith single!) After a standing ovation brought her back to the stage for one final encore, she once again sang a song for Valerie, one, she stated, whose lyrics her daughter would most certainly verbalize if she did, in fact, speak - Never Never Land. It was heart-breaking, tender, and beautifully rendered.

This, and other covers she performed last night, appear on her most recently released CD, I Can't Complain, which, she joked, only 13 people bought. After I buy my copy today, I guess that will make 14.