Photos and review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

There are artists who tour with hundred-man crews and semi trucks and get top shelf booze on their green room riders, and there are artists who you know would be on stage singing their hearts out even if they were touring small and relying on selling merch for band revenue. Carina Round, who brought herself and three band members to the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco on October 12th for the 20^th anniversary tour of her album The Disconnection, is both of those artists. She tours the world with Tears for Fears and Puscifer, and then plays smaller clubs like SAH in San Francisco, giving everything to her fans no matter which stage she’s on.

The venue was smallish, with a moderately sized but super excited crowd pushed up against the stage, and Round seemed to be having a good time chatting with them. “You’re fucking awesome. I mean you’re dancing. You’re heckling. You’re handsome. You’re drunk. It’s perfect.” Lots of singing along and wearing of Tool t-shirts was happening, and Round called out an enthusiastic singer-dancer stage left wearing a bright orange pumpkin-themed button down by saying “You’re fucking awesome.”

Then someone called out the name of a song and she matter of factly said, “Wrong band,” but in that Maynard fan’s defense it would’ve been easy to make a request for a favorite song from a performer with multiple great bands like she’s in and make a little hopeful error.

This particular Saturday night saw Round and her band do a 13-song set that played The Disconnection in order in full, starting with “Shoot” and ending with “Elegy.” They played a bonus round of four more songs, including “Pick Up The Phone” and then closed the main set with “For Everything A Reason.” Round came back for a two-song encore after much of the hall emptied out (it’s the first time I’ve seen the fake ending encore work where many folks were fooled and left!) and finished the night with acoustic versions of “Do You” and “Backseat.”

The set was full of musical contradictions and creativity – quiet to full throttle and back again, with drummer Gunnar Olsen, Mike Chivaro on bass, and Sam Stewart on guitar doing tight-knit justice to Round’s super creative songs.

Carina Round could be the hardest working singer out there, check her Wikipedia for testament to the breadth of her history and influence, plus anyone who can go from her own “Paris” to Tears For Fears’ “Suffer the Children” to Puscifer’s “The Remedy” in a two-year touring span you have to give props to. For the lucky audiences who have the chance to see her for two remaining nights of tour in Seattle and Vancouver you’re in for a treat. Check out all the latest news and tour info at www.carinaround.com.