Photos (p+s, no media) and review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

Betty Who took the stage at The Ford in Los Angeles on August 30, backed by the LA Phil and conductor Chelsea Gallo, for a great summer evening of solo acoustic songs mixed with full orchestra-backed pop music.

The night began with a quiet performance of “The Valley,” the thoughtful opening track from 2017’s album The Valley, which is a beautiful song, and hearing it solo at the piano felt like a musical gift. It’s an apologetic song, and for people who were focused on the news last week, it also felt like it was chosen as the night’s intro to set the tone so that the evening wouldn’t be spent rehashing past days. After song one, there were yells from the crowd of “We love you, Betty!” and lots of applause from fans who were ready for a great evening of song in a beautiful setting.

The Ford is a pretty magical place. It’s tucked into the mountain off Cahuenga Blvd, across the highway from The Hollywood Bowl, with spots to picnic below the 1,200 seat outdoor amphitheater. The sound is good, the lighting’s good, the rows angle down to the stage so every seat’s a good one. It’s perfect for an intimate performance. During the runup to the show, having never been to a pop-plus-orchestra event, I wasn’t sure how the LA Phil portion of the evening would go– gimmick? Unbalanced? Super cool? and the whole concept seemed a little novel, but good music is good music, and the execution of it totally worked.

About a third of the set was solo, with Betty switching from singing at the piano stage left to singing with a guitar on a stool center stage. Betty’s pretty chatty, and always tells good stories, and on this night one running theme was about how songs can mean different things to people at different times in their lives. After the solo set a little intermission happened, and members of the orchestra took their seats on stage and prepared to play. When Betty came back out, the crowd got the full effect of pop songs plus orchestral arrangement, and we heard tracks like “I Love You Always Forever” (Betty said, “Donna Lewis LOVES me!”) and “Taste” (Betty told a story, and got conductor Chelsea Gallo involved in it too, about how the song is actually about Swedish chocolate Bugle-like treats, and not what everyone thinks it’s about, wink), and also one of my favorites, “Thinking About You,” which has a fantastic and powerful vocal at the end and was amazing to hear live on that stage in that setting.

We got to hear “Big,” “Blow Out My Candle,” and new track “Fabulous.” When the show was winding down (we got a 2-song heads up that it would be ending, no encore), one of Betty’s longtime dancers, Joshua Pelatzky, came down a side aisle clapping and got everyone up and moving, which was a festive end to the almost two-hour show.

This was a one-off event and not part of 2025’s Out of the Darkness Tour, which never saw any west coast dates, so check out www.bettywhomusic.com for all the latest news, and we’ll all cross fingers that CA/OR/WA will see some fresh tour stops before the end of the year.