Caroline Rose at the Wise Hall

Review and Photos – Caroline Rose at the Wise Hall, Vancouver, May 22 2024

Caroline Rose is a New York-based singer, songwriter and producer who entered the music scene in 2012. After releasing several albums, they took an extended hiatus from touring and releasing new material to change up their style. In 2018, the release of their album Loner, represented a radical shift away from their previous work, blending pop and alternative rock elements, and incorporating prominent synthesizers throughout. On Loner, their personality shined through with their humorous, satirical and sarcastic lyrics, with their distinct upbeat voice.

The show was originally slated for a different venue, but the charm of the Wise Hall felt right for Caroline’s intimate solo performance. Caroline came out after the eccentric opener La Force with just a plugged-in acoustic guitar, amp and microphone and looked immediately at home with the excited crowd forming up at the stage. This solo show was a departure from the rest of their tour their band. Caroline mentioned she had been asked in an interview, “Do you miss your band?” to which they responded, “I’ve been smelling their farts for eight weeks, I’m okay with a break.” Their humour was contrasted by their powerful voice. They belted incredibly long notes that awed the audience during the opening title track of their latest album, “Love/Lover/Friend”. Listening to the studio recording only captures a fraction of how incredible their voice is live.

Caroline played several other jaw dropping songs from The Art of Forgetting including, “Where Do I Go From Here” and “Miami”, each dripping with their perfectly-crafted songwriting, strumming of guitar, and the voice that hits every high and low note with ease. It seems their new album fits perfectly in this intimate and vulnerable setting as the emotional themes shined throughout as opposed to the rockier tracks of their previous albums.

Caroline broke up the show by telling funny stories about their tour, and adventures they went on as a “working class” musician, including joining an unprepared climate protest culminating in Caroline performing an off the cuff acapella version of “Money” on national television as they didn’t get the permits to play music at the rally.

With every song or interlude, the crowd fell increasingly more in love with everything about the performance and erupted in applause at every new, old or previously unreleased song Rose was performing. Caroline returned the favour by complimenting the crowd for being so respectful and attentive by listening to every silly story they brought up. Including sharing one that was “the most Canadian thing”: While searching for “tourist attractions” around where they were staying, they found what they thought was a fancy restaurant called,  “Acorn & Squash” only to discover two quite rotund cats that aggressively want to be pet by people passing by.

Caroline stated they love to do solo sets because there was no one to “stop [them] from going off track” and they could perform whichever song they felt like putting on for the crowd (the setlist featured is only “mostly” accurate). Surprisingly, though appreciated, Caroline did not perform their big hits, “Feel the Way I Want” or “Jeannie Becomes A Mom”, to give  room for more emotional and powerful songs the audience wasn’t as familiar with and create a cohesive and incredible night for those in the audience.

Closing out the night was the song Caroline loves to perform the most, but has never been able to fit on an album, “Goodbye May.” The raw emotions and chord progression was the perfect way to end the night and the crowd dispersed, still elated from such an incredible solo performance that you would be hard-pressed to captured anywhere else.