  urlLink M.Ward @ Swedish Music Hall 07-09-04 Openers: Etienne de Rocher, For Stars Show Buds: W-gal & Friends Abby and I missed the first band, but we managed to catch the 2nd half of For Stars’s set. The singer was a man resembling Will Ferrell who wore a loud Hawaiian shirt. This made me crack up for a while even though he was singing heartfelt sad songs. I kept thinking I was watching a skit in which Will Ferrell parodies an emo singer-songwriter. When I got over the Will Ferrell resemblance, I enjoyed their set. The singer’s voice sounds like an oboe--very pure, warm, and reedy. They say that the oboe is the instrument that most resembles the human tone. Other singers I think sound like oboes are Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan. So in conclusion, did this man sounded like Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan?
At times. Which I think is a feat for a male singer. When he sang high, it wasn’t blatently falsetto, like how drag queens talk, all airy and fake. It was equal to the purity of tone that choir boys can achieve before their voices break. Now imagine an oboe singing sad heartfelt songs. You can forgive the oboe for it’s questionable taste in attire and resemblance to a deadpan comedian. M.Ward was wonderful. His haunted songs made me think of abandoned performance halls… of ghostly loves and a time before I was born.
His voice is deep, froggy, and echo-y giving him a maturity and wisdom that belies his youth. His songs had elements of jazz and blues and country all tied into brief, achingly pretty melodies. He reminded me of older-Billie Holiday in several ways: his phrasing is influenced by jazz vocals, but also his voice is roughened yet sweet like Lady Day’s became in the 1940s. If Tom Waits cleared his throat a couple times, this is what it would sound like mixed in with a little bit of Louis Armstrong’s craggy yet rich tone. In addition to Billie Holiday, Abby thought he also sounded like Leon Redbone and Nina Simone. M.Ward is a great musician.
He sang a beautiful song that I didn’t even realize was a cover until I recognized these words: “And if you say run/ I’ll run with you” It was a cover of Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” rendered sentimental and plaintive rather than imperative and bossy. Though M.Ward doesn’t talk much between songs, he cast a spell over the crowd that night with his quiet beautiful songs. Abby and I stayed til the very end. Also, what does the “M.” stand for? I guessed he shortened it to M. because his real name is Montgomery and he didn’t want to be confused with the department store. Someone else said it was Matt. 
