Review: Jenny Lewis at The Orange Peel

The queen was back in town last week.

No, not Parker Posey — her music equivalent, Jenny Lewis. Backed by an all-female band, the indie rock royalty returned to her go-to Asheville venue, The Orange Peel, on June 26 and was treated to a regal welcome by her loyal subjects.

Decked in a deceptively sheer (read: actually quite modest) faux I Dream of Genie outfit, the ageless, timeless singer/songwriter played a combined 11 songs from her two most recent (and, arguably, weakest) albums, Joy’All and On the Line, with all the verve that she brings to her older material. But in keeping to her tour-wide 20 selections, this focus on the new left little room for a “Silver Lining” or “Portions for Foxes,” both of which were omitted.

Those parameters nevertheless encouraged career standouts “Rise Up with Fists!!” and “Just One of the Guys” to bubble up and, harnessing the strong gender-unified energy of her comrades, these quirky feminist anthems sounded as fresh and potent as ever.

Sprinkled with such witty banter as dubbing life before 2020 “pre-panda” and bemoaning go-to  local vegetarian restaurant The Laughing Seed being closed on Wednesdays, Lewis’ confident stage presence raised a strong desire for her to go ahead and put out a live album.

But without an accompanying DVD, vicarious participants would miss out on the artist letting loose atop a complying wind machine every few songs, the ease with which guitarist Nicole Lawrence switched to pedal steel and back as needed, and the mostly harmless chaos induced by tossing giant balloons into the adoring crowd during “Red Bull & Hennessy.”

Standing directly behind the wind machine for the encore’s take on “Love Feel,” bassist Ryan Madora played the part of Good Sport as she contended with a surviving balloon floating beside her head. But the huge smiles of the band — rounded out by drummer Meg Coleman and keyboardist Jess Nolan — there and in the customary concluding “Acid Tongue” campfire sing-along indicated all was well and that another night went wildly according to plan.

(Photos by Micah Rogers)