Hatfield plays old and new

Juliana Hatfield wandered around Second Story before Tuesday night's show started. She talked to friends and fans, and watched the Mysteries of Life's energetic set. A handful of Mysteries of Life fans danced in front of the stage, holding their beers. One excited fan in a gray sweatshirt, jumped up and down and did his own version of the bunny hop.\nOnce Hatfield took the stage with her band, the bunny hopper's movements became twice as dramatic. She opened with the beautifully haunting "Hotels" from her Beautiful Creature album. On stage, she was at ease. Watching Hatfield, it became obvious how well she plays guitar. \nShe soloed aggressively during faster songs and fingerpicked delicately for songs like "Slow Motion." She toyed with feedback and distortion throughout the set. Hatfield's guitarist played some solos, but she commanded a great deal of them.\nSimilarly, Hatfield's singing could go from a snarl to her well-known soft and child-like voice. Some remember Hatfield's breathy, soprano voice. During the past five years, that voice lost much of the breathiness and became stronger, growing into its potential.\nWhile Hatfield didn't interact much with the crowd, she showed appreciation and joked around with the eager bunch. When she played a song unfamiliar to the crowd, someone shouted out, "What was that?" Hatfield responded, "It's a song called 'Anemia,' I wrote it for T-Boz. Well, not really, but I could have."\nHatfield dug into her repetoire and played "My Sister," which was a hit for her in 1994. From Only Everything, Hatfield performed "Fleur de Lys," sung all in French, but that didn't stop the audience from singing along. Songs from Bed like "Sneaking Around" and "Live it Up" got a huge response from the crowd. Although she didn't play "Nirvana" from Hey Babe, as an audience member requested, the fans were still happy. One highlight for Blake Babies fans was the song "Baby Gets High," which will be featured on their new album.\nInstead of leaving the stage and coming back for an encore, Hatfield simply had the band go off stage, while she played "Slow Motion" solo. It captivated the audience.\nHatfield introduced her band mid-set. She has another guitarist, a bassist and a drummer. Guitar switching happened quite often, Hatfield and her guitarist using three guitars each.\nOverall, she balanced her set between softer songs and faster songs and new songs, from Beautiful Creature and Total System Failure to her past ones. The set showed her versatility and highlighted her capabability as a song writer and guitarist. It left fans praying for her return.