Dar Williams impresses Bloomington crowd

You wouldn't have expected the musical experiences the audience felt at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre Tuesday night. Or rather, you wouldn't have expected it if you had never heard Dar Williams perform. Of course, you also would have been completely stunned by the end of the night. This was certainly a performance to remember for everyone who was able to be there.\nBut it wasn't stunning simply because of Williams's performance. I'm one reviewer who has always believed in the musical strengths of opening acts and Tuesday night's was something special. Kris Delmhorst, appearing in Bloomington for the first time, played her eclectic mix of well-crafted acoustic tunes, each one lyrically smart and musically developed beyond reproach. Delmhorst came onstage to a screaming crowd that packed the theater, saying just one thing. "No, I'm not Dar…but you're getting closer."\nBut she didn't need to say that, because she was an opening act with enough quality material to stand on her own as a featured artist. A true testament to the power of her performance was the mad rush during intermission by newly converted fans to buy her albums. Incidentally, I bought two. I mean, this was music too good to pass up.\nWilliams was right on with her performance from the start. And her fans showed their thanks by cheering like no crowd I've heard in a long time. We even had the joy of meeting her youngest fan, three-year-old Taylor, who was brought up on stage to give Williams a gift she had made. She almost stole the show, dancing along to Williams's performance of "The Babysitter's Here."\nBut seriously, folks, if you are interested in solidly crafted folk music that focuses not just on music but on the art of songwriting, Dar Williams is the ticket for you. Her stories are often heartwarming and humorous at the same time, combining subtle emotions with the truth of real life. Tuesday night she brought the roof down with a performance of her hit "The Christians and the Pagans," in which a family of Christians and their Pagan cousins gather for Christmas dinner, despite their differences in belief. And crowd pleasers like "Iowa," a midwestern love song, and "The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Coed," a humorous glance at a once wannabe radical woman, gave the crowd plenty to cheer about.\nWilliams mentioned during the concert that she hadn't been to Bloomington in six years. At the time she was last here, her fame was just beginning. Now she's become well-known as a leader in creatively written folk music that doesn't disappoint. It took six long years, but she came back to Bloomington and we showed her plenty of love. Let's just hope she doesn't wait that long to come back.