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West Valley City • As showtime approached, there was an eerie feeling in the air.
No matter how much you tried not to think about it, there it was: a strong, consistent wind that left the overhead lights and speakers swinging ominously. Dark clouds in the skies wiped away a rainbow and sprinkled drops of water onto the crowd at Usana Amphitheatre.
And just a few moments before opening act Sara Bareilles took the stage, thunder was heard in the distance.
Saturday was the one-week anniversary of the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair that killed six people and injured scores more.
In its third show since the tragedy brought on by a murderous storm, Sugarland appeared to leave its own sense of vulnerability and sadness offstage. The duo of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, backed by five musicians, soldiered through a high-energy, 90-minute show that illustrated that the most impressive theatrics of any show is commanding stage presence and good ol' fashioned showmanship.
Because much of its set was destroyed in the collapse, the pop-country band was bereft of the ornate and ooh-inducing spectacle that accompanied the Incredible Machine Tour throughout the summer before Indiana. (It was ironic that the band's most recent album was packed with rock anthems designed to be accompanied with arena staples like pyro and fireworks, and now fate has left the band with little more than nothing.)
As a result, the stage at Usana Amphitheatre was the barest I have ever seen it, with the only accompaniment to the band being a few stage lights, overhead lights, two spotlights and some fog from a machine. There were no video screens, to the understandable dismay of those in the farthest reaches of the lawn — but compared to the anguish that still remains in Indiana, it puts things in perspective.
Aside from creating intriguing silhouettes of the performers, the stripped-down set seemed to inject an authenticity to the feel-good music. Lesser bands use visuals as a crutch, but with Nettles high-kicking her way through her set in her black unitard, all that mattered was the music.
And the music was loud and heartfelt, adding a poignancy to the band's most famous song, "Stay." But that ballad was an aberration in an up-tempo set that included a medley of Britney Spears, Beyonce, Cee Lo Green and "9 to 5." And who can feel bad with a verse of "Sweet Home Alabama" covered near the end of the show, especially when an ear-splitting recording of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" opened the show?
Bareilles (getting ready to be a judge on this fall's NBC show "The Sing-Off") made a few indirect comments on the Indiana tragedy. Sugarland did not address the matter at all until after the encore break, when Nettles dedicated their song "Love" to the victims, emergency workers and crew as a white flag bearing the word "Love" was carried through the crowd. (It was followed by a cover of the lightweight "Come On, Eileen," which dulled the impact.)
I will leave it to others whether that was insensitive or an attitude of moving on, considering that six families are in the midst of funerals and unfathomable sorrow. It didn't go unnoticed that one of the first songs played over the PA after the show was U2's "Walk On," which memorably references "all that you can't leave behind."
People grieve and memorialize in different ways. Perhaps for Sugarland, being onstage helps them heal. It sure didn't look like any of the Utahns in the crowd were hurting.
dburger@sltrib.comFacebook.com/sltribmusicTwitter: @davidburger Sugarland
P Bottom line • Sadness of tragedy left 2,000 miles away as Sugarland moves on with energy and enthusiasm.
When • Saturday
Where • Usana Amphitheatre, West Valley City