Carlile creates an intimate vibe

Brandi Carlile went further back than the 1970’s-influenced bluesy folk-rock that she sang on Monday night. For a moment, she sounded just like “The Great Gatsby” flapper Jordan Baker, when the latter whispered, “I like large parties. They’re so intimate.”

Playing for a packed Stage AE, Ms. Carlile started off her show saying, “I don’t love anything more than people willing to party on a Monday.” Yet, she seamlessly moved between stomping anthems and ballads that kept all the intimate qualities of a cabaret.

The first two songs alone set the tone. The enthusiasm was hyped by a melancholy intro — a lone cellist and the sound of wind, against a background of smoke illuminated in cool blue — as Ms. Carlile led her classic three-part harmony with Tim and Phil Hanseroth, on “The Stranger at My Door,” from her 2015 album “The Firewatcher’s Daughter.” Gravelly and strong, echoed by the martial beat of the guitars, her voice switched remarkably, flying right past the break between head voice and chest voice into a soprano that was by turns ethereal, seeming to emerge from a woods somewhere, and a belt that landed in the balcony.

The electric guitars began to wail, and a rainbow of strobes flickered unpredictably.

Then, on a blue stage, Ms. Carlile segued into her most well-known song, “The Story,” and it seemed that everyone in the auditorium began to sing.

But you could still hear Ms. Carlile above all when she wailed up the octave, despite the steady thrum of guitars that made every plastic bench in the balcony shake, and whispered in a ghostly soprano, “I was made for you.”

A stomping, clapping pattern set in after the first two notes of “Hard Way Home,” with strains of bluegrass and guitar slaps that had the crowd moving.

Yet, the simple lineup of cello, drums, and upright piano was homey and intimate.

Ms. Carlile hopped across four studio albums and a hodgepodge of American musical history. On “Again Today,” her voice had a sustained gentleness reminiscent of a Linda Ronstadt ballad, while the exuberantly wild “Mainstream Kid” called to mind the unpredictable rawness of “Cherry Bomb” and “Cry Baby.”

The balanced moments went on, notably “The Things I Regret,” a driving take on The Lumineers sound, using a wail that goes on for miles. She followed with “Beginning to Feel the Years,” dedicated to the bandmates who have been with her for more than a decade. A quartet grouped around a single mic, with only a ukulele for rhythm and Ms.Carlile’s graceful vibrato for polish.

In another nod to her bandmates, she said there’s “no such thing as a lead singer,” proving it with “The Eye,” a stunning ballad in three-part harmony, with only one guitar.

The crowd didn’t let Ms. Carlile go until after three encore songs. In the Avett Brothers’ “Murder in the City,” she closed with the refrain, “Always remember there’s nothing worth sharing, like the love that lets us share our name.” She had earlier mentioned the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring gay marriage a Constitutional right, excitedly saying, “You can do that now!” before dedicating a stripped down “I Belong to You,” with all the confessional quality of a love letter, to her wife. The crowd roared.

The emotional hold she had settled into with her audience came to a head during “Turpentine.” She conducted the audience in a remarkably in-tune three-part harmony. Before they began to back her up, she hollered, “Do you know what to do, Pittsburgh?”

They did.