A few weeks ago, Basia Bulat released the Bouquet EP, a collection of stripped down versions of songs from her most recent album Basia’s Palace. And to celebrate, she hit the road on a solo acoustic tour, stopping at the Shadbolt Centre in Burnaby.

With no opener, Basia Bulat came out for the first of her 45(ish) minute sets, the stage adorned with a grand pianos, as well as her charango, autoharp, and acoustic guitar. She grabbed the guitar and started off with “Fool”, before going into my absolute favourite song of hers, the emotionally intense “Infamous”.

From there she played acoustic versions of wonderful songs throughout her career, picking up the autoharp for “Heart of My Own” and the building energy of “Gold Rush”, and taking a seat at the piano for an incredible version of “In the Name Of”, while capping off the first set with “Baby” en français, (a version of the song translated into French by Julie Aubé from Les Hay Babies).

Between songs, Basia would give introductions and tell stories, and after opening the second half by rocking out on the autoharp with “In the Night”, she solicited requests from the crowd. From deep cuts like “Snakes and Ladders” off her debut Oh, My Darling up to my favourite off the new album (and also included in the Bouquet EP) “Disco Polo” an ode to the titular Polish pop genre. A couple times she had to pause and jokingly asking the crowd if we were doing okay based on requesting songs like “La La Lie”, but also ruminating on playing sad songs from much earlier in her life, compared to where she’s at now.

After the request block, she gave the on-stage bouquet of flowers to the person who could guess what song was next, then launched into an incredible version of “Tall Tall Shadow”, emotion pouring out of her incredible voice, and causing more than a few eyes to tear up in the room.

After finishing off with her voice once more filling the intimate room with “Love is at the End of the World”, the crowd gave a standing ovation, but knew she’d be back because one instrument had not yet been touched. And so after a quick wardrobe change, Bulat came back out and picked up the charango for “It Can’t Be You”, her fast fingers strumming and gorgeous voice lilting as she backed off mic, and even walked off stage toward the crowd, getting everyone to join in on the oohs, and then taking her leave.

I’ve seen Basia Bulat play live about a dozen times now, and this was one of my favourites. She will often play a few songs solo during a show, but this is the first time I’ve seen her do a full solo acoustic set (or two) and her incredible voice, heartfelt songs, and charming stage presence made for a magical night.

set one
Fool
Infamous
Already Forgiven
Laughter
Heart of My Own
Gold Rush
Run
Right Now
In the Name Of
Baby (Version française)

set two
In the Night
My Angel
Little Waltz
Paris or Amsterdam
Snakes and Ladders
Good Advice
Disco Polo
Sparrow
La La Lie
Tall Tall Shadow
Are You in Love?
Love is at the End of the World
(encore)
It Can’t Be You