Many of us have experienced a Lisa Fischer performance’s magic and transformative power. Server Kyle Feldman shares his thoughts on her recent show.
Lisa Fischer performed “Wild Horses” twice at the Dakota on February 3rd, and I can without hyperbole claim that it might be the most powerful live music performance I have ever witnessed. I don’t know how to describe it except that it felt like she gently tore a hole in the space-time continuum with her voice and for nine minutes channeled and played in an expansive silky light-purple energy of pure love with her band. It was vibrational energy healing.
She has learned to perform this magic trick in front of a hundred thousand screaming fans with the Rolling Stones, so our little room was no match for her power. There were multiple standing ovations *within* the song (which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before) and at the end, she was crying, and I was crying (even as I went to clear some empty wine glasses from table 150), and I think everyone had something inside of them healed… maybe just for a moment or maybe, like me, they were changed on a fundamental level that will be manifesting for the rest of our lives.
I got to talk to Ms. Fischer after the show and I cannot describe the quality of kinship that I felt in being able to share my experience and have her mirror back to me my joy and open-heartedness. I truly felt like I was in the presence of an elevated being — one who is probably very used to being fawned over by fans and just wanted to get back to her hotel — but also one who knows exactly how powerful she is and can spare a few minutes to let someone else bask in her radiance while maintaining her humility.
I found this version on YouTube and have listened to it all week, mostly in the car, and laugh-crying every time. It’s a high and lonesome ballad, and it evokes the whole tragedy of Gram Parsons’ way-too-painful and short life… but how she performs it is nothing less than a holy sacrament.
I told my coworker Pete that I don’t plan on dying anytime soon but, when I do, it’s his job to get her to perform this at my funeral.
WRITTEN BY: KYLE FELDMAN SERVER | FEBRUARY 16, 2024
📸: RENEE JONES SCHNEIDER