I believe I am contented at least. Michelle Branch kicked off her new Are You Happy Now tour (which promotes her new album, Hotel Paper, releasing on June 24th) here in San Francisco, CA.

The concert started out on a sour note as she, for some reason, started the concert an hour and 15 minutes late (yes, ticket time indicated 8:00pm, but she didn't show up till 9:15pm). I could understand coming out on stage an hour after the ticket time if there were opening acts, but there weren't any, which left the crowd a little antsy. I suppose it might have been a good thing though, stand through a horrid opening act or listen to nothing? Sometimes I'd rather choose nothing.

Regardless, when she finally popped on stage to a roaring crowd (a small crowd, venue isn't exactly a collesium) the long wait was temporarily forgotten. One thing I must note though is why do young artists always wear a rock T-shirt (aka: Ramones) as if they're trying to proove something? Anyway, true to the idea behind the tour, which was to promote her new album, half the set was made up of entirely new material. We were her guinea pigs for her to test her new songs, which she some what stated to the crowd (being the first show of the tour). Every 2 songs, which were usually 1 new and 1 old, she'd conversate with the crowd, which was a nice touch. Her stage presence has definitely improved since I last saw her (probably almost 2 years ago), where all she'd do while singing was tap her feet if she had a guitar or just plain go crazy trying to jump rope with the microphone if she didn't have a guitar. Her new songs were generally good, stand outs would be Are You Happy Now (probably her most rocking song yet), Desperately (nice acoustic song), Breathe, and a few more which I don't remember the names of. Naturally, she also played some welcomed favorites (for crowd involvement) such as All You Wanted, Everywhere, and Goodbye To You. She even played Game of Love, which made me feel a little sorry for Brad, her guitarist, because he had to essentially be Santana. I'm not a huge fan of Santana but I'll freely admit that he's an incredibly talented guitarist and I'd feel sorry for anyone who had to be compared to him. Anyway, I was a little disappointed she didn't sing my personal favorite song, I'd Rather Be In Love.

Overall, the concert was excellent and there's definitely something about Michelle Branch's eyes that make everything twice as good. I'd also recommend the album for any current Michelle Branch fans as most of the new songs have the same feelings as old songs.