Vicci Martinez “for reals”

NBC’s “The Voice” finalist Vicci Martinez rocked, soothed, and soulfully enthralled the standing room only crowd that squeezed close to watch the pint-sized musical dynamo perform for free on the lawn of the Clearwater Casino Resort last night.

There’s nothing small about Martinez’s voice or the range of her musical talent as the guitar-playing, song-writing wunderkind showed the audience she can rock nearly as hard as Mick Jagger, be as bluesy as BB King, deliver a folk standard as strong as Sarah McLachlan, and occasionally lace in a jazzy Latin influence that would make Tito Puente proud. Her talent is simply huge.

Dubbed “The Voice of the Northwest” after finishing in the final four of the inaugural season of the hit TV show, the Tacoma-native Martinez told the audience she had just returned from Sweden, landing at Seatac at noon. “I haven’t slept in the last two days and I was afraid I was going to fall asleep on stage,” she confessed, which explained the Red Bull she consumed throughout her performance.

Martinez did the opposite: She gave another explosive performance that she and her band are known for, continuing her streak as the only group to have played every year of the Suquamish summer lawn concert series.

Confiding in the audience mid-show she said, “I used to not even know what 8:00 am looks like,” explaining that she is so busy now that when the clock hits 5:00 am she’s up and ready.  “I am doing what I worked my whole life for,” she said. “I am the happiest I have ever been.”

Martinez performed at Treehouse Café in April on Bainbridge Island. Before the show last night, Islander Amy Curran, who attended the Treehouse performance, noted that Martinez’s voice was “almost too big for Treehouse” and that an outdoor concert setting should suit her well. It did.

Despite the size of the venue which was packed by a diverse and eclectic crowd, Martinez clearly felt at home on stage, back with her band, performing for locals. She played from her own repertoire as well as songs she performed on “The Voice.” She got so comfortable during the show that she confessed, “I’m probably telling you too much,” pausing before adding her signature line: “I’m just being for reals.”

During her encore at around 8:40, Martinez affectionately referenced our Island, saying that she needed to end her set because “Bainbridge might push us out!”

http://www.insidebainbridge.com/2011/07/22/vicci-martinez-for-reals-plus-video/
photos & video by Keith Hawkins