So it was my first time at the Belly Up, and the venue lived up to my expectations for sure. Fair sized space, intimate vibe, and I'm pretty certain that Dar Williams helped me appreciate it even more.

After the first pretty song Dar played I was worried that the night would be a merry-go-round of 'same same but different' songs, each with a similar structure to the last one, only with different poetry for lyrics. But as the tunes rolled out, I was only left hanging to hear the next. And every few in between, Dar would take a moment to give a short but sweet explanation of her inspirations for different pieces - which ranged from people to places to proposition 8.

I was really into her different plucking styles and the raw sound of her acoustic guitar. And as a performer, she is cool, and engages with the crowd. Towards the end of the session, Dar even got the audience to sing along to one of her catchy creations.

Over all... her voice, playing and songwriting was beautiful. Every one in the room was chilled out at the end of the show, which is always nice on a humpday Wednesday. I'd happily check her out again and maybe even buy her album.