Road Report: Brooke White Talks About Portland and Spokane Shows

By Brooke White Posted Sep 30th 2009 05:30PM

Brooke White is riding high on the release of her debut album, 'High Hopes & Heartbreak,' and now the 26-year-old Arizona native is on tour with fellow 'American Idol' alum Michael Johns. In this Road Report, White recalls her Portland and Spokane shows while her tourmates are out "enjoying a night on the town."

PORTLAND, OREGON: So, picking up where I left off... What I can remember of Portland is that it was a bizarre show of a million malfunctions. Besides the fact that I was still recovering from my irritating run of laryngitis, my keyboard cable had a short in it, causing it to completely shut down mid-song. [It happened] at least three times, resulting in bare naked vocals just hanging in mid-air. As I switched to guitar to play 'Little Bird,' I was startled by the sound of my own strum that was uncomfortably out of tune with the rest of the band due to a very cold room. My instinct was to stop, re-tune and start over, but with a growing track record of imperfections that night, it seemed to fit in just fine.

We had a lovely audience that remained seated during the show and seemed quite comfortable in their seats. Needless to say, I was relieved by the end to be through. After my performance, I decided to sit on the side of the stage during Michael's set. After singing our duet 'Life is Okay,' I decided it was time to get the crowd on their feet, so I went out into the house and literally took people by the hands and pulled them out of their chairs. I think I succeeded in getting the front row up dancing during 'Fire' -- fun times! Oh! And not to forget, during the day we all took a field trip to the Nike Campus and store, and bought up a bunch of sneakers and gym clothes, and it was awesome!

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON: We actually had nearly two days in Spokane, or as Michael calls it, "Spokani" (pronounced "spo-kan-ee"). On our quote un-quote "day off," we had an in-store performance at Borders Books that went rather well. What I love about these in-store shows is that the whole family shows up -- from toddlers to grandmas.

That night we all (the band and crew) found out that Colbie Caillat was playing the Knitting Factory, which is where we played the next night. The show was nearly sold-out and packed full with females, and according to the security guards, there were a couple of pretty serious girl fights. It was a fun show. Opening for Colbie was Howie Day and one of my favorite indie singer-songwriters, Andy Davis. I bought one of his t-shirts and have been sportin' it on the road. Y'all should check out his song 'Believable Doubt' -- pretty solid.

As I mentioned, the next night we performed at the Knitting Factory. The sound was impressive and I was feeling especially good because my voice had returned! Hallelujah! Also, I had some amazing friends come out to the show that came with a "care package" filled with healthier snacks for the bus, including some incredible homemade chips and salsa that we polished off in Salt Lake. :)

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