Daiana Feuer on October 24th, 2016

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With a thumb in her pocket, shaggy blonde hair dangling over her face, and her other hand gripping the microphone like a mighty hammer, Kay Hanley resumed her place as a rock ’n’ roll frontwoman with cool, sweet, passion at the sold-out Troubadour performance. There’s nothing pretentious about Letters To Cleo. Hanley was dressed like she rolled out of bed and picked up her favorite T-shirt from the chair where it’s permanently draped. Did she still look pretty? Definitely. But her femininity doesn’t come with rhinestones. It never has. That’s not to say Hanley didn’t indulge in the baby-doll fashion craze of the 1990s, in fact she wore it pretty well, but she’s always come across as something of a badass. Beyond the cuteness of her demeanor, her femininity is communicated more deeply through the stories she tells in song, her lyrical flair, and of course the girlish pluck of her voice.

After a seventeen-year hiatus, the Boston-bred alternative rockers recently announced a comeback in the form of an EP, “Back To Nebraska.” While they performed mostly songs from their most treasured albums, “Wholesale Meats And Fish,” “Go!” and “Aurora Gory Alice,” the new tunes neatly folded into the set without disruption. As an audience member/former-superfan, it came as quite a surprise to find that all the lyrics still live inside your mind somewhere. Everyone sang, hanging on every syllable, nodding their heads, clapping their hands, making for a warm, happy environment for all to share and be transported to whoever they used to be in 1995.

Photos by Daiana Feuer