She & Him in Chicago
Zooey Deschanel is one of the reasons I had a whole Pinterest board full of 1950’s dresses in junior high. I have been a fan of hers since I was little and saw Elf in theatres, so the fact that I have now seen her perform Christmas songs on a cold night at The Chicago Theatre is truly surreal.
Photo courtesy of Official She & Him Instagram
She & Him, an indie-folk duo consisting of Zooey Deschanel and Matthew Ward, have embarked on a tour in celebration of the 10th anniversary of their album, A Very She & Him Christmas. I own this album on vinyl and listened to it in preparation in the days leading up to the show.
The theatre’s interior was beautifully decorated with garlands and lights. I rarely need an excuse to dress up and decided to wear a red tartan plaid dress for the show. Once I got to my seat (which was on the main floor and so generously close!) and began to settle in, I noticed that I wasn’t the only one who dressed for the occasion! I was in a plethora of Santa hats, holiday sweaters, and red and green outfits. This made me smile, because if you know me at all, you know I love a theme and I love Christmas.
I was initially surprised that they had a stand up comedian as their opener, but it ultimately made sense. Zooey Deschanel was a pioneer of the retro-quirk style that became popular in the 2010s. A lot of musical acts in the 60s would commonly have comedians open up their show - it was a curated style choice! The comedian, Pete Lee, had some pretty good jokes and gradually warmed the crowd up - most of his jokes were about being from the midwest, so he brought relatability. Although he wasn’t the worst comic I’d seen, this was a very bold choice to make and I wasn’t 100% sure if it flowed in execution.
Once the show started, just the duo came out and did a stripped down version of “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”. Deschanel wore the most beautiful emerald green dress with a bright red bow belt. Once the track finished, their full band - consisting of drums, bass, keys, and two background singers - joined them on stage. M. Ward played lead guitar and vocals. Zooey alternated between playing the jingle bells, rocking a shaker, and strumming her ukulele (Which looked like a mini fender guitar? So cute!).
Zooey’s voice feels like it was made for Christmas music, and she sounded even better live! Her vocals sounded incredibly healthy and strong, filling up the entire venue - it truly confounds me that she hasn’t been on Broadway. The tone of her voice wouldn’t fit in more traditional musicals, but I thought that there were more contemporary shows that could work for her jazzier voice, some that came to mind (if they were ever revived) were Bright Star, She Loves Me, The Producers, Young Frankenstein, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, or Bonnie & Clyde. I especially think she would be perfect for any role that has any comedy involved, since she is such a great actress!
The stage was also wonderfully decorated with many trees that blinked or changed color along with particular songs. There were also cotton-y snowdrifts, and boxes of presents scattered around the stage. There was a particular stack by Zooey where in the top box was all of her percussion instruments. There wasn’t too much call for audience participation, but there was some chatting in between songs: Zooey said that this was her first time playing at The Chicago Theatre, and she kept referring to the theatre as “Phantom of the Opera-esque”. She also mentioned her stint at Northwestern University where she briefly was a student. It was cool to see how multi-talented she was - her celebrity-singing-career doesn’t feel forced at all and let’s be real…they usually do! But she has the chops to actually back it up.
There was a lot of chemistry between the band members; they’re a really tight set of performers and were able to handle all technical hiccups well! I think Zooey’s voice really shined when she was singing directly alongside her backup singers— all of their voices blended together so perfectly. Their version of “Mele Kalikimaka” was incredible and sounded straight out of the 60’s! The same went for their cover of “Winter Wonderland”.
Since Christmas songs do tend to be on the shorter side, they were able to cover a lot of ground. It was nice to see some less covered songs like “(Everyone’s Waitin’ For) The Man With the Bag”; their chosen catalogue of songs weren’t in the religious realm of the holiday, they were more of the jolly songs where Santa made an appearance.
In the middle of the show, they uniquely decided to have a Q & A session and brought back opening comedian Pete Lee. Jonathan of The Property Brothers, Zooey’s boyfriend, made an appearance by hand-delivering her questions. The whole segment consisted of Pete and Zooey asking each other questions while the band played behind them. Even though they’ve been friends for years, their chemistry didn’t translate to the stage and I could tell that the crowd was getting a little bit sleepy - this especially tends to happen in venues that are seated. The whole segment felt retro, but inorganic.
Throughout the set, Zooey seemed just like the person I had come to know as a fan. She joked, was goofy, she danced a lot, and she was very comfortable on stage. I’ve grown up with her - I know that this was probably very cringey for some to hear, but I did discover The Smiths through the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack, which I still own on translucent yellow vinyl. This was a very formative piece of media for me! Zooey was a figure in me getting into indie music and developing my own personal style.
After the Q & A section, they launched into doing some of She & Him’s original music and the crowd was especially jazzed about this, they truly woke up hearing the first few notes. I wasn’t that familiar with their original music, I was mostly excited about this show because of the Christmas element. They circled back to some more festive songs to close it out. They did a cover of Madonna’s “Holiday” which was fabulous. I was honestly shocked I’d never heard this covered within a festive setting before. And then they did “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, but with a rockabilly twist.
The show, including the encore, clocked in right around two hours. Their encore consisted of two regular covers and then two holiday songs. Their cover of “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” was so magical. I've been on a little bit of a country kick lately, and I will be first in line to buy a country album from the two of them! They ended with a medley of “Joy to the World” (the classic Christmas song) mixed with the Three Dog Night tune. It was the perfect finale song, and a great combination since their setlist too was a mixture of festive and non-festive songs.
If you get the chance to see She & Him live for this Christmas tour, definitely check them out! This concert was the perfect thing to launch me into a festive spirit - a spirit that I haven’t felt immersed in for a few years. After the show, I was ready to hang up my stockings and finish up my shopping. I bet the little girl that looked up to Zooey Deschanel so much would think it’s pretty cool that she grew up to write about her music and cover one of her concerts whilst living in a big city.