It's sad to say but last night was one of the first concerts I've been sober for in a long time. It's not that the offer of booze wasn't there, I just didn't want to experience Rachael Yamagata through whiskey goggles. The venue was small and intimate; there were no bad seats in the house. Everyone kept their jackets on for the first act due to Chicago's cold front and it being too early in the season to turn the heat on. When all was said and done, I had determined this to be one of the best concerts (possibly the best concert) I had seen all year.

Opening for Yamagata and her band was a Brooklynite by the name of Kevin Devine. His voice has a bit of Tom Higgenson's whine with a little Ben Gibbard for good measure. His guitar strumming is reminiscent of Melissa Ferrick and his lyrics are sentimental and incredibly smart. A stand-out was the apocalyptic "Another Bag of Bones" which calls out many of the man-made problems with the world. He is a passionate, romantic, activist who I'm fairly certain was wearing women's jeans. At first I thought maybe they were just tight, but after careful inspection I am almost positive they were made for girls. Either way, he did a bang-up job as an opener and warmed us all up for the headliner.

As someone who was so affected by Rachael's first album, "Happenstance", it's surprising that I've always missed her gigs - sometimes opting to see another show instead. Maybe I was worried that her songs wouldn't speak to me as loudly in person as they do through my headphones. Each track on that album was something I had lived through or was living through at the time, and it would've been heart-breaking to not have it meet the impossible expectations I had set. Now that I've been able to distance myself from that album in favor of dance floor favorites like Hot Chip and Cut Copy, it was the perfect time to see her live.

While her songs are dripping with melancholy, Yamagata is nothing but bubbly and, surprisingly, hilarious in person. I'm not sure if it was the aggressive bangs, the way she moved one leg as if it were on a hinge or the vocals, but Rachael reminded me of what Cat Power might be if Chan Marshall had all the confidence in the world. Her voice had its signature sultry rasp and was more impressive live than on the album. The backing band was fantastic. From the cellist to the blues guitarist - everyone is extremely talented and carved out their own niche within the band. Nothing was extraneous and you could tell everyone had a tremendous amount of love and respect for each other.

Her next album, "Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart" will be hitting store shelves October 7th and from the preview I got last night, it will be worth whatever exorbitant amount of money the record label is asking for. She has grown up, and while she seems to continue making the same mistakes, it seems as though she has embraced them.