Sia @ Paradise Rock Club, 19 April

The openers were weird. . . one called Dawn who seemed pretty bland, didn't have the voice to carry her songs, and definitely didn't have the performing chops to hold the audience's attention, and by far the weirder--Eagle & Talon. Are they fourteen? The drummer wasn't bad as a drummer, but both of their voices are sorely unmatured--how did they get onstage at Paradise?

Sia's voice, on the other hand, is the same pleasure as it is on her recorded stuff. She indulges in a little too much Vedder-style reverse-enunciation, and her stage presence has got to be on of the most annoying ever--but the music, it is solid. There's no extra energy in her live sets compared to her recorded sets, so it's not the extra-special treat that seeing some artists live is, but she also doesn't ruin her set with kooky theatrics like Feist did.