Dar Williams with special guest Sophie B. Hawkins

Box Office Opens: 6:30 PM

Double E Doors: 7:00 PM

Theater Doors: 7:30 PM

Showtime: 8:00 PM

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DAR WILLIAMS

Dar Williams’ lyrics contain bouquets of optimism, delivered on melodies alternating between beguiling lightness and understated gravity. Williams strongly believes that all of us possess our own power and ability to achieve, and she rejects the exceptionalism that encourages us to “admire that yonder star,” while making us feel small and insignificant; unworthy of shining on our own but hoping to catch enough distant light to inspire some tiny accomplishment. Williams has always been very interested in how to control our future and this album has to do with the fact that at some point, you just can’t.

Like everyone else, Williams spent 2020 in that state of non-control. She and longtime producer Stewart Lerman tracked most of the album, her 12th studio recording, in November of 2019. In late February of 2020, she cut the title tune in Woodstock with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and Larry Campbell, who produced the track and played guitars, pedal steel and twangy baritone guitar. When told they had to postpone a mid-March mixing date, Campbell said he wasn’t feeling well anyway. Turns out he’d contracted a serious case of COVID-19. That was a clear sign that at some point, you have to meet life where it meets you …the common thread throughout that these songs, the willingness to meet life as it arrives.

Dar Williams was always in the right place at the right time for the success she’s had over a 25+-year career. She rose out of the vibrant mid-90’s Boston scene, inspired by the eclectic influences of alt-rockers, Berklee jazz musicians, slam poets, and folk artists, like Patty Griffith, Melissa Ferrick, the Throwing Muses, Vance Gilbert, and Jonatha Brooke. After a year of touring non-stop with her first album, The Honesty Room, in 1994, she was invited by Joan Baez to tour in Europe and The United States.

“Good and bad things happen, and it’s not necessarily a reward or indictment. I’ve just got to meet it.” Williams observes. “Like, I’m bringing my whole life to this moment; it will surprise me, challenge me, show me where I was wrong, even make a fool out of me, but my job is to show up and not take adversity personally. Real happiness doesn't have to feel like Snoopy dancing with Woodstock; it can just be knowing you have the resilience to meet whatever comes to you. I will call that a good life.”

SOPHIE B. HAWKINS

Sophie B. Hawkins burst onto the international music scene with her 1992 platinum-selling debut album, Tongues and Tails, which included the indelible hit song Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover, and earned her a Best New Artist Grammy nomination.

The last three decades have brought multiple awards, sold out concerts, appearances on film and television, performances with some of the best known names in the business, a documentary feature, a critically-lauded tour-de-force performance as Janis Joplin in the nationally-touring play Room 105, songs appearing in hit films and TV shows, and five more albums, including Whaler, which featured the record-breaking longest-running single in Billboard Adult Contemporary chart history, the Number One hit, As I Lay Me Down. Much more than just a singer, Sophie writes all of her own songs, is a multi-instrumentalist, and has been fully involved in every aspect of the production of her records herself, from background vocals and playing her own instruments, to engineering and production of her albums.  She has proved an enduring artist with a fierce commitment to artistic integrity while both constantly evolving, and remaining steadfastly true to her own authentic history and experience which connects her to her fans at the very deepest levels.

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T REX THEATER AT THE DOUBLE E PERFORMANCE CENTER

 The Double E Performance Center is home to The T Rex Theater - a 400 seat multipurpose events space that hosts blockbuster movies, the best-sounding concerts, engaging speaking events, live-streamed programs, and private rentals as well! This is a general admission seated show in the T Rex Theater - seats are first-come, first-served. Our theater is outfitted with plush reclining chairs featuring cupholders that make for the most comfortable concert-going experience in Vermont. 

• Unless otherwise listed, our shows are all ages. All guests need a ticket to seated shows. Much like an airline, we will welcome well-behaved babies who can stay seated on their parent's laps. We ask that parents remove loud or distracting children and cooperate if our concert staff ask you to do so. 

• Drinks are allowed in the theater; cupholders are available with each chair 

• Dancing is more than welcome! We will never ask you to sit down, but please be aware of your impact on your neighbors. Folks are welcome to dance in aisleways so long as they follow the directions of our concert staff. Folks may be asked to vacate aisleways at times and dance in their seat. Seat aisles are larger than most theaters! 

• Concerts often feature visualizers, flashing lights, and fast movement 

• Tickets are nonrefundable unless the show is completely canceled

Located on the campus that used to be known as The Essex Outlets and Cinema, The Essex Experience is an effort to reclaim retail spaces and turn them into cultural centers. You can spend a whole day here with Black Flannel Brewery, Black Flannel Distillery, Magic Man Cannabis Cafe, Sukho Thai, Uncommon Coffee, Arthound Gallery, The Mad Taco, The Double E Performance Center, Essex Cinemas, and so much more.

Our venue is completely ADA Accessible. Row H features wheelchair-accessible space, as well as accessible seating. If special accommodations will make your visit more comfortable, please reach out to us at Info@DoubleEVermont.Com