Jenny Lewis plays surprise solo show on University of Washington campus

Jenny Lewis, feeling loose

When Jenny Lewis opened for Conor Oberst on his side project tour last year, she wasted no time slipping into Rilo Kiley wonder woman mode: leading singalongs, inadvertently influencing breakout fashion trends, and teaching herself the tambourine on stage. She sashayed left and right, closing her eyes and tilting her head like the peyote was kicking in.

But Wednesday's performance, curiously in the center of University of Washington's campus (dubbed U-Dub to locals) at Meany Hall was bound to be something special altogether.

One thing that certainly stood out even more so than the handful of jocks in attendance: Lewis took the stage in jeans. Jenny Lewis doesn't wear jeans. She wears leggy-friendly skirts that your grandmother might have worn if she was a hussy. In fact, when opening for Oberst less than four months ago, Lewis reemerged for Oberst's encore having cashed in one of her signature dresses for jeans and the end result? Her loosest handling of the microphone she had displayed all evening.

So when Lewis covers up, she tends to show more of herself. After telling the crowd--get this--that she was playing her first solo show--ever--to this very audience things started to get interesting. Before a song was even played.

Lewis carried her guitar on stage--proof she's new at this--and strummed gently until the acoustic guitar twice her size started to sound like the title track of 2006's solo breakout  debut Rabbit Fur Coat. And although she paused in the middle of her crusade to be nothing more than a freer version of herself with a few Rilo Kiley songs later in the evening, at that point she was truly having fun. Unencumbered by anything at all.

When her little solo-solo experience ended a few songs deep, boyfriend, baritone and duet-partner Johnathan Rice joined Jen on stage to play more from last year's Acid Tongue, a foretelling Johnny Cash and June Carter resemblance began to surface.

Lewis played off the ample positive feedback from the Wednesday crowd (presumably avoiding finals, or something?) and the crowd was happy to give it. Well-behaved hoots and hollers were in abundance from all levels of balconies all evening, tickled with the setlist, surprising solo format, low ticket prices ($17 for students) and symphony-quality acoustics.

Lewis' first set included a Johnathan Rice song, "End Of The Affair," a practiced cover version of "Love Hurts," and a powerful new cut, "Paradise" which despite being flubbed by Lewis three times made the biggest waves, showcasing Rice's rumbling acoustic background guitar with her sharply rising and falling falsetto. "Pick it up from E minor," he instructed her the second time. She smiled and kept trying, only to fail again. She was having fun. She played it until the song was completed.

When chums Norfolk & Western drummer Rachel Blumberg joined Rice to sing background for "Melt Your Heart"  even Lewis seemed tickled at how her experiment had worked out.  The final set played out with the rest of Norfolk & Western joining the stage to sign harmony for "Sing a Song For Them" from last year's Acid Tongue.

Lewis was the first on stage this evening and the last to leave it, this time the crowd making sure that Lewis saw their standing ovation (she missed the one after the first set). And when Lewis left the stage for the final time, she grabbed her melted heart as and smiled leaving the guitar behind this time. She thanked everyone for making her feel comfortable. We all did too. Like a pair of old jeans.