Dala- Tower Hill Botonical Gardens

Boylston, Ma. July 22, 2010

     As talented as they are beautiful, with harmonies so perfect it should be illegal, Dala performed a more-than-memorable collection of songs in the grand and spacious Orangerie located inside the Tower Hill Botanical Gardens. At 7:30PM, Amanda and Sheila of Dala took to a full house with such charm and charisma that surely the first timers became instant fans at first glance. But once the Canadian duo dove into their first song "Marilyn Monroe," the folks in attendance had turned themselves over to the performers for the rest of the evening. Armed with simply their guitars and angelic vocals, the girls of Dala assure their audience that there is zero trickery involved in their studio recordings, as their vocals and harmonies are spot-on perfect while being performed in front of you. In this instance, the duo as well as the fans, were graced with a beautiful Steinway piano in the center of the Orangerie greenhouse. The girls, both accomplished piano players, performed a bunch of songs from their latest studio album Everyone is Someone. The standout being a song called "Horses," in which the girls discussed the backstory of the song; the girls met a fan of theirs who had a life-changing accident, who in turn changed their lives with his unbelievable positivity even after living with his disability. They wrote the song "Horses" in honor of him. And at the risk of sounding extremely hokey, as the girls sang the song, many tearful eyes watched them perform it. Dala performed pitch-perfect renditions of tracks such as "Sunday Dress" "Anywhere Under the Moon" and "Alive." The ladies did a great job of talking up most of their songs with backstory's as well. "Levi Blues" is an ode to the boyfriends that they leave behind when they go on tour and "Peggy" pays tribute to a friend's inspiring mother. The two-hour performance ended with a cover of "Dream a Little Dream of Me." Truly one of the best folk performances of the summer and anyone in attendance can attest to this fact. If you hear of Dala coming to your town, do try and catch the show. You'll be happy you did. (Rob Watts)