Three Sheets Brings Back The Bands

“I missed the view from up here,” Alexandra Burnet said as she stood on the stage at Three Sheets Friday night. ​“I’ve thought about it every day for years.” Three years, to be exact, as Friday night saw the first multiple-band show at the Elm Street bar since before the pandemic began. 

The two bands featured on this evening were Alexandra Burnet and The Proven Winners and The Tines. According to co-owner Rick Seiden, it is all ​“still falling into place,” but they hope to have music about four nights a month for now, with the majority of shows being held on Fridays. These shows are in addition to the return of the music portion of the bar’s ongoing Art in the Back, Music in the Front series this month, with a GO KAT GO show featuring The Imposters and Bobcat. The New Haven Jazz Underground Jazz Jam also returned late last year, and will continue every first and third Friday. March will see the return of music on Parade Day, a St. Patrick’s Day tradition. 

Seiden noted that having these two bands tonight ​“made the transition super easy,” as both Burnet and S.G. Carlson of The Tines had been frequent and beloved performers at the bar previously. 

“Plus, it’s just fun to have it back,” he added with a smile.

Smiles were aplenty throughout all the rooms at Sheets as friends and fans gathered. The crowd grew swiftly as the first band came to the stage. The Tines — featuring Carlson on vocals and guitar, Ilya Gitelman on guitar, Sean Koravo on bass, and J Thompson on drums — wasted no time mesmerizing the crowd with their hypnotic guitars and sonorous beats. Adept at crafting a song that sounds both personal and universal at the same time, Carlson offered up enough lyrical loveliness to make anyone want to grab the Tines’ latest album (released in August) and learn all the words to every song. 

The band made its way through a number of its songs as the crowd swelled and swayed with them, from the cool and comforting ​“Know By Feel,” in which Carlson sang ​“what we need is somebody to be weak with. What we all need is someone from the hearth,” to the pulse-pounding ​“Moon Views,” where he mused ​“time is fake, schedules real,” while the rest of us nodded and agreed with both sentiments. 

Four songs into the set, Carlson asked the audience ​“how does it sound? Too loud? Not loud enough?” Someone shouted ​“you sound great!” Carlson answered back with ​“you sound good too.” It was one of many moments where the room connected, and after another couple of songs, the dancing began and continued until the final song of the set. Carlson thanked Three Sheets for having shows again. By the response he got, it was apparent the crowd was grateful as well.

Next to the stage was Alexandra Burnet and The Proven Winners, which included Burnet on vocals and guitar, Annalisa Boerner on viola, Jill Emerson on cello, Torrey Proto on bass, and Jason Bates on drums. They got right into it with ​“Jenny Says,” a song that Burnet has played often solo, but it became more symphonic with the additional instrumentation. Burnet connected immediately and frequently with the crowd throughout the set. 

“I love the house lights up,” she said with a smile. ​“I can see all of your beautiful faces.” 

New songs that highlighted Burnet’s lyrical prowess were introduced, including ​“Age” and ​“Camera,” where she sang, ​“I fell in love. I started loving myself. I fell in love, this time with my whole self,” once again highlighting her ability to marry the personal and the profound and, much like Carlson, create a song you wanted to sing along to.

“I love this,” Burnet said, once again smiling and looking out over the packed room. ​‘I wanna take a picture of you all.” She then asked this reporter for her camera, which I gladly handed over. The following two photos resulted. 

The next song saw Burnet and Emerson take on ​“Driveway” — ​“an old one … a sad one,” per Burnet — that entranced the room. They came back after that one full band again for another new song, ​“Wake,” and ended the set with two Burnet favorites, the first being ​“Hey, How’s Heaven,” where she asks a multitude of questions about what it is like there, such as ​“are there porches? Are there neon signs? Are there crosses? Are there chalk outlines?”. 

The final song, ​“You’re Okay,” which Burnet initially released solo during 2020 and then re-released with a full band this past year, became even more anthemic live as the drums and bass built up and the strings swelled after the final verse — and, yes, brought this reporter to tears. It was a reminder on this memorable night that the present might not be what we once considered normal, or even a new normal, but rather another version of the world and of ourselves, changed forever but also ever changing and ever growing.