I saw Vanessa Carlton in concert there in 2017, in the Longboat Hall configuration.
I'm not a big fan of Vanessa's music, but I am a fan of Vanessa herself. She tells very entertaining stories between songs in live performances. She's also an Ivy league grad, (Columbia), who put herself through school by performing in New York City clubs while attending University.
For most people, Vanessa is a one-hit wonder for her song A Thousand Miles in 2002. Two years later, she released a new album, and the lead single was White Houses:
Someone's Karen mother complained about part of the lyric, describing a young woman losing her virginity. Walmart told her record label to remove the song from the album, or the chain would not sell any copies of that CD, or her first, (Platinum sales of 1.4 Million in the USA, including many at Walmart). Vanessa's manager and label told her she should cave in to Walmart's demands, and she said no. The label withdrew all promotion for the album, and MTV wouldn't play the White Houses video again.
Vanessa became an Indy artist, and makes enough money from album sales and touring, (usually 500 seat capacity venues or smaller), so that she can live a comfortable middle class lifestyle without having to have a day job. At shows, her merchandise is a bit expensive, ($20 for CDs, etc.), but if you buy one, she'll greet you personally, and autograph your purchase.
I can't help but admire someone with that much integrity that she would throw away stardom to avoid being someone's puppet.
