Recognize this silhouette? You might if you had been to Feist's shadow-intensive show this past Sunday at the Academy of Music. The evening opened with Hayden, a Canadian modern-day Dylan with a little less angst. His one-man show packed in great virtuosity on all three instruments: guitar, harmonica, and piano. His songs demonstrate a strange, but honest and often humorous, viewpoint on the world. His stage banter was also top-notch, joking after a little voice crack that "this is just like my Bar Mitzvah." For a local touch, he closed with Springsteen's "I'm On Fire."

It is impossible not to be charmed by Feist. She pranced out onto a dark stage in a little white dress holding a lantern, only to be lit from behind as a silhouette, a perfect beginning to the shadow art to come. Broadcast on a large screen behind Feist, two shadow-artists created images out of everything from twigs to finger paint to correspond with Feist's soulful lyrics. I found myself splitting my time between listening to Feist's music and trying to figure out how the shadow-artists were creating their images. I was grateful that it was all framed within the beautiful Academy of Music stage. Such delicate music and images would have seemed out of place elsewhere.

Feist is not one to forget her roots, however. She spoke to the audience as if we were all old friends of hers, responding to any and all shout-outs from the crowd. Having performed at other Philadelphia venues, such as the Khyber and North Star, she joked that the Academy of Music was no "sweaty bar." She had performed at the Academy a few years ago as the opener for Bright Eyes and seemed thrilled and humbled to be back as the headliner.

Image Credit: Flickr user Julio Enriquez