Amanda Shires landed in Washington D.C. on her Atmosphereless Tour on Sunday, February 16. She settled in at Sixth & I Synagogue under the golden starred dome for an evening of fiddling serenades, quirk, clever yet cathartic lyricism and rawk! Guests entered the chapel after passing the merch tables full of new goodies like glittery T-shirts proclaiming “Mama wants to change that Nashville sound”. Fans filled the pews of the house and there was a slight edge of uncertainty - should they rock out or sit quietly like they are at High Holiday services?

The stage was warmed up by Nashville based band, LA Edwards. LA Edwards finished out their set with a Townes van Zandt cover, where the three brothers in the band sang acapella harmonies that brought the crowd to their feet in a standing ovation.

After a short set change, Amanda Shires floated onto the stage with her sexy thigh high sparkle boots and her Gucci blazer stating “My body my choice”. Shires is not someone to shy away from an unsubtle statement. She opened the show with an acapella number while her Dolly-like voice fluttered in and out of the candelabras that dimly lit the room.

Earlier in the evening Shires hosted a meet and greet where she connected with members of the audience. The connections she made were so strong that she continued the conversations with the audience from the stage - a wonderfully endearing and extended conversation that lasted throughout the evening. She responded to an audience request to play “When You Need a Train It Never Comes”, which she claimed to not have played in four years, but since the fan drove four hours to see the show, it was a request she simply could not refuse.

The set list charged forward with favorites such as "Champagne", "Wasted & Rolling", "White Feather", "Leave it Alone", "Parking Lot Pirouette" and many more. The highlight of the show was the band’s performance of "Like a Bird". Shires’ violin prowess left the room is shear awe and the band’s constant build created an uncontrollable excitement among fans. The performance got a standing ovation, despite it being right in the middle of the show and despite the awkwardness of listening to a bad ass in thigh highs from the pews of a historic synagogue. Shires herself was even surprised by the response and meekly called out “I’ve found my people”.

A natural storyteller, Shires graced the crowd with meandering tangents about how she started Highwomen. Highwomen is her recent project, where she teamed up with Brandi Carlyle, Natalie Hemby, and Maren Morris, to elevant the female voice in Nashville. Shires is a huge advocate for embracing more female visibility in country music, which has long been dominated by male artists. Shires said “The goal is to lift each other up” as she talked about her relentless tendencies to keep poking the wolf on the topic. She closed out the story saying “I’m as classy as I can be in half a pant suit”. She then broke into the group’s namesake song "Highwomen", which was co-written with Brandi Carlyle. The performance got the second mid-show standing ovation of the night.

The always witty Shires came back out for three encore songs wearing her quirky butterfy-esque sunglasses. Shires wanted to capture the moment for herself, so she posed for a photo with the audience in the background. Shires took an impromptu fan request from the front row at the beginning of her encore set to play “Crowded Table’. Then she just doubled down on the fan warmth and invited the two ladies onto the stage as she sang their song. Shires closed out the night with a cover of Genisis classic "That’s All".  With the final song performed she left the stage full of infectious sass as she literally mic dropped her last words, “That’s all”.

Amanda Shires does it her way. After that show, we must admit that her way is fantastically moving.

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