Based on her stage banter, you’d think that Joanna Newsom wasn’t quite comfortable in the decadent Orpheum Theatre. “Those chandeliers are freaking me out!” she said at one point, gazing up at the lofty ceiling. Everyone was “so fancy,” Newsom noted, even pointing to drummer Neal Morgan’s attire, a sharp suit. When someone in the audience tossed a bouquet of flowers onto the stage, it became clear: A Newsom concert is now more like a classical affair. She’s come a long way from the humble Troubadour, where she played years ago on tour for her debut, Milk-Eyed Mender. Despite her apparent apprehensions, the Orpheum was the perfect place to see Newsom, and Morgan and the rest of her band—two violinists, a trombonist and multi-instrumentalist/arranger Ryan Francesconi—fit her like…OK, a sharp suit. Newsom shared her time between that glorious harp and a grand piano, mostly playing songs from her outstanding new three-disc album, Have One On Me. As I sat there in the balcony, gazing down through the harp strings to glimpse Newsom singing her intricate melodies, I couldn’t shake the notion that this was the most beautiful performance I’ve ever heard. A case of hyperbole in my head? Perhaps, but that was how it felt in the fanciness of the moment.

—Thomas McMahon