Last fall, I watched Jenny Lewis and her backing band – which includes her boyfriend, singer/songwriter/guitarist Johnathan Rice — put on a tremendous, impassioned performance in a theatre on the outskirts of Philadelphia that wasn’t even half-full. The tickets weren’t particularly expensive, the weather wasn’t atrocious, the parking there isn’t a nightmare. I thought to myself, “Why aren’t there more people here? Are they mad because they think she’s destroying Rilo Kiley with this solo career of hers? Are they sad that she ditched the Watson Twins? Are they tired of people hyping her up and insisting how ‘hot’ she is? Is she just the poor man’s/woman’s Neko Case?” And then I went home, thought about her amazing voice and the excellent show she just put on, listened to her then-new Acid Tongue and its stylin’, captivating ’70s Laurel Canyon country-pop, and came to the only conclusion possible for the lousy attendance: People can be really fucking stupid. Seattle, don’t be stupid. Just go. You’ll thank me. With the Sadies, Mimicking Birds. All ages.

Sun., May 31, 8 p.m., 2009