Joan Osborne and Christian McBride bring 'Relish' to the Lobero

Thirty years after her breakout debut, Osborne plays Santa Barbara on Friday, March 5, with the jazz bassist who helped her reimagine it.

Most singers who mark a 30th anniversary reissue the album and tour the hits. Joan Osborne went back into the studio instead. On Friday, March 5, she brings that project to the Lobero Theatre with Christian McBride, the jazz bassist who helped her rebuild it.

Joan Osborne plays the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara on Friday, March 5, 2027, at 7:30 p.m., with Christian McBride. Tickets are through the Lobero. The show was announced Oct. 22, and the theater holds 604.

The album is *Relish*, Osborne's 1995 debut. It went triple platinum and carried "One of Us," and it's had a 30th-anniversary remastered 2-LP reissue. But the bigger project is *Relish Reimagined*. Osborne has described re-recording the whole album with McBride and a group of jazz musicians he put together, and she has framed it as a chance to do something special with the songs rather than just reissue them. A late-2025 review said the record would arrive as *Relish: Re-imagined*. Anniversary shows billed as "Relish Live" have already started; one was set for Dec. 3, 2026, in Ogunquit, Maine.

Not a reissue tour. A rebuild, with one of jazz's best-known bassists.

McBride gives the night its weight. He's one of the most visible bassists in jazz, and he has led his own touring bands, including Ursa Major, which toured the U.S. in 2025. Hearing songs written as '90s rock radio singles rearranged by a jazz band is the reason to go. Osborne has spent recent years working songs over from new angles anyway; her "Dylanology" shows took on Bob Dylan's catalog the same way.

The Lobero fits that kind of show. At 604 seats, it's small enough for a jazz arrangement to land without amplification getting in the way, and large enough for a full band on stage. For a set built on quieter details, the size of the room matters.

The 7:30 start makes it an easy Friday night.. Tickets are on sale through the Lobero now. A 604-seat room for a 30th-anniversary show with this pairing won't last long.

If you were around in 1995, you know these songs already. On March 5 you'll hear them played a new way.

Sources: PopMatters: Joan Osborne, Relish at 30 (popmatters.com); New England Sounds: Live review, Joan Osborne in Natick, MA (12.05.25) (newenglandsounds.com); Rock Hall Shop: Joan Osborne – Relish 2-LP (shop.rockhall.com); Joan Osborne official site (joanosborne.com); No Treble: Christian McBride's Ursa Major 2025 U.S. tour (notreble.com); NJ Arts: Joan Osborne & Friends 'Dylanology' show (njarts.net); Wikipedia: Joan Osborne (en.wikipedia.org); Lobero Theatre tickets (lobero.com); JamBase listing (jambase.com); Joan Osborne and Christian McBride - Lobero Theatre (lobero.org)