It's been almost a month since Albert Pujols, brought the hatred of Cardinal fans upon him. Naturally I don't like him leaving for another team, but it is the free market; get as much as you can.
The only thing that makes me dislike him, is the attitude he carried. He made mention multiple times, it wasn't about the money. It was about wanting to be in St. Louis, playing for a winning/contending team, etc. There were more important things, he said. But if that was true he would have had a deal done two years ago. In the end, him and his wife can say what they want about a long-term deal and lack of respect, but it was about the money.
Good riddance, then. The Cardinals made the right decision, in not outbidding any other teams. Continue building and developing young players and St. Louis will continue to field decent teams. The Yankees did just fine after Babe Ruth....
But the only thing I got to thinking about the other day was I never got to see Pujols play. I mean I could still see him, but not in a Cardinal uniform, unless something drastic happens. I haven't been to a game in 11 years. Heck I only saw LaRussa manage one game and McGwire take one at bat in that game, but I can say I saw them in Cardinal uniforms. I was planning on going to a game this summer, but didn't want to go by myself.
Thinking about it, the only remedy is winning multiple championships in the coming years
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
I'll Never Date a Woman Who Pays $10 For Beer
As I talked about at the Bob Seger concert in the post below, people were buying multiple glasses of beer at $10 bucks a pop. And I just thought this to myself later, "there's no way I could date a girl who would pay that." I don't care if she drinks or not, it's just the principle behind it. How could I be with someone who could justify spending that? Maybe it's just a psychosis of my thought process or more likely my conservative nature, but it doesn't matter, we wouldn't be compatible.
The only loophole in this is if she is loaded financially.
The only loophole in this is if she is loaded financially.
The Real Rock and Roll Poet of the Working Class; 12/9 Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band concert review
Bob Seger is one of favorite artists and had been wanting to see him and he has rarely toured much the past 15 years save for couple of treks. He last toured in in 2006 behind his previous album. I didn't really pay attention and wasn't feeling the best at the time. Plus it was in December as well, but I was kicking myself for not going.
This Spring he kicked off another tour behind a potential new album(which turned out to be another Greatest Hits collection) and played KC. I dragged my feet again and only had nosebleeds left, plus there were open dates around it and I figured he'd be in St. Louis a day or two around then. No date and I was kicking myself again. But thankfully the rumors of a Fall tour turned out true and St. Louis got a date. I even joined his fan club to get presale access, which was a total fucking joke, for the most part they gave people shitty selections farther away. I screwed around and came back an hour later and got pretty good floor seats, 12 rows back on the right side. I knew Bob didn't use large video screens, so I knew I better get a good view.
Me and Dad got there before seven and they wouldn't let people in til then so we were freezing our asses off, in partially closed area. Finally they started lining us up a little, when it started getting crowded. They also started scanning tickets and then moving us around and only asking us later, if they were already scanned. Dad said, "I think if you planned it right you could have gotten in without a ticket."
The other part, people were already buying beer at ten bucks a pop. This was a nice common theme throughout the night. The people that wound up setting in front of us, a group of four made at least three trips for alcohol. How the hell do you people do this? I think I've made up my mind I couldn't date anyone stupid enough to pay that, unless of course they are totally loaded financially.
We made our way to our seats, waiting the hour before start time and saw the second drum kit, meaning there was an opening act. I guess with a hockey game the next night, they were keeping it colder, but it was freezing down there.
And the other part I've mentioned before, it's amazing with a metro area of 3 million or more? and probably with other people traveling for afar like us, how is it that in an audience of 15,000 all these idiots know one another? I guess it's just the 1% thing, maybe those occupier nut-jobs are on to something.
At 8PM Whitey Morgan and the 78's came out. The group is a country rock group(two Telecasters and a pedal steel, baby) from Flint, Michigan and they played 9 songs for 35 minutes or so. And overall they were enjoyable, they had a good sound. He gave a shout to St. Louis club venue Off-Broadway. "We love coming here. Everybody says that, but we're not bullshitting." He threw in some covers that were nice, Springsteen's I'm On Fire("This one's for the ladies...who I'm kidding, they're all for the ladies."), Merle's Workin' Man Blues, a snippet of John Prine's Paradise and closing with a song by Dale Watson, Where Do You Want It?
Set list I copied from the Philly set list, but think there's a song missing
Crapped Out Again
(Stay Away From) The Cocaine Train
Crazy
I'm On Fire
Another Round
Paradise (snippet)
Workin' Man Blues
Sinner
Where Do Ya Want It?
The set change was done fairly briskly and ready for a Nine o'clock start time, with an announcement that Bob would be on stage in five minutes, though it was a few minutes after. But the lights dimmed and the man appeared with his band.
On the opening number, Roll Me Away, I was a little worried as the sound sounded muddied and Bob's voice was hard to understand. It didn't help he kept getting the crowd to do the chorus. But by the second song, Tryin' To Live My Life Without You, it wasn't as bad. And overall it stood up during the nearly two hour, 22 song show.
But there were times his voice wasn't as strong. He was fighting a cold, coughing quite a bit and a continued smoking habit doesn't help. Overall it was fine, but to me his voice sounded best on the slower and softer numbers, like Mainstreet, Turn the Page and We've Got Tonight, which he introduced saying he was inspired by a scene in the movie The Sting.
It also didn't help, he had a wall of sound behind him. There were three female back-up singers, plus a group of four horn players augmenting his six man band. There's definitely the feel of a Motown influence, which Seger said himself that he loved the blues.
The band was polished and stellar, featuring long time members Chris Campbell and his version of Clarance Clemons, Alto Reed. Or maybe Clarance Clemons is Bruce Springsteen's version of Alto Reed, since Alto and Bob were together first. Plus Grand Funk Railroad members Don Brewer and Craig Frost were part of the band and Jamey Johnson producer Jim "Moose" Brown.
Set List
Roll Me Away
Tryin' to Live My Life Without You
The Fire Down Below
Mainstreet
Old Time Rock and Roll
Downtown Train
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Hey Hey Hey Hey (Going Back to Birmingham)
Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser
We've Got Tonight
Nutbush City Limits
Come to Poppa
Her Strut
Real Mean Bottle
Turn the Page
Sunspot Baby
Katmandu
-----------------
Against the Wind
Hollywood Nights
---------------
Night Moves
Rock and Roll Never Forgets
Highlights for me, well seeing Bob Seger mainly and with his catalog of songs, he got most of the ones I wanted to hear. I knew full well after looking at previous set lists, that Like A Rock wouldn't get played. Of course that was the one my dad most wanted to hear. You'll Accomp'ny Me is probably my favorite of his that he didn't play.
But he played Sunspot Baby, the song I was waiting for, that I just love to hear over and over. Against the Wind, was probably the best song of the evening and he was still cutting the vocals lose with "Let the Cowboys Ride!" during the choruses at the end. Turn the Page was up there too, which he played at the piano, where he usually gave some insights into the songs. That one was written in a motel, not a hotel, in Wisconsin in 1971 and later recorded in Leon Russell's studio in Oklahoma. Her Strut was inspired by Jane Fonda. And usually featured some of his clearest vocals. And the whole band shined on the Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser segue.
And of course, once that piano intro of Old Time Rock and Roll came, the whole place was wild.
The only minor complaint about the performance was that the banter seemed too automated, many times at the beginning he'd give the album and asked us, "If we remember this one?" I was more worried about him forgetting them. And his shout to St. Louis was just a prefunctionary mention of how he loved flying here and seeing the Arch.
I'm curious if he gets his lyrics fed to him through an ear piece, because during Tryin' To Live My Life Without You, he gave pretty much verbatim of the talking part of the live version on Nine Tonight.
Of course the other people at a concert are the worst part. And I think the older ones are the worst when they're drunk. Dancing around, falling on one another, raising their glasses trying to sing along. Sigh....
But overall it was great. It was pretty neat for most of the songs, everyone was singing along. I haven't been to many shows like that. True at times I wish Seger himself would have been heard more clearly, but still special. And at 66, he was still up there giving it his all. This is the real Rock and Roll poet of the American working class, not that guy from Jersey.
St. Louis Post Dispatch Review
Riverfront Times Review
This Spring he kicked off another tour behind a potential new album(which turned out to be another Greatest Hits collection) and played KC. I dragged my feet again and only had nosebleeds left, plus there were open dates around it and I figured he'd be in St. Louis a day or two around then. No date and I was kicking myself again. But thankfully the rumors of a Fall tour turned out true and St. Louis got a date. I even joined his fan club to get presale access, which was a total fucking joke, for the most part they gave people shitty selections farther away. I screwed around and came back an hour later and got pretty good floor seats, 12 rows back on the right side. I knew Bob didn't use large video screens, so I knew I better get a good view.
Me and Dad got there before seven and they wouldn't let people in til then so we were freezing our asses off, in partially closed area. Finally they started lining us up a little, when it started getting crowded. They also started scanning tickets and then moving us around and only asking us later, if they were already scanned. Dad said, "I think if you planned it right you could have gotten in without a ticket."
The other part, people were already buying beer at ten bucks a pop. This was a nice common theme throughout the night. The people that wound up setting in front of us, a group of four made at least three trips for alcohol. How the hell do you people do this? I think I've made up my mind I couldn't date anyone stupid enough to pay that, unless of course they are totally loaded financially.
We made our way to our seats, waiting the hour before start time and saw the second drum kit, meaning there was an opening act. I guess with a hockey game the next night, they were keeping it colder, but it was freezing down there.
And the other part I've mentioned before, it's amazing with a metro area of 3 million or more? and probably with other people traveling for afar like us, how is it that in an audience of 15,000 all these idiots know one another? I guess it's just the 1% thing, maybe those occupier nut-jobs are on to something.
At 8PM Whitey Morgan and the 78's came out. The group is a country rock group(two Telecasters and a pedal steel, baby) from Flint, Michigan and they played 9 songs for 35 minutes or so. And overall they were enjoyable, they had a good sound. He gave a shout to St. Louis club venue Off-Broadway. "We love coming here. Everybody says that, but we're not bullshitting." He threw in some covers that were nice, Springsteen's I'm On Fire("This one's for the ladies...who I'm kidding, they're all for the ladies."), Merle's Workin' Man Blues, a snippet of John Prine's Paradise and closing with a song by Dale Watson, Where Do You Want It?
Set list I copied from the Philly set list, but think there's a song missing
Crapped Out Again
(Stay Away From) The Cocaine Train
Crazy
I'm On Fire
Another Round
Paradise (snippet)
Workin' Man Blues
Sinner
Where Do Ya Want It?
The set change was done fairly briskly and ready for a Nine o'clock start time, with an announcement that Bob would be on stage in five minutes, though it was a few minutes after. But the lights dimmed and the man appeared with his band.
On the opening number, Roll Me Away, I was a little worried as the sound sounded muddied and Bob's voice was hard to understand. It didn't help he kept getting the crowd to do the chorus. But by the second song, Tryin' To Live My Life Without You, it wasn't as bad. And overall it stood up during the nearly two hour, 22 song show.
But there were times his voice wasn't as strong. He was fighting a cold, coughing quite a bit and a continued smoking habit doesn't help. Overall it was fine, but to me his voice sounded best on the slower and softer numbers, like Mainstreet, Turn the Page and We've Got Tonight, which he introduced saying he was inspired by a scene in the movie The Sting.
It also didn't help, he had a wall of sound behind him. There were three female back-up singers, plus a group of four horn players augmenting his six man band. There's definitely the feel of a Motown influence, which Seger said himself that he loved the blues.
The band was polished and stellar, featuring long time members Chris Campbell and his version of Clarance Clemons, Alto Reed. Or maybe Clarance Clemons is Bruce Springsteen's version of Alto Reed, since Alto and Bob were together first. Plus Grand Funk Railroad members Don Brewer and Craig Frost were part of the band and Jamey Johnson producer Jim "Moose" Brown.
Set List
Roll Me Away
Tryin' to Live My Life Without You
The Fire Down Below
Mainstreet
Old Time Rock and Roll
Downtown Train
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Hey Hey Hey Hey (Going Back to Birmingham)
Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser
We've Got Tonight
Nutbush City Limits
Come to Poppa
Her Strut
Real Mean Bottle
Turn the Page
Sunspot Baby
Katmandu
-----------------
Against the Wind
Hollywood Nights
---------------
Night Moves
Rock and Roll Never Forgets
Highlights for me, well seeing Bob Seger mainly and with his catalog of songs, he got most of the ones I wanted to hear. I knew full well after looking at previous set lists, that Like A Rock wouldn't get played. Of course that was the one my dad most wanted to hear. You'll Accomp'ny Me is probably my favorite of his that he didn't play.
But he played Sunspot Baby, the song I was waiting for, that I just love to hear over and over. Against the Wind, was probably the best song of the evening and he was still cutting the vocals lose with "Let the Cowboys Ride!" during the choruses at the end. Turn the Page was up there too, which he played at the piano, where he usually gave some insights into the songs. That one was written in a motel, not a hotel, in Wisconsin in 1971 and later recorded in Leon Russell's studio in Oklahoma. Her Strut was inspired by Jane Fonda. And usually featured some of his clearest vocals. And the whole band shined on the Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser segue.
And of course, once that piano intro of Old Time Rock and Roll came, the whole place was wild.
The only minor complaint about the performance was that the banter seemed too automated, many times at the beginning he'd give the album and asked us, "If we remember this one?" I was more worried about him forgetting them. And his shout to St. Louis was just a prefunctionary mention of how he loved flying here and seeing the Arch.
I'm curious if he gets his lyrics fed to him through an ear piece, because during Tryin' To Live My Life Without You, he gave pretty much verbatim of the talking part of the live version on Nine Tonight.
Of course the other people at a concert are the worst part. And I think the older ones are the worst when they're drunk. Dancing around, falling on one another, raising their glasses trying to sing along. Sigh....
But overall it was great. It was pretty neat for most of the songs, everyone was singing along. I haven't been to many shows like that. True at times I wish Seger himself would have been heard more clearly, but still special. And at 66, he was still up there giving it his all. This is the real Rock and Roll poet of the American working class, not that guy from Jersey.
St. Louis Post Dispatch Review
Riverfront Times Review
Sunday, December 4, 2011
The Singing Mailman Came to St. Louis; John Prine 12/3 Concert Review
Recently I've started listening to John Prine and his songs(mostly due to my dad playing one of his hilarious songs ad nausem, In Spite of Ourselves) and when I saw there was a date in St. Louis, I said, "Might as well check him out, I've got vacation days to use."
The concert was at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. Doors were supposed to be open at 7 PM for the 8:00 staring time, but they didn't open 'til 7:30 or a little later. Much to the chagrin of my dad, who used the time to splurge on the $5 sandwiches and soda. It was a pretty nice auditorium, mostly due to being pretty new.
When I ordered the tickets the only good seats together or showing up were 20 rows back, so I said heck with it and bought a couple with one seat a row in front of the other one.
Opening act Jason Isbell came on at 8 PM or pretty close. I was pretty sure he used to be in the Drive-By Truckers and was confirmed with the last song he sang, Outfit, which was the only one I was familiar with. Except for the last number, he was rather ho-hum for me. Not bad, but just seemed to run together a little too much. He joked around with the audience, especially about the sixth songs title, Goddamn Lonely Love, about how a producer or executive wanted him to change the title to 'gawl darn' or something similar. He played 8 songs for around 35 minutes.
His set list:
Daisy Mae
Alabama Pines
Tour of Duty
Streetlights
Dress Blues
Goddamn Lonely Love
Razor Town
Outfit
After around a 2o minute set change(more like dicking around there was nothing that should have needed to be changed, with a solo acoustic performer opening), the house lights dimmed and John Prine came onstage with his two backing musicians.
The opening two numbers were pretty rocking, and the second song Picture Show was an enjoyable song. His guitarist, Jason Wilber, is flat out talented. He played electric mandolin and harmonica, but when he was bending those Telecaster strings, he was on fire. There were multiple songs he was stand out on and got many applause's throughout the evening.
Set List
Another was hearing Souvenirs, a song he mentioned he played with Steve Goodman, who "had a finger picking style that made it sound like Prine was playing good."
Starting about 2/3's through the main set, the two other musicians left and Prine played solo for a few numbers before, they returned halfway through Sam Stone, adding beautiful accompaniments.
Prine, dealt with the audience members shouting out requests all night. Illegal Smile was the most prominent request. At one point Prine replied, "No, we're gonna do the next song," and later before starting a song, "You requested this one about an hour ago. Sorry it took so long to get your order....Would you like fries with that?"
One of his lines that also gave me a chuckle was in Dear Abby, when he got to the verse, "Dear Abby, Dear Abby, well I never though that me and my girlfriend would ever get caught. We were sittin' in the back seat just shootin' the breeze, with her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees Signed Just Re-Married."
He did a nice job of mixing it up with his songs running the whole gamut of emotions, but maybe it was I was getting hungry and the heat in the auditorium, but found it starting to lull somewhat, waiting on more familiar songs. The only songs I wouldn't have minded hearing was The Late John Garfield Blues and Speed the Sound of Loneliness, were two he didn't play. No biggie though he played the other major ones.
And while he was in good spirits and clearly enjoyed being there, he didn't tell many stories or give many introductions to songs, he let the songs speak for themselves.
He ended up playing 25 total songs, coming back for an encore with a surprising I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and with Isbell joining the band for the close Paradise, another highlight for the evening.
Overall it was a pretty good performance. I wasn't super familiar with a lot of Prine's material, though I had been listening to several of his albums and recognized more songs that I thought I would. Though I wish he would have had a female opening act so he would have played, In Spite of Ourselves...
The Riverfront Times review
The concert was at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. Doors were supposed to be open at 7 PM for the 8:00 staring time, but they didn't open 'til 7:30 or a little later. Much to the chagrin of my dad, who used the time to splurge on the $5 sandwiches and soda. It was a pretty nice auditorium, mostly due to being pretty new.
When I ordered the tickets the only good seats together or showing up were 20 rows back, so I said heck with it and bought a couple with one seat a row in front of the other one.
Opening act Jason Isbell came on at 8 PM or pretty close. I was pretty sure he used to be in the Drive-By Truckers and was confirmed with the last song he sang, Outfit, which was the only one I was familiar with. Except for the last number, he was rather ho-hum for me. Not bad, but just seemed to run together a little too much. He joked around with the audience, especially about the sixth songs title, Goddamn Lonely Love, about how a producer or executive wanted him to change the title to 'gawl darn' or something similar. He played 8 songs for around 35 minutes.
His set list:
Daisy Mae
Alabama Pines
Tour of Duty
Streetlights
Dress Blues
Goddamn Lonely Love
Razor Town
Outfit
After around a 2o minute set change(more like dicking around there was nothing that should have needed to be changed, with a solo acoustic performer opening), the house lights dimmed and John Prine came onstage with his two backing musicians.
The opening two numbers were pretty rocking, and the second song Picture Show was an enjoyable song. His guitarist, Jason Wilber, is flat out talented. He played electric mandolin and harmonica, but when he was bending those Telecaster strings, he was on fire. There were multiple songs he was stand out on and got many applause's throughout the evening.
Set List
Spanish Pipedream
Picture Show
Humidity Built the Snowman
Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
Six O'clock News
Souvenirs
Grandpa Was a Carpenter
Storm Windows
Christmas in Prison
Fish and Whistle
Crazy as a Loon
Glory of True Love
Angel From Montgomery
Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
That's The Way That the World Goes 'Round
Dear Abby
Mexican Home
Sam Stone
Bear Creek Blues
Ain't Hurtin' Nobody
Hello in There
Lake Marie
---------------
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Paradise
Another was hearing Souvenirs, a song he mentioned he played with Steve Goodman, who "had a finger picking style that made it sound like Prine was playing good."
Starting about 2/3's through the main set, the two other musicians left and Prine played solo for a few numbers before, they returned halfway through Sam Stone, adding beautiful accompaniments.
Prine, dealt with the audience members shouting out requests all night. Illegal Smile was the most prominent request. At one point Prine replied, "No, we're gonna do the next song," and later before starting a song, "You requested this one about an hour ago. Sorry it took so long to get your order....Would you like fries with that?"
One of his lines that also gave me a chuckle was in Dear Abby, when he got to the verse, "Dear Abby, Dear Abby, well I never though that me and my girlfriend would ever get caught. We were sittin' in the back seat just shootin' the breeze, with her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees Signed Just Re-Married."
He did a nice job of mixing it up with his songs running the whole gamut of emotions, but maybe it was I was getting hungry and the heat in the auditorium, but found it starting to lull somewhat, waiting on more familiar songs. The only songs I wouldn't have minded hearing was The Late John Garfield Blues and Speed the Sound of Loneliness, were two he didn't play. No biggie though he played the other major ones.
And while he was in good spirits and clearly enjoyed being there, he didn't tell many stories or give many introductions to songs, he let the songs speak for themselves.
He ended up playing 25 total songs, coming back for an encore with a surprising I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and with Isbell joining the band for the close Paradise, another highlight for the evening.
Overall it was a pretty good performance. I wasn't super familiar with a lot of Prine's material, though I had been listening to several of his albums and recognized more songs that I thought I would. Though I wish he would have had a female opening act so he would have played, In Spite of Ourselves...
The Riverfront Times review
Monday, October 31, 2011
Don't Know Why...
How did I get stuck again being around and having to listen to "educated" idiots and morons? Either this fall weather when constantly changing, does something to my body to make me fatigued and inhospitable, or I think it's time for a change of some kind...
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Songs To Be Played When I Die...
I did this when I started my MySpace blog and figured it was time for an update/repost of my favorite song or relevant songs.
I'd still rather have some kind of gathering concert, rent out the old Perry Gym or some other hall, than an actual funeral, like the Concert for George, though I don't know how many of friends are musically talented. Just make it a big old party and a good time. And it'd still be better than an actual funeral, especially when it costs $20-30,000 to die. Fucking unbelievable. Put me on a stick in the front yard and let the vultures claw me up. Or better yet, go the Gram Parsons route and somebody steal the body and set it on fire.
But here's the songs I'd like played/performed. Mostly favorites and favorite artists, but some darker relevant ones tossed in. I always think of the funeral scene in The Big Chill, where they preform the departed's favorite hymn, You Can't Always Get What You Want.
The last two would have to be Knockin' on Heaven's Door and The Weight.
Positively 4th Street, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Like A Rolling Stone, Knockin' On Heaven's Door- Bob Dylan
The Weight, I Shall Be Released- The Band
Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?- Waylon Jennings
Poor, Poor Pitiful Me- Warren Zevon
House of Gold- Hank Williams
Lola- The Kinks
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For- U2
I'm One, Long Live Rock, Substitute - The Who
Don't Cry No Tears, Harvest- Neil Young
Against the Wind- Bob Seger
Wide River to Cross- Buddy Miller
And something for sure by Jamey Johnson and Shooter Jennings. And I'll probably be adding to this list ad nauseum...
I'd still rather have some kind of gathering concert, rent out the old Perry Gym or some other hall, than an actual funeral, like the Concert for George, though I don't know how many of friends are musically talented. Just make it a big old party and a good time. And it'd still be better than an actual funeral, especially when it costs $20-30,000 to die. Fucking unbelievable. Put me on a stick in the front yard and let the vultures claw me up. Or better yet, go the Gram Parsons route and somebody steal the body and set it on fire.
But here's the songs I'd like played/performed. Mostly favorites and favorite artists, but some darker relevant ones tossed in. I always think of the funeral scene in The Big Chill, where they preform the departed's favorite hymn, You Can't Always Get What You Want.
The last two would have to be Knockin' on Heaven's Door and The Weight.
Positively 4th Street, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Like A Rolling Stone, Knockin' On Heaven's Door- Bob Dylan
The Weight, I Shall Be Released- The Band
Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?- Waylon Jennings
Poor, Poor Pitiful Me- Warren Zevon
House of Gold- Hank Williams
Lola- The Kinks
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For- U2
I'm One, Long Live Rock, Substitute - The Who
Don't Cry No Tears, Harvest- Neil Young
Against the Wind- Bob Seger
Wide River to Cross- Buddy Miller
And something for sure by Jamey Johnson and Shooter Jennings. And I'll probably be adding to this list ad nauseum...
Thursday, September 15, 2011
9th Street After 8 PM; Robert Earl Keen 9/14 Concert Review
How is it the Blue Note seems to have better free shows than paying shows? It's been two years since I've been to show there, but last year they had Chuck Berry playing outside for free and Jimmie Vaughan last month. So, when they announced that Robert Earl Keen was going to be playing the final free outdoor concert of the year, me and Zane made plans to go.
Of course you can never plan anything with him. And he came down with a cold and didn't want to do anything. Typical. I was trying to decide whether I wanted to go or not then. I saw that it was moved indoors because of the cold and earlier rain of the day and said I might as well do something, I lobbied to get this as my day off instead of Friday...
And my fun getting there issue, was getting five miles down the road and realizing I left my cell phone charging at home. So, after returning home, I also remembered to pick up my dad's camera. And I think I only managed to save one photo I took and only got a minute or so worth of video because the cards full. Now if I can only figure out to get the video's off there...
The Doors opened at 6 and show started at 7. I got there about half an hour before and it wasn't very full and honestly didn't get much til closer to 8 when Robert Earl Keen too the stage. I didn't feel like standing alone for awhile, so I took a seat in the balcony(Which are some of the most cramped seats for anyone short or tall. Thankfully I was able to stretch out longways...) And I think they had free beer, according to the guys behind me, so my brother missed out...
Deke Dickerson was the opening act, who was a Columbia native before moving elsewhere. He recounted the last time he played at the Blue Note was opening for Steppenwolf and couldn't hardly move due to Steppenwolf's keyboard player having a mountain of keys.
It was just him, a standup bass player and drummer, and they all switched instruments multiple times. Their style of music, I would classify as 1950's in general, sounding rockabilly, vintage country and Texas Swing of the era. They did a Johnny Cash cover and There Stands the Glass made famous by Webb Pierce. And a hilarious original called Misshapen Hillbilly Gal.
They were loud and it was actually pretty good. They played for 45 minutes but packed a bunch of songs in, not drawing them out too much. They did some some theatrics with the switching around, but they kept it entertaining.
Within 15 minutes they pretty much had everything changed over and the main act came out. I'm not super familiar with Keen, I just like some of his main songs and got turned onto him a little by my brother. So, I was probably with most of the people waiting to hear the Road Goes on Forever. I'm not sure about titles, I'm pretty sure he opened with the Rose Hotel, but i remember the 4th, 8th and 9th songs he played were pretty good.
Keen's came out in a hat and sports jacket, looking like some combination of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. And his movements while playing guitar suggested a little Neil Young as well...
His band was good, but seemed to draw too much away from Keen, who after the tenth song, preformed a couple of numbers by himself including a spoken word/singing about being from College Station. It was ripe for booing as he mentioned he want to Texas A&M, the school who has gained the most recent scorn from the Big 12 for whoring itself out to the SEC, then playing Merry Christmas From the Family. I wish the show would have featured more solo Keen or at least lighter sound from the band.
But anyways after this the show seemed to pick up, several tracks from his new album were good, I Gotta Go and the the title track Ready for Confetti. He also played Copenhagen with another song about New Braunfuels in the middle and Gringo Honeymoon. And there was a hilarious song, maybe titled He's an Asshole, that he said they've never recorded and never will.
He finished up and came back out for an 2 song encore, with The Road Goes on Forever as the last song, which he played sped up and had a lengthy jam at the end. They then left the stage, but with quickly returned and played a surprising cover of You Can't Always Get What You Want, in slower blues style. It wasn't too bad.
Overall it wasn't bad, hey it was a free concert. I wished he would have played the Man Behind the Drums, his tribute song to Levon Helm and featured more storytelling/solo songs. Other than the storytelling song, he didn't have too much of a rapport with the audience. Though he did say, "Thanks," after almost every song. And he did get the crowd to sing along to some of the parts. And I wish I would have listened to a few more of his songs to have gotten more familiar with them, than I did...
More to come if a set list turns up or I can recall more later.
Of course you can never plan anything with him. And he came down with a cold and didn't want to do anything. Typical. I was trying to decide whether I wanted to go or not then. I saw that it was moved indoors because of the cold and earlier rain of the day and said I might as well do something, I lobbied to get this as my day off instead of Friday...
And my fun getting there issue, was getting five miles down the road and realizing I left my cell phone charging at home. So, after returning home, I also remembered to pick up my dad's camera. And I think I only managed to save one photo I took and only got a minute or so worth of video because the cards full. Now if I can only figure out to get the video's off there...
The Doors opened at 6 and show started at 7. I got there about half an hour before and it wasn't very full and honestly didn't get much til closer to 8 when Robert Earl Keen too the stage. I didn't feel like standing alone for awhile, so I took a seat in the balcony(Which are some of the most cramped seats for anyone short or tall. Thankfully I was able to stretch out longways...) And I think they had free beer, according to the guys behind me, so my brother missed out...
Deke Dickerson was the opening act, who was a Columbia native before moving elsewhere. He recounted the last time he played at the Blue Note was opening for Steppenwolf and couldn't hardly move due to Steppenwolf's keyboard player having a mountain of keys.
It was just him, a standup bass player and drummer, and they all switched instruments multiple times. Their style of music, I would classify as 1950's in general, sounding rockabilly, vintage country and Texas Swing of the era. They did a Johnny Cash cover and There Stands the Glass made famous by Webb Pierce. And a hilarious original called Misshapen Hillbilly Gal.
They were loud and it was actually pretty good. They played for 45 minutes but packed a bunch of songs in, not drawing them out too much. They did some some theatrics with the switching around, but they kept it entertaining.
Within 15 minutes they pretty much had everything changed over and the main act came out. I'm not super familiar with Keen, I just like some of his main songs and got turned onto him a little by my brother. So, I was probably with most of the people waiting to hear the Road Goes on Forever. I'm not sure about titles, I'm pretty sure he opened with the Rose Hotel, but i remember the 4th, 8th and 9th songs he played were pretty good.
Keen's came out in a hat and sports jacket, looking like some combination of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. And his movements while playing guitar suggested a little Neil Young as well...
His band was good, but seemed to draw too much away from Keen, who after the tenth song, preformed a couple of numbers by himself including a spoken word/singing about being from College Station. It was ripe for booing as he mentioned he want to Texas A&M, the school who has gained the most recent scorn from the Big 12 for whoring itself out to the SEC, then playing Merry Christmas From the Family. I wish the show would have featured more solo Keen or at least lighter sound from the band.
But anyways after this the show seemed to pick up, several tracks from his new album were good, I Gotta Go and the the title track Ready for Confetti. He also played Copenhagen with another song about New Braunfuels in the middle and Gringo Honeymoon. And there was a hilarious song, maybe titled He's an Asshole, that he said they've never recorded and never will.
He finished up and came back out for an 2 song encore, with The Road Goes on Forever as the last song, which he played sped up and had a lengthy jam at the end. They then left the stage, but with quickly returned and played a surprising cover of You Can't Always Get What You Want, in slower blues style. It wasn't too bad.
Overall it wasn't bad, hey it was a free concert. I wished he would have played the Man Behind the Drums, his tribute song to Levon Helm and featured more storytelling/solo songs. Other than the storytelling song, he didn't have too much of a rapport with the audience. Though he did say, "Thanks," after almost every song. And he did get the crowd to sing along to some of the parts. And I wish I would have listened to a few more of his songs to have gotten more familiar with them, than I did...
More to come if a set list turns up or I can recall more later.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sunday, A Bloody Hot Sunday; 7/17 U2 at Busch Stadium Concert Review
This was a no-brainer for me, a chance to see the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band. (Yes, I realize the Stones are still alive and kicking, but since 1987 or so U2 has been the one to hold this title. Or a better title I guess would be the World's Most Popular Band.) I guess I'm glad Bono hurt his back last year and had to reschedule shows and they added St. Louis. Otherwise I wouldn't have seen them.
And it was held in beautiful Busch Stadium, the first time I've ever been in the new one. The "Claw" stage that looked like a spaceship, is so big and tall(over 150 feet) that it couldn't have fit into the Edward Jones Dome, like most of the other shows on the U2 360° Tour have been in football or soccer stadiums worldwide. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City would have been the likely choice I thought. More seats more money. Or even Faurot Field in Columbia could have gotten more people. Heck they played in Norman Oklahoma and East Lansing Michigan...
This was the first stadium show I've ever been too. But I bought general admission field tickets because a) it was cheaper and b) closer than most of the other seats, unless I wanted to sit in the upper decks.The gates opened at 5 and thanks to my brother dicking around we didn't get there until 5:30 or so, but thankfully the heat scared away a lot of people. We didn't get into the inner part closest to the stage, but were about 8 "rows" back from the access ramp.
And the heat was torture. One good thing was they let us bring in water or soda, so we could stay hydrated without paying the astronomical prices. It was 92° when we got there and the sun blaring at our backs. Thankfully by around time Interpol, got around to playing at 7:30(supposed to start at 7:00) the sun was behind the stands.
Interpol came out, with one member dressed in a full suit in this heat, and played nine songs over 40 minutes or so. Probably the heat, and the fact I've never heard anything of theirs, I wasn't that impressed, except for how quick they were done. The lead singer looked like 1990's Brad Pitt, with a mullet and he sounded like Michael Stipe...
Then came the set-change, which took over an hour. The neatest part was watching the 3 camera operators on each of the claw legs get hoisted up. Finally the speakers started playing David Bowie's A Space Oddity, and the band came out. They had the fans going with the two opening songs rocking, but as soon as the Edge hit the distinctive opening tones and notes of Mysterious Ways it sent the crowd into a frenzy. The first four songs were from Achtung Baby, I would guess being as it's the 20 year anniversary of the album...
Set List
Even Better Than The Real Thing
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For> Many Rivers To Cross
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day > Space Oddity
Elevation
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight > Discothèque > Life During Wartime > Psycho Killer
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On
One
Hallelujah > Where The Streets Have No Name
------------
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
The highlight for me was seeing my favorite song of theirs I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Bono had the crowd sing some of the lines in the first verse and choruses. During the song, it got me caught up in the moment, forgetting that I was stuck at an outdoor concert in the middle of summer. Plus it was cool being able to look up and over and see the Arch. If I was more centered or more on the right side, I guess they would've been in the background.
Before, the song Bono made mention of how long they've been at this and thanked the audience for being with them all these years. "Adam (Clayton, bassist) still believes being in a band is a great way to meet girls.... And it is." He joked about Larry Mullen the drummer, still being upset at the band not being named after and lauded the Edge as the greatest guitar player of his generation. And for Bono himself, "...As for me, I'm a man of simple means: 200 trucks, 400 tons of equipment, is all I need..."
He also mentioned that they'd been in St. Louis before 30 years ago, where they played at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus, which the Post had reprinted an review of earlier this year. He read the set list for that night which was humorous in that the first three songs, were repeated as the last three songs in the encore. He also mentioned several time the lights being on in the Hilton and that the people needed to get to sleep over there.
Other highlights were seeing another personal favorite the Batman Forever soundtrack song Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. And they played all of their hits, or the ones I wanted to hear. Pride (In the Name of Love) was another standout for me that seemed to get the crowd into it. The only real absent song was ,New Year's Day (Angel of Harlem, Desire, All Because of You, Stuck in A Moment, if you want to get picky), but I could live without hearing it.
They used a video of astronaut Mark Kelly(Gabrielle Giffords husband) setting up Beautiful Day and I liked the wise segue of playing a bit of A Space Oddity, which related perfect to the couple.
The stage and video screen were used. They had to ramps to the outer catwalk, that were moved several times, that brought Bono and the Edge close and taken back. And the video screen was brought down like "a space ship getting ready to lift off," during the later part of the main set and trapping the band at one point
And Bono kept the politicalnesss out of it for the most part. He mentioned a bit about Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy in Burma and gave a shout out to Amnesty International. He even joked before telling the audience to keep the people of Joplin in our hearts and prayers, that "... I want to think before I talk. I don't always do that...," before Moment of Surrender, a song which seemed anti-climatic and took the wind out of the sails. The group left the stage to Rocket Man playing over the loudspeaker.
The Edge, is the master of getting tones and sounds out of his guitars. He naturally did the guitar switch after virtually every song, but listening to U2's songs it's easy to see why, they almost all have different sonics and they generally kept the same sounds that the recorded versions have. And in It Might Get Loud, he says 'he tries to play as few notes as possible.' So, what he does with foot pedals, synths or whatever, is amazing.
The worst part was the people. There was almost a fight ten feet in front of us. Some guy was fucked up on something and tried starting something with a huge guy(I think the guy could have taken him and his two friends). Then having to listen to hipster/hippie chicks talking with their friends and having their friends come up and help block my view. I didn't mind them dancing or enjoying the show. And a woman in front of us passed out about halfway through U2's set. How do you pay money for tickets, then pay shitloads more for beer and have fun like that? Guess I'm just a conservative.
On the plus side of people, there was something that even made me crack a smile, watching couple young kids sitting of their parents/grandparents shoulders next to me, smiling and clapping along to the music.
There was no major surprises, nothing much different from previous set lists(which I hadn't looked at except for South American dates earlier this year), but U2 is able to conjure up enough magic to make it feel like you're watching something special. Maybe that's why they are the greatest rock and roll band in the world. One of the best I've been too...
Post Dispatch review
and Riverfront Times review
And a write up on the U2 site
And it was held in beautiful Busch Stadium, the first time I've ever been in the new one. The "Claw" stage that looked like a spaceship, is so big and tall(over 150 feet) that it couldn't have fit into the Edward Jones Dome, like most of the other shows on the U2 360° Tour have been in football or soccer stadiums worldwide. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City would have been the likely choice I thought. More seats more money. Or even Faurot Field in Columbia could have gotten more people. Heck they played in Norman Oklahoma and East Lansing Michigan...
This was the first stadium show I've ever been too. But I bought general admission field tickets because a) it was cheaper and b) closer than most of the other seats, unless I wanted to sit in the upper decks.The gates opened at 5 and thanks to my brother dicking around we didn't get there until 5:30 or so, but thankfully the heat scared away a lot of people. We didn't get into the inner part closest to the stage, but were about 8 "rows" back from the access ramp.
And the heat was torture. One good thing was they let us bring in water or soda, so we could stay hydrated without paying the astronomical prices. It was 92° when we got there and the sun blaring at our backs. Thankfully by around time Interpol, got around to playing at 7:30(supposed to start at 7:00) the sun was behind the stands.
Interpol came out, with one member dressed in a full suit in this heat, and played nine songs over 40 minutes or so. Probably the heat, and the fact I've never heard anything of theirs, I wasn't that impressed, except for how quick they were done. The lead singer looked like 1990's Brad Pitt, with a mullet and he sounded like Michael Stipe...
Then came the set-change, which took over an hour. The neatest part was watching the 3 camera operators on each of the claw legs get hoisted up. Finally the speakers started playing David Bowie's A Space Oddity, and the band came out. They had the fans going with the two opening songs rocking, but as soon as the Edge hit the distinctive opening tones and notes of Mysterious Ways it sent the crowd into a frenzy. The first four songs were from Achtung Baby, I would guess being as it's the 20 year anniversary of the album...
Set List
Even Better Than The Real Thing
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For> Many Rivers To Cross
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day > Space Oddity
Elevation
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight > Discothèque > Life During Wartime > Psycho Killer
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On
One
Hallelujah > Where The Streets Have No Name
------------
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
The highlight for me was seeing my favorite song of theirs I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Bono had the crowd sing some of the lines in the first verse and choruses. During the song, it got me caught up in the moment, forgetting that I was stuck at an outdoor concert in the middle of summer. Plus it was cool being able to look up and over and see the Arch. If I was more centered or more on the right side, I guess they would've been in the background.
Before, the song Bono made mention of how long they've been at this and thanked the audience for being with them all these years. "Adam (Clayton, bassist) still believes being in a band is a great way to meet girls.... And it is." He joked about Larry Mullen the drummer, still being upset at the band not being named after and lauded the Edge as the greatest guitar player of his generation. And for Bono himself, "...As for me, I'm a man of simple means: 200 trucks, 400 tons of equipment, is all I need..."
He also mentioned that they'd been in St. Louis before 30 years ago, where they played at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus, which the Post had reprinted an review of earlier this year. He read the set list for that night which was humorous in that the first three songs, were repeated as the last three songs in the encore. He also mentioned several time the lights being on in the Hilton and that the people needed to get to sleep over there.
Other highlights were seeing another personal favorite the Batman Forever soundtrack song Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. And they played all of their hits, or the ones I wanted to hear. Pride (In the Name of Love) was another standout for me that seemed to get the crowd into it. The only real absent song was ,New Year's Day (Angel of Harlem, Desire, All Because of You, Stuck in A Moment, if you want to get picky), but I could live without hearing it.
They used a video of astronaut Mark Kelly(Gabrielle Giffords husband) setting up Beautiful Day and I liked the wise segue of playing a bit of A Space Oddity, which related perfect to the couple.
The stage and video screen were used. They had to ramps to the outer catwalk, that were moved several times, that brought Bono and the Edge close and taken back. And the video screen was brought down like "a space ship getting ready to lift off," during the later part of the main set and trapping the band at one point
And Bono kept the politicalnesss out of it for the most part. He mentioned a bit about Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy in Burma and gave a shout out to Amnesty International. He even joked before telling the audience to keep the people of Joplin in our hearts and prayers, that "... I want to think before I talk. I don't always do that...," before Moment of Surrender, a song which seemed anti-climatic and took the wind out of the sails. The group left the stage to Rocket Man playing over the loudspeaker.
The Edge, is the master of getting tones and sounds out of his guitars. He naturally did the guitar switch after virtually every song, but listening to U2's songs it's easy to see why, they almost all have different sonics and they generally kept the same sounds that the recorded versions have. And in It Might Get Loud, he says 'he tries to play as few notes as possible.' So, what he does with foot pedals, synths or whatever, is amazing.
The worst part was the people. There was almost a fight ten feet in front of us. Some guy was fucked up on something and tried starting something with a huge guy(I think the guy could have taken him and his two friends). Then having to listen to hipster/hippie chicks talking with their friends and having their friends come up and help block my view. I didn't mind them dancing or enjoying the show. And a woman in front of us passed out about halfway through U2's set. How do you pay money for tickets, then pay shitloads more for beer and have fun like that? Guess I'm just a conservative.
On the plus side of people, there was something that even made me crack a smile, watching couple young kids sitting of their parents/grandparents shoulders next to me, smiling and clapping along to the music.
There was no major surprises, nothing much different from previous set lists(which I hadn't looked at except for South American dates earlier this year), but U2 is able to conjure up enough magic to make it feel like you're watching something special. Maybe that's why they are the greatest rock and roll band in the world. One of the best I've been too...
Post Dispatch review
and Riverfront Times review
And a write up on the U2 site
Sunday, June 19, 2011
St. Louis Friday Night; 6/17 Brad Paisley Concert Review
My mom has always gently chided me to go and see Brad Paisley again(We'd seen him at Mizzou Arena in December 2006) in concert with her and I've never wanted to waste one of my vacation days to do so. Lo and behold my off day this week was on Friday the 17th, the same day his H20 II Tour was coming to Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis and she decided she wanted to go.
We arrived there around 4:30 and could hear Blake Shelton doing his soundcheck singing Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, while all the lawn seat people were lining up waiting to get their spots. The gates opened at 4, due to the fact that Paisley had all sorts of water themed activities to partake in as well, as a smaller stage with three acts playing, which was the only reason we arrived that early.
Eden's Edge, a bluegrass/gospel tinged pop country act was the first one to hit the stage. They played seven songs. I guess their best known song was called Amen, which has just hit the Top 40 Country chart. They were enjoyable and played an interesting cover of something. I can't recall at the moment...EDIT: They played covers of Hey, Soul Sister and Boondocks, if i remember correctly.
Next up was Sunny Sweeney, the one I was most interested in seeing. Best known for her song, From A Table Away and I'd heard a few of her other songs. She has a really nice voice and little bit of rowdy attitude, which matches her band's sound. It was a good mix, as the guitarist was rocking pretty hard, but you could hear the steel player and the fiddler at times. The fiddler as I thought I recognized was mid-Missouri's own Jake Clayton. She had another good tune, Everyone Else Can Kiss My Ass ?. If I Could, Staying's Worse Than Leaving and Drink Myself Single were other songs. She played eight songs total and I was really impressed with her...
Finally was the JaneDear Girls, best known for their song Wildflower. They have more of a pop country sound in the vein of Taylor Swift and have the teenage girl sounding voices though too. I think they played seven songs, including covers of Goodbye Earl, and She's Country. Their band looked like some kind of hybrid of styles and they did a bunch of hopping around. The funniest part was during the first song, the blonde of the duo, who were both wearing four-inch heels was coming down from a riser in front of the drums, fell down and about busted her face...
Then with about 40 minutes until the acts hit the main stage, we went and found our seats. They were about 30 some rows back straightaway center, not bad, but if I would have waited until Friday, could have got some about 20 rows back... One thing I noticed was that there were black people in the audience, which I don't think I've ever seen at a country show. Heck that was more than I've seen at Springsteen's show!...
Jerrod Niemann came out first before 7:30 I believe and did roughly a seven song, half an hour set. To me he was a Scott Bakula look alike and had a frat boy party country sound, with several songs about drinking. One was a humorous story about college and waking up with a professor. He also preformed a cover of Steive Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy, Good Ride Cowboy which he wrote with Garth Brooks and left with his song Lover, Lover a cover of You Don't Treat Me No Good. But he was a pretty good entertainer and I was surprised I enjoyed his set.
After a 15 minute set change, Mr. Miranda Lambert, oops... I mean Blake Shelton came up. He played an 11 song set four about 5o minutes. Overall I was disappointed in his part. He started off fine with All About Tonight and Some Beach getting the crowd going. He then went into a story about the different kinds of music his family all listened too, preforming a medley of Play That Funky Music White Boy/Centerfold/My Prerogative before jumping into Kiss My Country Ass. Then he shifted into some of his ballads, right in a row, which drew a lot of energy out of the show, none of which I can really recall. Toward the end he played Austin and his current single Honey Bee, then Hillbilly Bone and closed with Ol' Red. And he also seemed to play up the country and redneck angles, delivering the same diatribes he probably does at every show, which of course the crowd eats up. And sounding like my old man, he didn't play The Baby, Playboys of the Southwestern World, Nobody But Me or The More I Drink... Or maybe he's ready for a longer slot or his own headlining gig...
Set List
All About Tonight
Some Beach
Play That Funky Music/Centerfold/My Prerogative
Kiss My Country Ass
Who Are You When I'm Not Looking
She Wouldn't Be Gone
Home
Austin
Honey Bee
Hillbilly Bone
Ol' Red
Finally, at around 9:20 the lights dimmed and and a video version of Brad Paisley started singing This Is Country Music, before the real Brad came from somewhere off to the side or back of the seats and made his way to the stage opening with Mud on the Tires. He kept the energy going early and I got one early favorite with Ticks, that wasn't out yet when I'd see him in Columbia. At the very stat his voice sounded very squeaky and the bass was very loud in the mix. He ended up playing 22 songs for around 100 minutes.
Set List
Mud on the Tires
Welcome to the Future
Ticks
Working on a Tan
She's My Everything
Celebrity
Don't Drink the Water
Country Boy Can Survive>I'm Still a Guy
Waitin' on a Woman
When I Get Where I'm Going
The World
Camouflage
Letter to Me
I'm Gonna Miss Her
This is Country Music
Eastwood (Instrumental)
Online
American Saturday Night
Then
Water
---------
Old Alabama
Alcohol
He had a nice mix of hits, album cuts of his current album which were enjoyable and songs I hadn't seen before. I think the only I was disappointed he didn't play was Whiskey Lullaby, which he probably didn't do because he didn't have a female singer on the main bill to sing the female part. Though I guess he could have pulled Sweeney or one of the the girls from the earlier groups....
Highlights for me were the aforementioned Ticks, American Saturday Night, and his current single Old Alabama which I kept waiting and waiting for...Another highlight was Don't Drink the Water, which Blake Shelton came back out and reprised his role on vocals from the album version. This is usually the crap I hate, where one of the previous artists comes back out and they star acts like its a surprise. But here I enjoyed it and like I said it's actually Shelton who does the song with him on the record...
About midway through on Letter to Me and half of I'm Gonna Miss Her, he made his way to the makeshift stage about 10 rows in front of us. He gave the same spiel he did on the live version of the song on his Hits Alive! album about doing songs for the people in the back and that's as close as he used to get going to concerts..The fact he was 10 rows away was a nice bonus, but the fact that I was 10 rows away and couldn't get a good picture with my camera, either tells me I need to learn to take better ones or it's time to get a new phone...
I agree with the Post Dispatch review, in that he seems to rely too much on videos and images, and it takes away from his performance. Paisley is a hell of a guitar player, showing his chops and muscle on the first few numbers. But a lot of it gets lost with all of the distractions...
The bad parts? It seemed like a lot of paint by numbers, same show/dialogue, different city, where it seemed a little to effortless. And during When I Get Where I'm Going, he used the same gimmick he did five years ago, showing pictures of dead and recently deceased celebs, playing the emotion card(But for the record I don't mind the 9/11 pics and solider pics at the very end). And to be fair country concerts/artists set themselves up for all this crap, repeating the same verbatim at most shows. But if the fans wouldn't lap it up, they wouldn't have to do the same dumb them down moves and speeches... Sorry, just the cynical nature...
2nd aside on the subject, I can't stand it when artists play one of their duet songs and they use video of who performed the it on record. He did on Old Alabama, but he's far from the only act that does this. Why is it monkey see, monkey do with the country concert industry?...
And one more aside, can they break themselves away from the three tier act concerts? It's the same old formula, up and comer does their 20 min, then a mid range star or up and coming headliner gets the 50 min set and finally the main act, which to be fair is the only one people really care about. Audiences are too polite though these days, in the old days opening acts better be good or they'd boo you off the stage....
During the finale Alcohol, he brought out a makeshift bar, and a giant headed Brad Paisley mascot as well as all the other performers from throughout the day.
Paisley even with some of my gripes, put on a good concert, played what I wanted to see and for seeing all the acts I did, he was well worth the ticket price. And after a few years and another ten good songs, I'd go see him again.
The worst part was the leaving the parking lot. We wound up waiting 40 minutes before we finally got out. Thankfully most acts I want to see play elsewhere...
We arrived there around 4:30 and could hear Blake Shelton doing his soundcheck singing Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, while all the lawn seat people were lining up waiting to get their spots. The gates opened at 4, due to the fact that Paisley had all sorts of water themed activities to partake in as well, as a smaller stage with three acts playing, which was the only reason we arrived that early.
Eden's Edge, a bluegrass/gospel tinged pop country act was the first one to hit the stage. They played seven songs. I guess their best known song was called Amen, which has just hit the Top 40 Country chart. They were enjoyable and played an interesting cover of something. I can't recall at the moment...EDIT: They played covers of Hey, Soul Sister and Boondocks, if i remember correctly.
Next up was Sunny Sweeney, the one I was most interested in seeing. Best known for her song, From A Table Away and I'd heard a few of her other songs. She has a really nice voice and little bit of rowdy attitude, which matches her band's sound. It was a good mix, as the guitarist was rocking pretty hard, but you could hear the steel player and the fiddler at times. The fiddler as I thought I recognized was mid-Missouri's own Jake Clayton. She had another good tune, Everyone Else Can Kiss My Ass ?. If I Could, Staying's Worse Than Leaving and Drink Myself Single were other songs. She played eight songs total and I was really impressed with her...
Finally was the JaneDear Girls, best known for their song Wildflower. They have more of a pop country sound in the vein of Taylor Swift and have the teenage girl sounding voices though too. I think they played seven songs, including covers of Goodbye Earl, and She's Country. Their band looked like some kind of hybrid of styles and they did a bunch of hopping around. The funniest part was during the first song, the blonde of the duo, who were both wearing four-inch heels was coming down from a riser in front of the drums, fell down and about busted her face...
Then with about 40 minutes until the acts hit the main stage, we went and found our seats. They were about 30 some rows back straightaway center, not bad, but if I would have waited until Friday, could have got some about 20 rows back... One thing I noticed was that there were black people in the audience, which I don't think I've ever seen at a country show. Heck that was more than I've seen at Springsteen's show!...
Jerrod Niemann came out first before 7:30 I believe and did roughly a seven song, half an hour set. To me he was a Scott Bakula look alike and had a frat boy party country sound, with several songs about drinking. One was a humorous story about college and waking up with a professor. He also preformed a cover of Steive Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy, Good Ride Cowboy which he wrote with Garth Brooks and left with his song Lover, Lover a cover of You Don't Treat Me No Good. But he was a pretty good entertainer and I was surprised I enjoyed his set.
After a 15 minute set change, Mr. Miranda Lambert, oops... I mean Blake Shelton came up. He played an 11 song set four about 5o minutes. Overall I was disappointed in his part. He started off fine with All About Tonight and Some Beach getting the crowd going. He then went into a story about the different kinds of music his family all listened too, preforming a medley of Play That Funky Music White Boy/Centerfold/My Prerogative before jumping into Kiss My Country Ass. Then he shifted into some of his ballads, right in a row, which drew a lot of energy out of the show, none of which I can really recall. Toward the end he played Austin and his current single Honey Bee, then Hillbilly Bone and closed with Ol' Red. And he also seemed to play up the country and redneck angles, delivering the same diatribes he probably does at every show, which of course the crowd eats up. And sounding like my old man, he didn't play The Baby, Playboys of the Southwestern World, Nobody But Me or The More I Drink... Or maybe he's ready for a longer slot or his own headlining gig...
Set List
All About Tonight
Some Beach
Play That Funky Music/Centerfold/My Prerogative
Kiss My Country Ass
Who Are You When I'm Not Looking
She Wouldn't Be Gone
Home
Austin
Honey Bee
Hillbilly Bone
Ol' Red
Finally, at around 9:20 the lights dimmed and and a video version of Brad Paisley started singing This Is Country Music, before the real Brad came from somewhere off to the side or back of the seats and made his way to the stage opening with Mud on the Tires. He kept the energy going early and I got one early favorite with Ticks, that wasn't out yet when I'd see him in Columbia. At the very stat his voice sounded very squeaky and the bass was very loud in the mix. He ended up playing 22 songs for around 100 minutes.
Set List
Mud on the Tires
Welcome to the Future
Ticks
Working on a Tan
She's My Everything
Celebrity
Don't Drink the Water
Country Boy Can Survive>I'm Still a Guy
Waitin' on a Woman
When I Get Where I'm Going
The World
Camouflage
Letter to Me
I'm Gonna Miss Her
This is Country Music
Eastwood (Instrumental)
Online
American Saturday Night
Then
Water
---------
Old Alabama
Alcohol
He had a nice mix of hits, album cuts of his current album which were enjoyable and songs I hadn't seen before. I think the only I was disappointed he didn't play was Whiskey Lullaby, which he probably didn't do because he didn't have a female singer on the main bill to sing the female part. Though I guess he could have pulled Sweeney or one of the the girls from the earlier groups....
Highlights for me were the aforementioned Ticks, American Saturday Night, and his current single Old Alabama which I kept waiting and waiting for...Another highlight was Don't Drink the Water, which Blake Shelton came back out and reprised his role on vocals from the album version. This is usually the crap I hate, where one of the previous artists comes back out and they star acts like its a surprise. But here I enjoyed it and like I said it's actually Shelton who does the song with him on the record...
About midway through on Letter to Me and half of I'm Gonna Miss Her, he made his way to the makeshift stage about 10 rows in front of us. He gave the same spiel he did on the live version of the song on his Hits Alive! album about doing songs for the people in the back and that's as close as he used to get going to concerts..The fact he was 10 rows away was a nice bonus, but the fact that I was 10 rows away and couldn't get a good picture with my camera, either tells me I need to learn to take better ones or it's time to get a new phone...
I agree with the Post Dispatch review, in that he seems to rely too much on videos and images, and it takes away from his performance. Paisley is a hell of a guitar player, showing his chops and muscle on the first few numbers. But a lot of it gets lost with all of the distractions...
The bad parts? It seemed like a lot of paint by numbers, same show/dialogue, different city, where it seemed a little to effortless. And during When I Get Where I'm Going, he used the same gimmick he did five years ago, showing pictures of dead and recently deceased celebs, playing the emotion card(But for the record I don't mind the 9/11 pics and solider pics at the very end). And to be fair country concerts/artists set themselves up for all this crap, repeating the same verbatim at most shows. But if the fans wouldn't lap it up, they wouldn't have to do the same dumb them down moves and speeches... Sorry, just the cynical nature...
2nd aside on the subject, I can't stand it when artists play one of their duet songs and they use video of who performed the it on record. He did on Old Alabama, but he's far from the only act that does this. Why is it monkey see, monkey do with the country concert industry?...
And one more aside, can they break themselves away from the three tier act concerts? It's the same old formula, up and comer does their 20 min, then a mid range star or up and coming headliner gets the 50 min set and finally the main act, which to be fair is the only one people really care about. Audiences are too polite though these days, in the old days opening acts better be good or they'd boo you off the stage....
During the finale Alcohol, he brought out a makeshift bar, and a giant headed Brad Paisley mascot as well as all the other performers from throughout the day.
Paisley even with some of my gripes, put on a good concert, played what I wanted to see and for seeing all the acts I did, he was well worth the ticket price. And after a few years and another ten good songs, I'd go see him again.
The worst part was the leaving the parking lot. We wound up waiting 40 minutes before we finally got out. Thankfully most acts I want to see play elsewhere...
Monday, June 6, 2011
Top 10 Favorite Dylan Songs
I did my version of the 10 Greatest Dylan songs a few entries ago, so I figured I'd do my 10 Favorite Dylan Songs.
1. Positively 4th Street- The haunting organ driving the melody and vitriolic Dylan lyrics makes me like this song. Plus it's the ultimate put down song, who hasn't known someone (or to be fair been this person themselves) they'd like to tell words like these to? " Do you take me for such a fool, to think I’d make contact, with the one who tries to hide what he don’t know to begin with?..." Priceless
2. When I Paint My Masterpiece- Well, no surprise this one's on here judging from the title of the blog... There's a whimsical quality and air to this tune presumably about the quirks of artistry and being on the road. Though I've always gotta change the lyrics to "...in the land of Pepsi Cola."
3. Like A Rolling Stone- Like it's sibling song at #1 on my list, it's part of "the same one-sided" argument," complete with the country sounding organ that adds so much to the texture of the song . One of the greatest rock songs ever and every time it comes on the radio, it gets cranked up.
4. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere- A complete 180 from the thin wild mercury sound of 1966 Dylan, this Americana tune was the part of the legendary Basement Tapes made with the Band. Simple lyrics to fit the rhyme, nothing radical, just a footprint for what direction the Band would go into and where Dylan would be the next few years.
5. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You- Another simple love song, I read somebody call "a throwaway love song." I agree, but it's a very good one and not to mention he's backed by killer Nashville pros on the studio version.
6. Knockin' On Heaven's Door- Another greatest hit, and still in his country sounding period(Notice a bunch of them on this list?). Even greater when you see the context of it in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, with Slim Pickens heading to watch the sunset...
7. To Ramona- Some of Dylan's best poetry and and a love song to a girl that he fears will "turn into a meaningless ring," at the end. And this is probably higher too, because I love the Flying Burritos version of it as well...
8. Tweeter and the Monkey Man- You gotta love this song from his Wilbury days. There are obvious Springsteen song references and just the style of the story seems like a wink to the Boss. Not to mention the gender changing throughout of the main characters. Bob at some of his funniest...
9. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues- Another Highway 61 Revisited era song(which if you can't tell is my other favorite Dylan period). I like the hazed out imagery and "Sweet Melinda, they call her the goddess of gloom," who couldn't love that? Well, by the end Dylan did and had to get back to New York City...
10. Forever Young- It's a jaunty feel good song that gives a timeless wish for Bob's children, that everyone should strive for. Never lose the desire to learn, be happy and do what you want with your life.
1. Positively 4th Street- The haunting organ driving the melody and vitriolic Dylan lyrics makes me like this song. Plus it's the ultimate put down song, who hasn't known someone (or to be fair been this person themselves) they'd like to tell words like these to? " Do you take me for such a fool, to think I’d make contact, with the one who tries to hide what he don’t know to begin with?..." Priceless
2. When I Paint My Masterpiece- Well, no surprise this one's on here judging from the title of the blog... There's a whimsical quality and air to this tune presumably about the quirks of artistry and being on the road. Though I've always gotta change the lyrics to "...in the land of Pepsi Cola."
3. Like A Rolling Stone- Like it's sibling song at #1 on my list, it's part of "the same one-sided" argument," complete with the country sounding organ that adds so much to the texture of the song . One of the greatest rock songs ever and every time it comes on the radio, it gets cranked up.
4. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere- A complete 180 from the thin wild mercury sound of 1966 Dylan, this Americana tune was the part of the legendary Basement Tapes made with the Band. Simple lyrics to fit the rhyme, nothing radical, just a footprint for what direction the Band would go into and where Dylan would be the next few years.
5. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You- Another simple love song, I read somebody call "a throwaway love song." I agree, but it's a very good one and not to mention he's backed by killer Nashville pros on the studio version.
6. Knockin' On Heaven's Door- Another greatest hit, and still in his country sounding period(Notice a bunch of them on this list?). Even greater when you see the context of it in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, with Slim Pickens heading to watch the sunset...
7. To Ramona- Some of Dylan's best poetry and and a love song to a girl that he fears will "turn into a meaningless ring," at the end. And this is probably higher too, because I love the Flying Burritos version of it as well...
8. Tweeter and the Monkey Man- You gotta love this song from his Wilbury days. There are obvious Springsteen song references and just the style of the story seems like a wink to the Boss. Not to mention the gender changing throughout of the main characters. Bob at some of his funniest...
9. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues- Another Highway 61 Revisited era song(which if you can't tell is my other favorite Dylan period). I like the hazed out imagery and "Sweet Melinda, they call her the goddess of gloom," who couldn't love that? Well, by the end Dylan did and had to get back to New York City...
10. Forever Young- It's a jaunty feel good song that gives a timeless wish for Bob's children, that everyone should strive for. Never lose the desire to learn, be happy and do what you want with your life.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Top 10 Greatest Dylan Songs
Rolling Stone recently did their Top 70 Bob Dylan songs in honor of Bob's 70th birthday. They did a fair job, but Blowin' in the Wind at number 20. Yeah, right... Here's my take, on the combination of most popular, most influencing, and well best overall.
1. Like A Rolling Stone- Well, they got the first one right. And I'd hope so, based on the name of the magazine and arguably the greatest rock song ever, it's for sure in the Top 5. This combination of blues, rock and structure, changed the nature of what a pop song was. The opening snare drum was Dylan bursting further into the rock and roll conscience of America, changing everything, again.
2. Blowin' in the Wind- You could argue this is his greatest song by the fact that it will be relevant as long as there are still people on the planet...
3. Mr. Tambourine Man- This is Dylan the poet. "Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand, Vanished from my hand." The majesty and the magic in the rhymes, make this song, it's beautiful without music. And who or what is he singing about? Who knows, another part of it's beauty and poetry.
4. All Along the Watchtower- Dylan's most played live song. This song and lyrics sound like it's setting is straight out of the Book of Revelation and the end of days. And you can take it several ways. The verses and the song is told in reverse with the first verse being the end of the tale, or that we're left hanging at the end of the song with "two riders approaching..."
5. Subterranean Homesick Blues- It's probably most famous for being a proto-music video from the film Don't Look Back, with Dylan holding the lyrics to the song on various cue cards, which has aped a bunch of times. Again it's another example of Dylan combing the blues and rock(with a heavy Chuck Berry influence as well from Too Much Monkey Business) , at a super-charged pace of lyrics being spat out, as well as being his first electric song.
6. Positively 4th Street- My personal favorite, the ultimate put down song. Often called "Dylan at his most vitriolic," who hasn't felt this way about somebody (and honestly probably been that way themselves towards people)? That backing organ song helps pace the songs mood and anger. "You say you lost your faith, But that’s not where it’s at. You had no faith to lose And you know it." Masterful...
7. Tangled Up in Blue- Another example of masterful storytelling, mixing in Dylan's own personal feelings of a relationship going down. Like Watchtower, this song doesn't follow a linear pattern or really the same narrator, but ones who faced similar problems. I doubt there there were too many topless joints, when the dealing of slaves was going on. But then again, we just might be assuming it's referring to African Americans and maybe it is a linear story from point A to Z...
8. Desolation Row- Another example of is he just trying to fit the rhyme scheme and come up with surreal juxtapositions, or have the names of all these wacky characters been changed? "The Phantom of the Opera, a perfect image of a priest, they’re spoonfeeding Casanova, To get him to feel more assured, Then they’ll kill him with self-confidence, After poisoning him with words..." Probably a bit of both, but I doubt Bob will ever talk...
9. Mississippi- The best of example of Bob's later works. Here is Bob writing about life and experiences in his mid-50's and pushing 60. Lyrically it's up there with his earlier output. The "older voice" he wrote in as a 22 year old, though wouldn't have the life experiences though...
10 . Rainy Day Women #12 and 35- Yeah, yeah, the party anthem(but blues based in sound) where "Everybody Must Get Stoned!" and Dylan was pretty hopped up on amphetamines at the time. But is just a simple song about getting stoned on drugs? Or is it about getting literally getting stoned to death? Is there some reference to the bible and/or some significance with the numbers 12 and 35? With Bob things are seldom black and white or direct..
1. Like A Rolling Stone- Well, they got the first one right. And I'd hope so, based on the name of the magazine and arguably the greatest rock song ever, it's for sure in the Top 5. This combination of blues, rock and structure, changed the nature of what a pop song was. The opening snare drum was Dylan bursting further into the rock and roll conscience of America, changing everything, again.
2. Blowin' in the Wind- You could argue this is his greatest song by the fact that it will be relevant as long as there are still people on the planet...
3. Mr. Tambourine Man- This is Dylan the poet. "Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand, Vanished from my hand." The majesty and the magic in the rhymes, make this song, it's beautiful without music. And who or what is he singing about? Who knows, another part of it's beauty and poetry.
4. All Along the Watchtower- Dylan's most played live song. This song and lyrics sound like it's setting is straight out of the Book of Revelation and the end of days. And you can take it several ways. The verses and the song is told in reverse with the first verse being the end of the tale, or that we're left hanging at the end of the song with "two riders approaching..."
5. Subterranean Homesick Blues- It's probably most famous for being a proto-music video from the film Don't Look Back, with Dylan holding the lyrics to the song on various cue cards, which has aped a bunch of times. Again it's another example of Dylan combing the blues and rock(with a heavy Chuck Berry influence as well from Too Much Monkey Business) , at a super-charged pace of lyrics being spat out, as well as being his first electric song.
6. Positively 4th Street- My personal favorite, the ultimate put down song. Often called "Dylan at his most vitriolic," who hasn't felt this way about somebody (and honestly probably been that way themselves towards people)? That backing organ song helps pace the songs mood and anger. "You say you lost your faith, But that’s not where it’s at. You had no faith to lose And you know it." Masterful...
7. Tangled Up in Blue- Another example of masterful storytelling, mixing in Dylan's own personal feelings of a relationship going down. Like Watchtower, this song doesn't follow a linear pattern or really the same narrator, but ones who faced similar problems. I doubt there there were too many topless joints, when the dealing of slaves was going on. But then again, we just might be assuming it's referring to African Americans and maybe it is a linear story from point A to Z...
8. Desolation Row- Another example of is he just trying to fit the rhyme scheme and come up with surreal juxtapositions, or have the names of all these wacky characters been changed? "The Phantom of the Opera, a perfect image of a priest, they’re spoonfeeding Casanova, To get him to feel more assured, Then they’ll kill him with self-confidence, After poisoning him with words..." Probably a bit of both, but I doubt Bob will ever talk...
9. Mississippi- The best of example of Bob's later works. Here is Bob writing about life and experiences in his mid-50's and pushing 60. Lyrically it's up there with his earlier output. The "older voice" he wrote in as a 22 year old, though wouldn't have the life experiences though...
10 . Rainy Day Women #12 and 35- Yeah, yeah, the party anthem(but blues based in sound) where "Everybody Must Get Stoned!" and Dylan was pretty hopped up on amphetamines at the time. But is just a simple song about getting stoned on drugs? Or is it about getting literally getting stoned to death? Is there some reference to the bible and/or some significance with the numbers 12 and 35? With Bob things are seldom black and white or direct..
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Is It the Clothes That Get the Title?...
I guess history was made when a cross dressing high school student got voted Prom Queen, after being voted for by his(her?) classmates. But is this saying King and Queen need to be based on clothes and gender roles? So would a female not wearing a dress, not be eligible, or say could a heterosexual male in a suit run for Queen title just because he wanted to?
And I thought high school politics were silly before. Then again, it's no wonder I skipped going to both my proms all together...
And I thought high school politics were silly before. Then again, it's no wonder I skipped going to both my proms all together...
Monday, May 30, 2011
The 5 Musical Acts I Want to See.... Version 2.0
I did this I guess about four years ago on my MySpace blog, but in those four years, I've seen a couple of the acts(twice actually) and if all goes right will see U2 in less than two months... And to some degree my tastes or preferences have changed to who I think I'd rather see given a choice...
1. The Who- Same as before, even though they aren't really "the Who," its still Daltrey and Townshend, a very good remnant of arguably the greatest cohesive group. Those two are the soul of the group, while Entwistle and Moon were the heart of it. I guess I could go see Daltrey this fall do Tommy, but without Townshend....
2. Bob Seger- Still number two and again one of my personal favorites. He's still underrated compared to Mr. Springsteen. He's a treasure trove of classic rock era songs and like I said the beauty of his songwriting gets lost. He played in Kansas City earlier this month, but I balked because I figured St. Louis was naturally going to have a date. Now, I'm hoping he does hit the road again this summer or fall, which is supposed to be his last hurrah for touring...
3. Billy Joe Shaver- One of the best country songwriters of all time. He's best known for his ties to the Outlaw movement and Waylon Jennings recording an entire album of his songs. He's just another older voice that I'd love to see while he's still around, like I did with Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard earlier this year. And he's supposed to be in KC sometime this summer, but I can't figure out why the hell he's never been to Columbia, with the rednecks and redneck posers in Central Missouri...
4. Van Morrison- I just want to see him for his voice, one of the most unique and strongest voices out there along with Joe Cocker. Even knowing he's of the singer/songwriter variety who only plays about half the stuff you want/expect to hear, I would enjoy seeing him in concert...
5. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young- I've seen the godfather of grunge twice, now I want to see him with these guys. Hopefully they'll get it back together one more time in the near future. Heck Crosby is pushing 70, if he's not already there and lucky to be alive. I'd love to hear the harmonies, the acoustic and the electric and everything about the meshing of four headstrong personalities. Heck I could even tolerate a couple left-wing rants in exchange for hearing Ohio, Helpless, Southern Cross, etc....
1. The Who- Same as before, even though they aren't really "the Who," its still Daltrey and Townshend, a very good remnant of arguably the greatest cohesive group. Those two are the soul of the group, while Entwistle and Moon were the heart of it. I guess I could go see Daltrey this fall do Tommy, but without Townshend....
2. Bob Seger- Still number two and again one of my personal favorites. He's still underrated compared to Mr. Springsteen. He's a treasure trove of classic rock era songs and like I said the beauty of his songwriting gets lost. He played in Kansas City earlier this month, but I balked because I figured St. Louis was naturally going to have a date. Now, I'm hoping he does hit the road again this summer or fall, which is supposed to be his last hurrah for touring...
3. Billy Joe Shaver- One of the best country songwriters of all time. He's best known for his ties to the Outlaw movement and Waylon Jennings recording an entire album of his songs. He's just another older voice that I'd love to see while he's still around, like I did with Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard earlier this year. And he's supposed to be in KC sometime this summer, but I can't figure out why the hell he's never been to Columbia, with the rednecks and redneck posers in Central Missouri...
4. Van Morrison- I just want to see him for his voice, one of the most unique and strongest voices out there along with Joe Cocker. Even knowing he's of the singer/songwriter variety who only plays about half the stuff you want/expect to hear, I would enjoy seeing him in concert...
5. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young- I've seen the godfather of grunge twice, now I want to see him with these guys. Hopefully they'll get it back together one more time in the near future. Heck Crosby is pushing 70, if he's not already there and lucky to be alive. I'd love to hear the harmonies, the acoustic and the electric and everything about the meshing of four headstrong personalities. Heck I could even tolerate a couple left-wing rants in exchange for hearing Ohio, Helpless, Southern Cross, etc....
Saturday, April 30, 2011
They Ain't Making Jews, or Anyone for that Matter Like Kinky Anymore ; 4/29 Kinky Friedman concert review
The Springtime for Kinky 2011 tour made its stop in St. Louis at Off-Broadway, in the Cherokee district. Me and the old man got there pretty early even with doors opening at 7:30 and not knowing if I had to actually pick up tickets(I didn't I guess everybody's were "will call".) And as we were heading back out to kill some time the Kinkster himself was arriving out of a taxi and he spent a portion of time outside smoking a cigar.
After doors opened the show was supposed to start at 8 but didn't until close til 9, as Kinky was in the back signing stuff for people. I didn't think about it or I would have brought a cd and we couldn't find some any posters to grab. But Off-Broadway was sort of like Mojo's in Columbia, a pretty sparse in area place.
Here is the approximate set list I knew he did 16 songs, I'm not sure of the exact order and there is one song I can't remember...
1. Before All Hell Breaks Lose
2. Lady Yesterday ?
3. Autograph
4. Homo Erectus
5. Old Ben Lucas
6. Rapid City, South Dakota
7. Nashville Casualty and Life
8. Waitret, Please Waitret
9. Sold American
10. They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore
11. Silver Eagle Express
Reading from his book of Texas Heroes
12. Asshole From El Paso
13. Marilyn and Joe
14. Ballad of Ira Hayes
15. Ballad of Charles Whitman
16. Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd
Overall it was two hours of entertainment. Between most songs or even in the middle of some he would go on monologues or telling jokes. My dad was annoyed at the late start, but by halfway through he was giggling uncontrollably. "... had a Yom Kippur Cadillac. It could stop on a dime and pick it up." Right after the second song, he tried doing a little instrumental vamp, but messed up and said, "Aw, Fuck it!" And he was talking a bit about losing his hearing, and relating about an older man who couldn't hear and was asking his wife what she did with the rake. He said, "she pointed at her, then her ass and then her privates. The old man couldn't understand and she finally said, ' I left it behind the bush.' "
He did go on some political topics and politics in general. "Break down the word politcs. Poly many many and ticks as in blood sucking animals." And he said the only three in Congress he believes aren't corrupt are Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinch, but everyone else thinks are a little nuts. Kinky also when talking to the audience spent most of the time fumbling around with cigars, presumably because he couldn't smoke inside...
Musically he was joined midway by one of his former Jewboys, bassist Sky Cap Adams who apparently lives in the St. Louis area and is his homosexual lover. (He later told us "they weren't" , but Sky Cap added "Not any more.")
And Kinky added to the humor not just in his songs, but forgetting lyrics and where to go time and time again. At one point during Silver Eagle Express, Sky Cap pulled out his phone to look up song lyrics and asked "What song is this again?" And he couldn't remember what the people were doing during Ballad of Charles Whitman. "No they weren't laughing." During They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore, he asked the crowd if he forgot to be derogatory to any ethnic group and told a story about an audience member who'd always shout out "Albinos!" in New York City.
The only major disappointment for me was he didn't play Get Your Biscuits in the Oven. He also didn't play We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You.
But Homo Erectus and Waitret, Please, Waitret, an ode to cunnilingus were riots, as well as hearing his other well known songs Ballad of Charles Whitman, Old Ben Lucas and Asshole from El Paso.
He also had a lot reverence for Willie Nelson, mentioning him and talking about him multiple times. "There are three things he cares about, music, drugs and gold. I only care about two Libya and Charlie Sheen."
Overall it was a fun night and worth it with all the laughs and fun songs. More to come as I remember other parts and funny bits...
After doors opened the show was supposed to start at 8 but didn't until close til 9, as Kinky was in the back signing stuff for people. I didn't think about it or I would have brought a cd and we couldn't find some any posters to grab. But Off-Broadway was sort of like Mojo's in Columbia, a pretty sparse in area place.
Here is the approximate set list I knew he did 16 songs, I'm not sure of the exact order and there is one song I can't remember...
1. Before All Hell Breaks Lose
2. Lady Yesterday ?
3. Autograph
4. Homo Erectus
5. Old Ben Lucas
6. Rapid City, South Dakota
7. Nashville Casualty and Life
8. Waitret, Please Waitret
9. Sold American
10. They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore
11. Silver Eagle Express
Reading from his book of Texas Heroes
12. Asshole From El Paso
13. Marilyn and Joe
14. Ballad of Ira Hayes
15. Ballad of Charles Whitman
16. Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd
Overall it was two hours of entertainment. Between most songs or even in the middle of some he would go on monologues or telling jokes. My dad was annoyed at the late start, but by halfway through he was giggling uncontrollably. "... had a Yom Kippur Cadillac. It could stop on a dime and pick it up." Right after the second song, he tried doing a little instrumental vamp, but messed up and said, "Aw, Fuck it!" And he was talking a bit about losing his hearing, and relating about an older man who couldn't hear and was asking his wife what she did with the rake. He said, "she pointed at her, then her ass and then her privates. The old man couldn't understand and she finally said, ' I left it behind the bush.' "
He did go on some political topics and politics in general. "Break down the word politcs. Poly many many and ticks as in blood sucking animals." And he said the only three in Congress he believes aren't corrupt are Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinch, but everyone else thinks are a little nuts. Kinky also when talking to the audience spent most of the time fumbling around with cigars, presumably because he couldn't smoke inside...
Musically he was joined midway by one of his former Jewboys, bassist Sky Cap Adams who apparently lives in the St. Louis area and is his homosexual lover. (He later told us "they weren't" , but Sky Cap added "Not any more.")
And Kinky added to the humor not just in his songs, but forgetting lyrics and where to go time and time again. At one point during Silver Eagle Express, Sky Cap pulled out his phone to look up song lyrics and asked "What song is this again?" And he couldn't remember what the people were doing during Ballad of Charles Whitman. "No they weren't laughing." During They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore, he asked the crowd if he forgot to be derogatory to any ethnic group and told a story about an audience member who'd always shout out "Albinos!" in New York City.
The only major disappointment for me was he didn't play Get Your Biscuits in the Oven. He also didn't play We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You.
But Homo Erectus and Waitret, Please, Waitret, an ode to cunnilingus were riots, as well as hearing his other well known songs Ballad of Charles Whitman, Old Ben Lucas and Asshole from El Paso.
He also had a lot reverence for Willie Nelson, mentioning him and talking about him multiple times. "There are three things he cares about, music, drugs and gold. I only care about two Libya and Charlie Sheen."
Overall it was a fun night and worth it with all the laughs and fun songs. More to come as I remember other parts and funny bits...
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Strait Forward- 4/8 George Strait/Reba McEntire with LeeAnn Womack Concert at Mizzou Arena
My mom's always wanted to see George Strait, but never wanted to pay up or always asked my dad if he wanted to go(He'd say 'No,' but if she bought the tickets he would have went...). So when they announced a date for Columbia, I figured what the hey, its George Strait, even if it meant having to sit through Reba's set...
Getting there was a hoot as my sinuses were acting up and with little sleep. Plus my car had been overheating at times lately and the drive on I-70 and setting in long traffic lines on Stadium exasperated the problem. So after Quizno's a quick detour to Wal-Mart for coolant happened before we headed to Mizzou Arena. We got in and seated with about 10 minutes before start time.
When I bought my tickets I thought it was going to be end stage and was going to lined up next to the stage, but they had a diamond shape and I figured I might be staring at George Strait's ass all night...Thankfully the performers were rotating singing spots all night.
And this being a country concert, it started on time at 7 PM when the lights went out and LeeAnn Womack came out. I'd seen her before, being the middle act when I saw Toby Keith at UMB Bank Pavilion in St. Louis in '05. Here she came out in her five inch heels and had to helped up and off the stage every time and did a compact eight song 30 minute set. Only main song of her's she didn't do that I like was He Oughta Know That By Now... Set List gleamed from another concert date
Buckaroo
You've Got to Talk to Me
San Antonio Rose
Last Call
I May Hate Myself in the Morning
I'll Think Of A Reason Later
I Hope You Dance
Ashes by Now
Then after LeeAnn's set, a quick set change and Reba was out by 7:45. This was the part of the show I was telling my mom we should get hammered drunk too to make it more interesting. The first few songs she wasn't bad and I guess I knew more of her songs than I realized, but halfway though her set it started to drag. She ended up doing 19 songs I think and playing for 90 minutes. Womack returned to duet on Does He Love You? with McEntire which helped draw some of my attention back.
Right towards the end before she did I'm A Survivor the theme to her television show, the actress/comedian, Melissa Peterman that played on there with her came out and did a comedy bit that seemed to go on forever. It had it's funny moments, but does she not have anything else on her plate? The bad part was it was probably the most unique part out of all three acts though I know each city has variations on the references. She name dropped Harpo's, Club Vogue and the "M-I-Z" "Z-O-U" call and response to the sheep...oops I mean fans in the audiences...
After her main set she came back for an encore out of a Mini-taxi and a wardrobe change to play Fancy. Full assumed set list
Can't Even Get The Blues
The Fear Of Being Alone
Strange
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
Is There Life Out There
If I Were A Boy
The Bridge You Burn
Fallin' Out Of Love
Nothing To Lose
Somebody Should Leave/For My Broken Heart
Does He Love You?
I Want A Cowboy
When You Have a Child
Consider Me Gone
Why Haven't I Heard From You
Because Of You
I'm A Survivor
Turn On The Radio
-------
Fancy
Then following a 20 minute or so set change, it was finally time for King George and his Ace in the Hole band. He was quite the contrast to Womack and McEntire and almost 95% of every other performer out there. He doesn't play up the crowd or jump around like a total idiot, other than a few waves and finger pointings.
The downside is he is almost a jukebox on stage, playing song for song the way they were recorded. That's not always a bad thing, but a few variations on lyrics or add-ons are nice, or letting the band stretch out and jam a little bit. I'm not even talking about Neil Young 10 min solos here.
But as I said he did give the fans their money's worth 31 songs in almost 2 hours. With 57 #1 songs(that's not even counting his other hits) I knew he couldn't play everything. The only ones i was disappointed to not get were Write This Down and Murder on Music Row. The only surprising omission was Love Without End, Amen. But I got my favorites Blue Clear Sky and Give it Away, plus other favorites Ocean Front Property, I Hate Everything and his cover version of Merle Haggard's Seashores of Old Mexico. Plus his signature song Amarillo By Morning, one of those songs not a #1.
Some of the other highlights was Check Yes or No, probably the song that got the audience going the most. And Arkansas Dave a song written by son and on his latest album wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. He played seven songs by count off of Twang, his latest album.
He came back out for a four song encore, featuring a couple of hits in Heartland and All My Exes, a cover of Folsom Prison Blues, with a neat "gunshot" sound with turning up the volume on snare drum with some reverb while drowning everything else out and the fitting The Cowboy Rides Away to close out the night.
Overall a good show, nothing fancy (at least on Geroge's part) and well worth the money seeing a legendary performer in concert.
Set List
Twang
Ocean Front Property
Honk If You Honky Tonk
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
I Hate Everything
Wrapped
Run
The Seashores of Old Mexico
Check Yes Or No
The Fireman
Same Kind Of Crazy
Blue Clear Sky
A Fire I Can't Put Out
Arkansas Dave
Where Have I Been All My Life
How 'Bout Them Cowgirls?
The Breath You Take
River Of Love
The Chair
I Gotta Get to You
I Cross My Heart
I Saw God Today
Amarillo By Morning
Living For The Night
Give It Away
Troubadour
Unwound
-------
Heartland
All My Ex's Live In Texas
Folsom Prison Blues
The Cowboy Rides Away
Getting there was a hoot as my sinuses were acting up and with little sleep. Plus my car had been overheating at times lately and the drive on I-70 and setting in long traffic lines on Stadium exasperated the problem. So after Quizno's a quick detour to Wal-Mart for coolant happened before we headed to Mizzou Arena. We got in and seated with about 10 minutes before start time.
When I bought my tickets I thought it was going to be end stage and was going to lined up next to the stage, but they had a diamond shape and I figured I might be staring at George Strait's ass all night...Thankfully the performers were rotating singing spots all night.
And this being a country concert, it started on time at 7 PM when the lights went out and LeeAnn Womack came out. I'd seen her before, being the middle act when I saw Toby Keith at UMB Bank Pavilion in St. Louis in '05. Here she came out in her five inch heels and had to helped up and off the stage every time and did a compact eight song 30 minute set. Only main song of her's she didn't do that I like was He Oughta Know That By Now... Set List gleamed from another concert date
Buckaroo
You've Got to Talk to Me
San Antonio Rose
Last Call
I May Hate Myself in the Morning
I'll Think Of A Reason Later
I Hope You Dance
Ashes by Now
Then after LeeAnn's set, a quick set change and Reba was out by 7:45. This was the part of the show I was telling my mom we should get hammered drunk too to make it more interesting. The first few songs she wasn't bad and I guess I knew more of her songs than I realized, but halfway though her set it started to drag. She ended up doing 19 songs I think and playing for 90 minutes. Womack returned to duet on Does He Love You? with McEntire which helped draw some of my attention back.
Right towards the end before she did I'm A Survivor the theme to her television show, the actress/comedian, Melissa Peterman that played on there with her came out and did a comedy bit that seemed to go on forever. It had it's funny moments, but does she not have anything else on her plate? The bad part was it was probably the most unique part out of all three acts though I know each city has variations on the references. She name dropped Harpo's, Club Vogue and the "M-I-Z" "Z-O-U" call and response to the sheep...oops I mean fans in the audiences...
After her main set she came back for an encore out of a Mini-taxi and a wardrobe change to play Fancy. Full assumed set list
Can't Even Get The Blues
The Fear Of Being Alone
Strange
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
Is There Life Out There
If I Were A Boy
The Bridge You Burn
Fallin' Out Of Love
Nothing To Lose
Somebody Should Leave/For My Broken Heart
Does He Love You?
I Want A Cowboy
When You Have a Child
Consider Me Gone
Why Haven't I Heard From You
Because Of You
I'm A Survivor
Turn On The Radio
-------
Fancy
Then following a 20 minute or so set change, it was finally time for King George and his Ace in the Hole band. He was quite the contrast to Womack and McEntire and almost 95% of every other performer out there. He doesn't play up the crowd or jump around like a total idiot, other than a few waves and finger pointings.
The downside is he is almost a jukebox on stage, playing song for song the way they were recorded. That's not always a bad thing, but a few variations on lyrics or add-ons are nice, or letting the band stretch out and jam a little bit. I'm not even talking about Neil Young 10 min solos here.
But as I said he did give the fans their money's worth 31 songs in almost 2 hours. With 57 #1 songs(that's not even counting his other hits) I knew he couldn't play everything. The only ones i was disappointed to not get were Write This Down and Murder on Music Row. The only surprising omission was Love Without End, Amen. But I got my favorites Blue Clear Sky and Give it Away, plus other favorites Ocean Front Property, I Hate Everything and his cover version of Merle Haggard's Seashores of Old Mexico. Plus his signature song Amarillo By Morning, one of those songs not a #1.
Some of the other highlights was Check Yes or No, probably the song that got the audience going the most. And Arkansas Dave a song written by son and on his latest album wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. He played seven songs by count off of Twang, his latest album.
He came back out for a four song encore, featuring a couple of hits in Heartland and All My Exes, a cover of Folsom Prison Blues, with a neat "gunshot" sound with turning up the volume on snare drum with some reverb while drowning everything else out and the fitting The Cowboy Rides Away to close out the night.
Overall a good show, nothing fancy (at least on Geroge's part) and well worth the money seeing a legendary performer in concert.
Set List
Twang
Ocean Front Property
Honk If You Honky Tonk
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
I Hate Everything
Wrapped
Run
The Seashores of Old Mexico
Check Yes Or No
The Fireman
Same Kind Of Crazy
Blue Clear Sky
A Fire I Can't Put Out
Arkansas Dave
Where Have I Been All My Life
How 'Bout Them Cowgirls?
The Breath You Take
River Of Love
The Chair
I Gotta Get to You
I Cross My Heart
I Saw God Today
Amarillo By Morning
Living For The Night
Give It Away
Troubadour
Unwound
-------
Heartland
All My Ex's Live In Texas
Folsom Prison Blues
The Cowboy Rides Away
Thursday, March 10, 2011
"We don't shoot that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do"; Merle and Kris 3/9/11 Concert Review
Two country music legends, one I'd seen before, one I hadn't. I scooped up a pair of tickets when I read that Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson were coming to the Fox Theater in St. Louis, a couple months ago. I saw Kris last Winter, but the chance to see the two of them together on the same stage at the same time I probably wouldn't have too many more chances to do so...
Me and my mom braved the crappy rainy weather to get there. The house lights dimmed on cue at 8 o'clock, country artists don't fuck around. Kris came out by himself with guitar and harmonica and sang Shipwrecked in the Eighties, before introducing Merle and the Strangers, who tore into Silver Wings, then a couple of more numbers.
The two did shows similar last year and the set lists and reviews I read, said they alternated songs, Merle would do one then Kris would. But either Kris was ceded the stage to Merle or Kris was again suffering from a bad cold. He shouldn't do many winter shows or he's spent too many years in Hawaii... But the pattern of the night would be Kris would do one, then Merle would do two or three. Which actually worked fine for me, as I'd already seen Kris do most of his hits, and the more Merle the better.
Highlights for me were Are The Good Times Really Over For Good?, where Merle did his ad libs. He changed "When a man could still work and steal wood" instead of 'still would" and "When a girl could still cook and chop wood." He also stopped and changed, "where a joint was a bad place to be", to "where a joint was a nice place to be."
Merle's guitar solo on Kris' Loving Her Was Easier, added to one of my favorite songs as well. And Kris added "It's feels like I'm dying," after the lyric "...as I lay dying," in reference to his cold.
And the sheer fact he played Okie from Muskogee with very liberal Kristofferson standing two feet from him was a sight to see. Merle gave an introduction about how things have changed and how his life was a licensed medical marijuana grower(He neglected to mention the fact he started smoking after facing lung cancer a while back). And he stopped the song, because the audience didn't give enough reaction to the opening line. Then the line "We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy..." was a hoot, with Merle's fiddle player pointing towards Kris, and Merle pointing toward his longtime steel guitar player and bald headed Norman Hamlett. And the real treat was Kris sang a verse, of his version which you can hear on his live cd Live at the Philharmonic. "...We don't shoot that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do."
It was interesting watching Kris on stage was Merle was playing, he would sing some harmony and play harmonica and guitar. But even when he wasn't, you could see him singing along, I think that says a lot about his respect for Merle.
The only real bad part was it was too brief at 90 minutes. Sure, they did play 23 songs, but for two performers, a few more songs would have been nice to lengthen it out a little more. It was also interesting they didn't do an encore, after Merle announced the "last song of the evening," which it turned out to be. The only song I was really disappointed not to get to hear was Ramblin' Fever and maybe Rainbow Stew a little bit. The legendary Norman Hamlett didn't seem to do much, Merle mentioned once that they'd had trouble with his amp for his Dobro and they could never get the sound going right.
Overall it was a solid show. Merle was in good spirits joking with the audience a lot. "It's nice to see people my age coming out...Everyone else so why not us." And he also joked that " It's hard to write these songs, I wrote at it sea level in my Twenties, here in winter and in my Forties!" And during the band introductions, he had the band shake hands and "introduce" themselves to one another, before the band intro proper.
This was one of the better show's I've attended. I got most of my favorites and never knew for sure what was coming next from two living legends. A couple of more songs might have made this one of the very best shows I've seen, but still a very good and enjoyable night. Here's the Post Dispatch's review and the Riverfront Time's review.
Me and my mom braved the crappy rainy weather to get there. The house lights dimmed on cue at 8 o'clock, country artists don't fuck around. Kris came out by himself with guitar and harmonica and sang Shipwrecked in the Eighties, before introducing Merle and the Strangers, who tore into Silver Wings, then a couple of more numbers.
The two did shows similar last year and the set lists and reviews I read, said they alternated songs, Merle would do one then Kris would. But either Kris was ceded the stage to Merle or Kris was again suffering from a bad cold. He shouldn't do many winter shows or he's spent too many years in Hawaii... But the pattern of the night would be Kris would do one, then Merle would do two or three. Which actually worked fine for me, as I'd already seen Kris do most of his hits, and the more Merle the better.
Highlights for me were Are The Good Times Really Over For Good?, where Merle did his ad libs. He changed "When a man could still work and steal wood" instead of 'still would" and "When a girl could still cook and chop wood." He also stopped and changed, "where a joint was a bad place to be", to "where a joint was a nice place to be."
Merle's guitar solo on Kris' Loving Her Was Easier, added to one of my favorite songs as well. And Kris added "It's feels like I'm dying," after the lyric "...as I lay dying," in reference to his cold.
And the sheer fact he played Okie from Muskogee with very liberal Kristofferson standing two feet from him was a sight to see. Merle gave an introduction about how things have changed and how his life was a licensed medical marijuana grower(He neglected to mention the fact he started smoking after facing lung cancer a while back). And he stopped the song, because the audience didn't give enough reaction to the opening line. Then the line "We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy..." was a hoot, with Merle's fiddle player pointing towards Kris, and Merle pointing toward his longtime steel guitar player and bald headed Norman Hamlett. And the real treat was Kris sang a verse, of his version which you can hear on his live cd Live at the Philharmonic. "...We don't shoot that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do."
It was interesting watching Kris on stage was Merle was playing, he would sing some harmony and play harmonica and guitar. But even when he wasn't, you could see him singing along, I think that says a lot about his respect for Merle.
The only real bad part was it was too brief at 90 minutes. Sure, they did play 23 songs, but for two performers, a few more songs would have been nice to lengthen it out a little more. It was also interesting they didn't do an encore, after Merle announced the "last song of the evening," which it turned out to be. The only song I was really disappointed not to get to hear was Ramblin' Fever and maybe Rainbow Stew a little bit. The legendary Norman Hamlett didn't seem to do much, Merle mentioned once that they'd had trouble with his amp for his Dobro and they could never get the sound going right.
Overall it was a solid show. Merle was in good spirits joking with the audience a lot. "It's nice to see people my age coming out...Everyone else so why not us." And he also joked that " It's hard to write these songs, I wrote at it sea level in my Twenties, here in winter and in my Forties!" And during the band introductions, he had the band shake hands and "introduce" themselves to one another, before the band intro proper.
This was one of the better show's I've attended. I got most of my favorites and never knew for sure what was coming next from two living legends. A couple of more songs might have made this one of the very best shows I've seen, but still a very good and enjoyable night. Here's the Post Dispatch's review and the Riverfront Time's review.
Set List
1. Shipwrecked in the Eighties
2. Silver Wings
3. Going Where The Lonely Go
4. The Bottle Let Me Down
5. Me and Bobby McGee
6. The Other Side of Nowhere
7. Mama Tried
8. Back to Earth
9. Are the Good Times Really Over? (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
10. The Pilgrim: Chapter 33
11. It's Been a Great Afternoon
12. Big City
13. Help Me Make it Through The Night
14. Workingman Blues
15. They're Tearing the Labor Camps Down
16. Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
17. I'll Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink
18. Mama's Prayer
19. Okie from Muskogee
20. Sunday Morning Coming Down
21. I Am What I Am
22. Why Me Lord?
23. Pancho and Lefty
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