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Okay so I checked the local rags to see if they did any reviews – no luck! So a quick google and I found this…
http://www.simonburt.co.nz/weblog/?p=12
My turn tonight – finally!
Thanks for posting the link.
Hmmm. Seemed to be a mixed review most of the way, but ended on a positive note.
But….
Rather alarmingly, however, the back catalogue is now such that Miss Williams felt the need to regularly refer to sheets on a music stand in front of her
here’s that rubbish yet again. I can not, for the life of me, understand what the huge issue is some people have with the lyric sheet book. I honestly fail to see the problem – get over it!
Tom
I’m just glad I’m forewarned – I’ve learnt a bit reading this site, so probably have adjusted my expectations (neither good nor bad). I can see how if you are unaware of some of these idiosnyncracies you can be put off a bit tho’.
I’m trying to decide what to tell my hubby as he hates to have too much ‘outside’ information on his fave musicians (prefers to let the music speak for itself), but I don’t want him to be one of the ones disappointed by lyric books or false starts etc – I may inform him of a few little things….
Anyhow, we are travelling to Auckland tonight, staying up there for the night, and not home again until late the next day. If no-one beats me to it, I will try my best to at least get a set list for you all, but it will be a day or so late.
This is my first concert in about 11-12 years, I intend to enjoy myself!
@nickle wrote:
This is my first concert in about 11-12 years, I intend to enjoy myself!
And that, IMHO, is the proper attitude to have! Have fun!
Tom
just in time for the band to reappear, along with a biker’s moll standing at the microphone. Head-to-toe black (normally-blonde hair included), boots, chains, the works
ha ha ha I Love that look.
Nice review–honest, genuine, and quite intuitive without being simply critical. However and that aside, I am sure that several of the regular posters will take issue with this “stepping back” approach. For example and speaking more directly, the danger of having an ex-rocker (like ES) on lead guitar is the lack of connection in terms organic Americana music roots (think of Willie Nelson/Asleep at the Wheel’s new project, The Flatlanders, Jim Lauderdale, Lyle Lovett’s Large Band, Slaid Cleaves/Gurf Morlix), which can then lead to and influence a straight ahead Neil Young-like, guitar-fueled, rock and roll “show.” I can imagine it’s especially dangerous in that there is so much emphasis being put on Buick 6 as an opening band complete with its own CD side project of cover songs. The reviewer of the Wellington show captured the essence of this danger in the following passage:
“Another distraction the poor girl had to contend with was her own band. Occasionally I got the strong impression that the backing band, guitarists in particular, thought that they were actually the main attraction here, such was their complete lack of deference to the reason for their presence. Talking among themselves while playing behind her, constantly gesturing to the sound guys, strutting around the stage like peacocks, it was like there were two shows going on. And while I’m having a moan about the band, what is it with these guys who feel the need for a fresh guitar for every song? There was so much activity on stage between songs that it was like a hamburger eating competition!”…
from a regular poster who has taken issue with the ‘stepped back approach’-
(yeah I’ll bite for the Troll)the danger of having an ex-rocker (like ES) on lead guitar is the lack of connection in terms organic Americana…..
Have you ever even seen the band with ES playing?
an “honest review”- come on this review was crap, he only wrote one sentence about the music
He was obsessed with the cup she was drinking from… WTF was that all about ?
The “obligatory standing ovation”?
I’ve seen the guitar changes, and It did not remind me of a “hamburger eating contest”
Is there even such an event?
what a tool.It seems fairly clear that the reviewer has good grasp of the music while also folding in an understanding of who LWs is as a performer (history included). And the cup thing seems fairly straight forward, right? Is it such a bad thing that a reviewer blends in the Gestalt of the performance and performer (while being respectful and without name-calling or WTF)? Is it a bad thing to approach an independent concert review with a certain amount of thoughtfulness and intellect? Given the bevvy of studio musicians available vis-a-vis the Austin, TXs’ of the world, I have always kinda wondered how ES’s name was pulled from the ranks in the first place (just wondering)… One of the opportunities (or dangers as is the case here) of having an open forum is that different opinions will be posted–some of which everyone might not agree with.
The beauty of live music – especially heavily-amplified rock music – is that things have the potential to go very wrong, particularly when you’re dealing with lots of technology and fragile artists like Miss Williams. As with another recent visitor, Ryan Adams, Williams has a history of spitting the dummy when the cables have some kinks or the stars above the venue aren’t quite lined up correctly. Heart in mouth, I was waiting for her to melt down last night, but song by song and sip by sip she climbed back in to the show and started dishing up some treasures from a dozen or so albums going back exactly 30 years.
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