Asheville – The Orange Peel 4/23

Thanks, newguy: flawless setlist. Here are a few addenda:

Passionate K was solo, as of course was Ghosts. Lake C was duo, Bitter M trio.

In front of “Lake Charles,” Lu tipped her hat to NC songwriter Malcolm Holcombe as “underrated” and a great American singer-songwriter. I once attended a house concert of his in Jackson, TN–over Tift Merritt at our downtown civic center. Two Tar Heels gracing our city in one night–then practically nobody for months.

LU said Sept. is goal for re-release of SOW record. She said it is “damn good” and admitted she was “hesitant to revisit” some of these songs initially (not now).

“West” was intro’ed with the statement that most singer/songwriters have more ballads than other types of songs, faintly apologetic for doing it so relatively late in set, but she nailed it oh boy.

Warren Haynes was lauded in front of the Allman Bros cover; apparently he invites her to some annual Asheville music thing, and one day she plans to accept.

Good to see some Forum folk: who’s going to St. Louis Night One? I can handle night two setlist, indeed indeed.

From Tom:
So we drove the orange bus to play the Orange Peel in the time of Orange Julius Caesar. That’s some crazy synchronicity right there. Ok glad we got that out of the way. We do always look forward to playing the Orange Peel -it’s one of Lu’s long time favorites and the crowds are just always ready to go and a packed house last night was no exception. Lu and band are just thrilled with the beginning of this run Lu is really feeling the love. Couldn’t have stared a tour much better. There were many highlights longwise. Since we just finished recording the Sweet Old World album for it’s 25th Anniversary Lu has been wanting to work those songs back in and last night was the first time playing Sidewalks Of The City. We’ve always thought this was one the lost gems in Lu’s catalog with lyrics that are more timely than ever. The new recorded version is phenomenal so the song now feels like a brand new one and Lu was hesitant about doing it last night but made an on the spot decision to go for it. It’s now a song she can really get inside of and definitely did last night -she was happy how it sounded and it’s only going to get better from here. We also had a request for West which hadn’t been played for awhile and we all were raving about that. Overtime that gets played we wonder why it doesn’t make it in the setlist more often. Too many songs too little time but it’s a nice problem to have. And yes I’m sure there will be some jokes about some of the photos. From the angle by the stage the L in Orange Peel on the back wall is blocked out by a pole. So bring on the wisecracks.

My lone “wisecrack” about the pics would involve the heightened frizziness of David’s hair, but I’ll refrain.

@stoger wrote:

Sorry we didn’t touch base, rainydayman; your name came up in pre-dinner discussion in barleys, among vmorris, westwords, and myself. Glad you attended–and go gold and black!!!

I was looking for you Stoger. I should have checked Barleys, dang it.

That Asheville event that Warren Haynes invites Lucinda to must be the annual Christmas Jam. I sure hope she accepts his invitation. It’s a lot of fun.

@vmorris wrote:

Excellent recaps above! The Peel is such a great venue, and I loved sharing front and (almost) center with WestWords!

I also liked Lu’s quotes from Wise Blood in the post-Atonement introduction to Foolishness. Lu notes that Hazel Motes declares: “I’m gonna start me a new church… It’s gonna be called ‘The Church of Jesus Christ, without Jesus Christ!'” And she also cracks up over the quote: “A man with a good car don’t need to be justified!” Of the book, she says, “It was just brilliant.” The current running from Flannery to Lu is strong and we are luckier for it.

Viv

Thanks, Viv, I forgot to post that O’Connor stuff and actual quotes from the novel, after the song. Both Flannery O and director John Huston got a shout-out.

I thought Lafayette was going to post St. Louis night two; I’ll try to do so soon.