10-4-07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=artjAo-AJxo

Not the clearest video, but watchable.

The show was absolutely brilliant. I love the fact that she stops, changes keys and sometimes seems absolutely flustered. It’s live and in the moment, it’s something most artists don’t give you because they play the same set every night. Lucinda handled 5 complete albums in 5 nights, do you have any idea how long most bands would have to rehearse to get 2 albums down? Performing might seem easy, but it’s not. Also, just because someone wrote a song doesn’t mean the lyrics are commited to their memory. She has a large catalogue, and from the varied guests she brought out a monumental music habit. It’s the norm now for artists to use lyric sheets; even the genius Lou Reed keeps his sheets by him.

The second set was a little disappointing because I’d rather have heard her sing her songs then the guests performing solo. But, the fun she was having all but made up for the lack of her voice.

Last thought: Seeing the varied performers that showed up from Yo La Tengo to Byrne to the Dolls Johanson just goes to show what an important artist Lucinda is. She breaks all genre barriers, but that’ll happen when you are a magnificent singer songwriter firmly ground in reality.

I know I’m joining the conversation late, but I’ll add some more observations about this last show…. Sorry, no notes, no setlist for the second set, just memory….

I thought the LW album portion was a lovely performance. She seemed in a good mood, secure, comfortable. The false starts did not interrupt the flow or change the mood, imo. (They were minor, in the context of Lucinda and false starts. It’s good to have that context. 😉 I felt she was totally comfortable with her re-starts this night. A little neurotic, as usual, but certainly not “off balance”…. On one re-start she even joked about needing to “keep the legend alive”. )

By the time she introduced Asked for Water Gave me Gasoline, she seemed surprised that it had gone so fast — said something like “are we on the last song already?” to the audience. It surprised me too. I thought the first set went fast — and pretty smoothly — and there was nothing i’d refer to as a “rambling mess” or lucinda “unnerved” (with due respect to DavidK’s opinion). Were there actually 7 false starts? Honestly, i thought there were only 3 or 4 — and not a big deal. Shows how differently we can interpret the performance….

Lu didn’t offer up as much chat as on the LA recordings. Maybe she’s tired of repeating the stories. That was fine. So, what was great? It was Abandoned that caught me in that old Lucinda Williams way — an emotional hook, a little chill. I felt it. Crescent City made me smile. Side of the Road was just sublime, with lu on acoustic and doug adding minimal backing. First time I’d heard that song live; it was simple and beautiful. I’m very happy i got to see her perform this album.

Jim Lauderdale joined her through much of the album set and it was great to see the two of them together on stage. I think that also added to her comfort level. The audience was great, no attitude, no inappropriate shouts, appreciative and basically just loving the show.

During the break, Fionn Regan was introduced by Lucinda as “the Bob Dylan of his generation” (gracious of her), sang one of his songs with an interesting old acoustic guitar and harmonica. He thanked Lucinda, and the audience. (It was Politeness Night.) I have to admit I have no idea what he sang, but it sounded good (yes, very dylan-esque) — he’s clearly talented, I’ll check out his songs.

The second set was certainly looser. … But it seemed almost as is Lu wanted the guests to take over for her. It was much more the guest’s show than hers. It was her party and she seemed to want David Byrne and David Johannsen and friends to sing at her party. Well, how cool is that? I agree with homosacer and sanantonio rose, and would like to have heard more Lucinda songs, but I can’t complain. It did, at times during the second set, seem like it was a Talking Heads show. (no complaints about that….) I think Byrne did 4 songs — and the encore was a single song — his. Lu told the audience David Byrne rode his bike over to play. Love that image. 8)

Heaven was great. On Buck Naked, Lu and Susan Marshall would come in on the word “naked”. There was something funny about them singing the word naked. (Yes, I am in 7th Grade)

She was obviously thrilled introducing the two Davids — and jumping up and down like a little girl on stage, smiling, when they played.

As I recall, the second set started with a Jim lauderdale song. Very nice, country. Again it was Politeness Night — thank yous all around.

Susan Marshall is an incredible vocalist — first time i’d seen her (Lu said she sang with Cat Power). Her rendition of Piece of My Heart was awesome — there is no other word — what a voice (better than Janis?). It blew me away.

I’ll add a couple more exclamation marks to I’ve Lost It’s on the Over Time duet with lu and David Byrne.

Jailhouse Tears with David Johansen — couldn’t have been better… funny… and believable.

The band was just incredible playing with the guests. It’s a privilege to see these guys play. Amazing.

Joy was performed without Riders on the Storm (not even a hint of the Doors) — I was expecting Riders to come in….

Since “the book” has once again become a hot topic on posts for the other night’s shows, I’ll note that there was a catch-your-breath moment when the stand fell (I think during Joy). Lu was back toward Butch, no one noticed the stand — with a messed up lyric book — on the floor until Lu came forward to sing — and had to stradle it. It took a fair amount of time (maybe a couple of minutes) to get things right again, but no crisis. She finished the song just fine.

I have to say my only disappointment with this Town Hall show was the quality of the sound. In the balcony (front row, center), it kind of sucked for Lucinda’s voice. And — pretty much — for Lu’s voice only. The band sounded great. The two Davids were fine. Jim was good. But the subtlety, warmth, softness and depth of Lucinda’s voice did not seem to carry. Anybody else notice this in the balcony? Was it just this night? Was it only my seat? (Maybe I was spoiled by those two recent performances at the Keswick Theatre and William Patterson….. Actually I think Lu’s voice sounded better outside at the brewery show in Utica!) It wasn’t “full”, I noticed it, it bothered me, and I was disappointed because I wanted to hear (and I wanted my friends to hear) everything her voice can offer. For the self-titled album, especially, i thought that was a shame.

She brought Tom Overby out onstage to introduce her honeybee, gave him a kiss. Sweet.

I thought it was kind of a winding-down, happy concert… It was different from what I had expected listening to the LA recordings, but I didn’t really know what to expect after reading about the other NYC nights … It was a great night. As they say, a good time was had by all. Including Lucinda, I think. 😀

Sure we are all entitled to our opinions… that said, I went all the way to NYC to hear her do the self-titled album and enjoyed every second, start overs, chats, and guests included.

Lu was especially gracious, saying how pleased she was to hear David Bryne doing her song, David Johannson on stage with her, honoring Mary Chapin Carpenter for making Passionate Kisses famous, etc. She seemed to be really enjoying herself. I took the “oh darn how does this go” to be (my style of) femininity, after all she was dedicating this to her boyfriend for his birthday! Of course she wanted it to be perfect.

I was delighted she was on stage so much during the second set, after inferring Fionna Regan would be doing a set of his own when the show was first listed.

The highlight for me was Crescent City. I loved hearing the entire LW album as a set, it having been my favorite for so many years. Heard Honeybee the last three shows I’ve attended, liking it more each time, and NYC was the best, really high energy rocking. Looking for a Kiss and Jail House Tears were stand outs. The variety was truly a reflection of Lu’s music.

Yeah I’m a diehard fan. I like the roughness, the swing from hard to soft, the emotion of it all, from Side of the Road to You gave me gasoline. . Life– enjoy the intensity.

I would say that most of us are 90% in agreement on the show. The flub on Passionate Kisses was handled with humor and grace. It was endearing. However, I definitely thought that things began to unravel a little after that. I have not seen her as many times as some and my impression is that she became unnerved. I think it was audible in her singing and the band sounded flat towards the end of the set. I think it was most evident on I Asked for Water. Price to Pay was pretty rocky. Once again, this is just my opinion, but some of also have the concert CD to listen to.

I could understand why folks were disappointed that so few Lucinda songs were performed in the second set and she often played a supporting role. I was certainly hoping and expecting to hear more of her material. But I thought the set was superb from beginning to end. The band was in excellent form and really got the chance to cut loose. It was a totally surreal experience with all of the guests.

I am writing a blog on the concert and I will take some of the comments here into consideration. I loved the show, but I did think that there were rocky moments. I also know that part of Lucinda’s appeal is that she has no artifice and is entirely genuine in her presentation.

I’ve been following her for years, and she is truly a rare artist that never disappoints.

But, there was one time at the Keswick Theatre a few years back that as the roadie handed me the set list, we both laughed and said “What the hell was that?”

These past shows at Town Hall classic, magnificent, perfectly imperfect. You know it was live and not memorex.