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one word can sum up tonight.
cranky.
actually, that would be kind. it was downright miserable at times. and that’s exactly what she projected a good part of the night. miserable. i never would have imagined on a night she gets to do her masterpiece (her own paraphrasing from sunday night) redux, the performance, at times, boarderlined on unprofessional. at least i’m on record in this forum as someone who has been completely puddled by lucinda willliams on more than a few (dozen) occasions and not a troll looking to stir sh1t up, but tonight at many varying points was not very good. at one point i heard her off mic say *this feels like an indian graveyard or something*. there’s nothing wrong with having an off night, but at some point you need to put all sh!t behind you and move on for the few relative minutes your on stage and not keep harping on all the burrs up your butt.
of course, i’ll be back thursday night. see y’all there. (and no, i dont’ have a set list. went rescue otherstuffandvaryingartist unsuffer me, encore fats domino i live my life) thrash away
Jack
Living in the UK I don’t get the chance to see Lu over x nights so making comparisons between one show and another can be very hard. What is not so hard is to compare her approach to that of other artists. Frankly she is moodier than most and this comes out at her gigs.
I could not believe the praise that greeted her Shepherd’s Bush show last year – I must have been somewhere else because objectively it was stuttering, leaden and at times plain unprofessional. Sure Bruce turned up and rescued it but it was still a genuinely poor show.
I think when people get to see a favourite artist having clamoured for it for years, the capacity to be disappointed is huge yet the emotion can carry you through anyway and the sense of occasion saves the day.
This seems to apply to Lu because she is famed for her erratic shows yet she gets such unqualified praise on this site even when she is clearly a little….. flaky.
I love her work and have been a passionate advocate for it for years but I think artists have a responsibility to their audience and I wonder sometimes if she believes that. On the other hand maybe there is nobody around her operation who can say ‘get on with it- its a paying job ‘
How boring a forum this would be if it were just one big lockstep love-in. Your candor is appreciated, Jack — by more than a few of us here, I bet. Hope you catch a good night tonight! It’s the uncertainty that makes it exciting, imo.
While Lucinda certainly was cranky last night, I think the show was excellent – one of the best LW shows that I have seen. Hearing Car Wheels from start to finish reminded me of how great an album it is. I kept saying “wow…i forgot THAT was on there too!”…the whole bad was great…pettibone is amazing…Steve earl joined for much of the night…there were a few others that i am not familiar with…i dont have a set list, as it was choppy with the guests interspersed with lucinda…my highlight was a great Jailhouse Tears with steve earl…and “you’re still standing there”…
that being said, lucinda is an odd bird at times. she was bitching at the roadies much of the night…complained about bad reviews (“take it or leave it”)…and stopped and re-started one song 3/4 of the way through….she also, I think, criticized the kid Fion at one point…he was the guy who opened at irving plaza and walked off the stage….he played one song last night and after he left she made a reference to “at least I don’t walk off teh stage like some people I know”…she also has, imo, a very uncomfortable stage presense when she is not holding a guitar…
but that voice overcomes all!
First, I love her music, that is why I was there. Here is my honest opinion:
The Car Wheels set was ok, not great, a little uninspired but I like the talk before the songs. Second set was really disappointing, too much talk and what is with everyone else doing solo stuff? I felt like I was watching American Idol. No flow in the second set, a few songs from WEST and no other Lucinda material, no Essence songs, no WWOT songs, nothing, I was ready to rock in the second set and was left really perplexed, Enough already also with the whining and cutting off the songs, it really isn’t fair to the audience and the rest of the band, get over the imperfections and move forward and make the best of the songs, they sounded fine before she abruptly stops them, talk about bringing down the mood, the crowd tried to cheer her up but I guess it wasn’t enough for her, so much time wasted restarting songs and talking in the second set and then she leaves saying she has only enough time for one more song………….again I love her musicI have mixed feelings about last night. First off, I’ve been to all three NYC shows so far and will definitely go to the next two and the one’s at Irving Plaza were really fucking amazing—her energy, the band, the song choices in the second set were all spot on.
that said, she came out in a bad mood last night and it got progressively worse over the duration over the show. this isn’t to say that it bothers me to see a moody lucinda–truth be told, I kind of like it. i like that she’s honest about her emotions and is still a mystery. anyways, what bummed me out was that a) with a few exceptions, she didn’t seem too excited about the Car Wheels songs. Maybe because she performs them so much? Honestly,other than the fact that I was expecting better special guests last night of all nights, the Car Wheels night was the one I was least pumped for–not that I don’t love the album but it’s been done so much.
Anyways, few other complaints:
a) Steve Earl annoyed me. First with his disruptive comb over, then with his awkward acoustic guitar intro to Joy, then by fucking up Jailhouse Tears by not looking at the words ont he lyric sheet and trying to ham it up too much during the verses, and finally just by acting all too entitled to be there. I don’t hate him per se, I quite liked the two songs of his that were performed..I just think he took away from Lucinda’s stuff.b) Who the hell was that Jesse guy? During his solo acoustic number I felt like I was at a taping of SNL—-he was a total joke. From his horrible lyrics to his really weird bellowing to his Early ’90 My-So-Called-Life nostalgia and dress he really put me in a funk.
c) I actually like Fionn Regan and would have liked him to play more than a song. It was tacky when the audience clapped about there being no opener. I say go with the good opener and skip some of the pointless guests.
d) after raving about him for two days, Lucinda totally shafted Jim Lauderdale. I would have like him for Jailhouse Tears and his solo songs would have fit in much mor ethan Jesse Whoever.
e) I like Words and think it’s a great song but I don’t care too much about seeing it live. It sucked when Lucinda made it almost to the end of the song then yelled about the sound in her earphones not being intimate enough and then we had to revisit it, taking away time.
f)I love Town Hall, but the celebratory and participatory feel of the first two shows was taken away by the stoggy nature of the venue.
I guess this makes it seem like I had a bad night. I didn’t. It’s just that there were some obviously strange things going on and lots of events an dpeople keeping the show from being as good as it should have been.
Oh, and I think Lucinda was referring to Ryan Adams and not Fionn Regan when she talked about “some people” just walking off the stage. Fionn didn’t walk off the stage at Irving Plaza, he just kind of acted a little prick-ish is all.
give her a break–the show may have been disjointed and she may not have been fully there, but i think lucinda and the band sounded great. her voice was right on. the crowd was quiet (as she commented) and some jerk from the balcony shouted to turn up doug’s sound after the fifth song. i think that threw her off. i can understand if someone was seeing her for the first time would be frustrated by her behavior and mood, but those of us who have seen her play many times know how she is. if the audience isn’t alive and if she doesn’t feel comfortable, her shows can be a bit off. anyway, i think she was great, and i’m sorry there are so many dissapointed people. i look forward to the next two nights.
First of all I want to set the record straight about my comments about Butch. Last night he was fantastic! He supported the songs beautifully and never over played- He was solid as a rock- Sorry for underestimating him-
So last night…..
I thought the Car Wheels set was amazing! As she stated the other night this is her baby and she was certainly coddling it last night. Everything seemed to be going great until someone asked Doug to turn up his guitar. I thought the mix was just fine from the balcony anyway. This comment however seemed to start her spinning- Then her insecurities began to take over. Sometimes the most beautiful souls are the most fragile.
Anyway I was goose bumped the entire first set.
Loved Steve Earl too and the woman singer from Memphis was superb!The second set started out as great as the first. Perfect renditions of Rescue-loved Butch playing with his hands…and Fruits of My Labor
After Rionn played his song which was pretty good- she sang Words- which is so beautiful!
Unfortunately she wasn’t hearing the song the way she wanted to hear it and she stopped.
I play music with an incredibly talented song writer who will also stop a song that I feel is going very well. He says it’s just not sounding the way he needs to hear it..
Many of those times-Just like last night- I felt that the song was going quite well and it does leave me as it left the band, crew and audience feeling awkward and uncomfortable-confused…
The insecurity spread like wild fire.
I feel the same way about my guitar player as I do with Lucinda. I wish they would let the song play out. Sure it may not sound exactly like they want at the moment, but songs can take on a different energy on different nights and they need to relax in the moment and let the flow continue. Instead she tensed up and stopped the flow-
I agree that she looks much more comfortable when she has a guitar in her hand- Perhaps she feels more in control of the song.. They get crippled by their insecurities- It’s really too bad and my heart goes out to Lucinda.
She is after alll my favorite and I will go see her as much as I can.
Steve Earl was fantastic!
Deep Breaths for everyone- life will go on..Hey
Nice to see some measured, objective comment….lets face it we all love Lucinda. We wouldn’t be on this forum, buying the concert tickets and the records unless we were fairly devoted fans now would we?
However, we pay our hard earned to go see Lucinda and no doubt she gets well paid to play. I know there are contractual and personal obligations and that logistics makes touring a tough road – and it is hard to make a living with all those overheads – and the grind wears her down – and everybody wants a piece of her etc. But Hell that all goes with the territory.
I have heard it said that repetition is the killer for an artist but surely promotional tours are by their nature bound to involve set lists and formats. Hopefully the result is more sales – more fans and therefore more artistic freedom to make her art next time round.
I get a bit weary when artists allege that it is their perfectionism that turns them into prima donnas. They are in a special position and for me there is no excuse for sloppiness or bad grace at a show.
I thought the Car Wheels set was fucking great! I agree with gravel roads about the dood on the balcony who thinks himself a sound engineer and complaing about doug’s sound, the nerve of that guy, show some fucking respect. I think that guy threw her off. The sound at town hall blew Irving Plaza out of the water. Lu’s voice was spot on, the foh mix was perfect. The highlight was definitely Jackson from Car Wheels, and Jailhouse Tears with Steve Earle. Lucinda is a genius and is sensitive to more sounds and feelings than most of us can possibly comprehend, so if she wants to start a song over, or the whole fucking set, fine by me, after all they are her songs.
Lost it
That is where you and I see things differently. I saw Dylan a few years ago and he was so contemptuous of the audience that I vowed never again. He may be the great artist but when I bought that ticket he had responsibilities to me and my fellows – which he neglected.
I don’t want to watch a Vegas show or a Nashville show for that matter. Sunday Night at the London Palladium was always not my scene ….with its high production values – and you can definitely not bring on the dancing girls thank you……..
BUT I don’t expect the presentational standards of a high school beat combo either. Nor should I have to take them for that kind of money. Artistic licence is overrated and Lu owes the audience …….
I was sitting right in front of the PA on the right side near Doug and my first impression was that his sound was too low, the guy that asked for it to be turned up didn’t throw anyone off and I took it as a compliment to Doug that he wanted to hear his guitar more. stop all the excuses for Lucinda, I love her talent and music as much as anyone else but like everyone else in this world she is not flawless but I do expect a little more of a professional attitude.
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