An Acoustic Evening with Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt

Winery gig there, Tony? Not many other venues in the area short of monasteries or convents, as I recall from a summer concert of Lu’s in the middle of last decade–guitar techs Flappy and Jeff had to literally shoo some fans off the stage who ascended it during the proceedings. Were you there?

@tonyg wrote:

Maybe I will charge the stage for Lyle Lovett.

Now that I would pay good money to see! 😆

Tom

I made it home from the Central Coast of California today. Great show by John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett last night. They said they have been doing these duo shows together since 1989.

Santa Ynez is in a lovely area of rolling hills, horse ranches, and buccolic splendor. We arrived at the casino at 7:30 and had to walk about a football field from the front door of the casino to the showroom. The casino was packed to the hilt with gamblers, most smoking several cigarettes at once. This is the only place around where you can smoke indoors. It was your usual casino crowd, guys in cowboy hats, welfare recipients, elderly women in baseball caps, most of them with their oxygen tanks in one hand and a cigarette with a 3 inch long ash in the other hand, all to the tune of 5,000 slot machines ringing and beeping and moaning. By the time I got to the showroom, my sinuses had locked up totally.

The concert was in the bingo room, converted into a stage area and seats, at least 1,000 I’d say. Nice set up. The front 3/4 were folding chairs on a floor, all one level. My seat was in the back 1/4, on a riser so I could see over everyon’es head, just a million miles away. I was not allowed entry to the stage area seating, so there was no stage crashing. I thought about body surfing over the top of the crowd and then decided not too. Surprisingly, shockingly really, only water, soda, and coffee were served in the showroom. I craved alcohol.

The boys played from 8:10 to 10:10. It was a song swap set up, 2 guys in chairs with their guitars next to them. One plays a song, the other listens. They collaborated on about 5 songs. Between songs, they engaged in hilarious banter. They each played great and the sound was excellent. I could have listened to another hour if my butt wasn’t killing me plus I was about to go into alcohol withdrawal. The smoke was 10 times worse when we exited so I basically ran to the front door, knocking over wheelchairs and walkers on the way.

All in all a big thumbs up and I would highly recommend seeing them if they come to your town.

Next up, Buffalo Springfield tomorrow night at the Wiltern Theater.