Chattanooga Setlist, Oct. 22nd

@ParkerCA wrote:

Nothing infuriates me more at concerts than people talking. Why bother even buying a ticket if you want to talk. STAY HOME.

I couldn’t agree more, ParkerCA. Last night’s crowd was particularly egregious in this regard, and the damned chatter was further exacerbated by the warehouse-like nature of the venue. I had a chance to chat with Tom O. after the show, and he told me that he was tempted to have Nick go out on stage between songs & ask Lu to tell the crowd to shut the f*** up. I wish he had – I never would have cheered and clapped louder!

The saving grace for me was we were right up front and center, so the crowd noise, while noticeable during all but the loudest songs, was at least behind us – although the cavernous venue did make the chatter echo all around and probably made it even more noticeable. Which leads me to the venue. Picture a iron girder and sheet metal-walled warehouse. You know, the most affordable-to-build structures that everyone hates to see in their neighborhood because they look like huge, unadorned tin boxes. That is Track 29. The stage is high, about four and a half or five feet off the floor, I’d say, and further protected by a crowd-control barricade about four feet in front of the stage. No worries with that “fence” though, as it gave the ladies standing at stoger’s & my front something to lean on.

There nonetheless were some nice touches. A decent bar was at the back of the room, with a balcony made of rough-hewn timbers containing some folding chairs above the bar (although I can only imagine how bad the sound would have been up there). The bar had a computerized point-of-sale system that let you run a tab w/o having to leave your credit card behind – always a welcome touch. There was a huge portrait of Bessie Smith (I learned from stoger that she was a Chattanooga native) painted on one of the side walls. There were also several rows of folding chairs & a few bar tables in the back of the room for those that preferred not to stand, as well as some benches lining one side wall (the other side wall contained the merch booth area). As a brand-new venue, the restrooms were clean & accommodating.

One of the biggest problems with the sound in the room was the lack of much acoustic padding in the ceiling (there appeared to be a little) and the total lack of same, or curtains, along the side walls. This made for a booming, echoey sound that, while not so noticeable where we were standing front & center, was very prominent the further back you went in the room. The PAs sounded OK to me up front (we were slightly in front of them), but the boominess of the room detracted from their sound further back. The lights, on the other hand, were a joke – the high lights behind the stage seemed to randomly flash on and off at times, like at a bad disco with a cheap light system that attempts, but fails, to flash with the beat. Tom said after the show that the control system for the lighting shorted out shortly after Lu’s set started.

OK, enough of the negativity. The positive aspects of the evening were Lu, the band & the setlist. Lu’s voice was strong; admirable considering last night was an almost unheard-of fourth night in a row she performed. Blake shined, as usual, as did David and, of course, Butch, who was his usual mega-high-energy self pounding the skins. I particularly liked a new “thing” Lu has started doing at the end of “Joy” – she lets each of the “boys” cut loose with a 30 second or so solo (starting with David & working stage left) that was fun & served to highlight each player’s talent (I particularly liked David’s bass solo). The set list contained some nice surprises – “Those Three Days” & “Price To Pay” most notably, as well as the first time for me hearing “Stowaway In Your Heart” (a song I immediately liked very much) & Lu’s cover of Dylan’s “Trying To Get To Heaven” from the upcoming Amnesty International benefit album. I was also thrilled to hear “Copenhagen” (still my favorite song off of “Blessed”), “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road”, “Pineola”, “Something About What Happens When We Talk”, “Convince Me”, “Unsuffer Me” and, in the encore, Lu & the band’s cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Ain’t My Cross To Bear”, first heard at the Macon, GA show earlier in the year. And then, my very favorite raise-the-roof show-ender – “Get Right With God / Standing On The Rock”. All-in-all, I thought it was a terrific setlist.

For those who track such things, here is the fashion report: Lu was rocking her “biker look”, with jeans, dark brown Frye’s calf-high biker boots with a large leather strap & silver buckle across the top of the upper & a smaller one at the very top of the boot, and her sexy, lacy, long-sleeved black blouse capped off with a black leather vest. Nice!

We didn’t get home until 3:45 AM, but it was well worth the two hour & fifteen minute drive each way, despite the cavernous venue & rude crowd. Hopefully, the venue owners & staff can improve the sound throughout the hall in the near-term, as this could be a decent venue in a city that needs one of it’s size. I don’t know what can be done about the chit-chatty crowd, other than the aforementioned STFU admonition from the stage… 😉

Tom

P.S. Thanks, as always, for the setlist, stoger. Without my taking notes, there was no way I could have recalled all the songs, much less in the correct order…

Excellent reporting stoger and tntracy.
Too bad Track 29’s new facility lacked the acoustics.

Hey, anybody notice a trend in the opening song of the set list ?
From Gruene Hall(ist set after dinner)-10/07, Billy Bob’s-10/08, St. Louis-10/12, Black Mountain-10/15, St. Petersburg-10/19, and Track 29-10/22.

Why it’s this song compliments of Randy Weeks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXw8pp6l-vo

lwj

tnt—In regards to our conversation about Bessie Smith (looks like they have a festival in Chattanooga in her honor) I dug up this article The Cincinnati Enquirer picked up and subsequently ran on Sept 11—The Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, MS where Bessie died after a car accident.

http://www.thegrio.com/travel-and-leisure/hotel-provides-no-frills-miss-blues-experience.php