First Ave., Minneapolis, 11-9-2011

@stoger wrote:

Was there life still in the building, over two years after a certain “celebrity marriage?” Anyone?

Here ya go from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/133610928.html

Lucinda Williams back in black at First Ave
Posted by: Chris Riemenschneider under Music Updated: November 10, 2011 – 9:20 AM

Playing her first First Avenue show since she got married on stage there in 2009 (fittingly dressed in black), Lucinda Williams seemed to be enjoying a honeymoon period with the revamped lineup of her band Wednesday. New guitarist Blake Mills — a young Los Angeles hot-shot who used to play with members of Dawes — added a spark that burned throughout the 100-minute set. And Williams herself, wearing black once again, offered no signs of softening up or turning things down post-matrimony.

Classics like “Pineola,” “Drunken Angel” and “Those Three Days” took on a darker, heavier vibe, as if they weren’t already bruised enough. And just about every song from Williams’ underrated spring release, “Blessed,” had a dramatic musical flare, whether it was the manic desperating of the Vic Chesnutt-inspired “Seeing Black” or a soaring guitar solo in the poetic title track. The three-quarters-full crowd also got to hear a slow-bobbing, lightly poppy new song called “Stow Away in Your Heart.”

“Blessed” (the song) was Williams’ finest moment Wednesday, as she countered all her bleak confessional tunes – “Unsuffer Me” sounded a bit too drab – with an uplifting and passionately delivered list of reasons to find inspiration in the modern world. Her melodic cover of one of Bob Dylan’s more modern numbers, “Trying to Get to Heaven” (which she recorded for an upcoming Amnesty International benefit album), wound up being another elegant highlight.

Williams also provided an updated angle to her standard show-stopper, “Joy,” proudly bragging that teachers and pro-union protesters used it during last year’s Wisconsin political battle. Dedicating it to the Occupy Wall Street movement, she suggested changing the lyrics to, “I don’t want you anymore ‘cuz you took my job.” The finale of “Rockin’ in the Free World” added to the show’s political tone. Even in newlywed bliss, it seems, Williams has no trouble finding a reason to vent.

Can’t Let Go / Pineola / Drunken Angel / Buttercup / Stow Away in Your Heart (new song) / People Talking / Concrete & Barbed Wire / Fruits of My Labor / Copenhagen / Born to Be Loved / Trying to get to Heaven (Dylan cover) / Those Three Days / Seeing Black / Essence / Unsuffer Me / Changed the Locks / Joy / Honey Bee ENCORE: Blessed / Ain’t My Cross to Bear (Allman Brothers) / Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young)

Would love to see a video of Rockin’ in the Free World.

lwj

Cool set. I will try and post a set list tomorrow night!

For those interested, a better-formatted set list for this show has been entered at setlist.fm…

Tom