Irving Plaza NYC Sept 29

thanks to Visions for a great review and a superb memory.pretty much spot on from what i remember-although i saw 3 different shows last nite-

sadly sound for me really really sucked bad for show one–got in at 945pm and bought my tonights live cd to the end of ventura-scored a jamisons and guinnness at the bar and wound up in the only availible open space for me(im a huge fat fucker)back by the staircase near the bar-under the OVERHANG and the SOUND SUCKED-if you want to hear the show at IP at ALL, avoid the bar area cause the drunk assholes were talking and cellphoning real real LOUD and i couldnt even hear lu talking in between songs-maybe the house or lu’s sound people could turn them back speakers under the hang up real loud to shut those oblivious fuckers up-

ive been going to irving plaza for 25 years so i dont let shit like that get me down too much,also since i knew i had a live cd waiting after the show and that id move between sets, i just chilled and heard what i could-

settled in for BLEEDING FINGERS which was wicked and ripped it up good and loud.rocking.beautiful over time-sweet 3days-fucking fire and brimstone zztopdinosaur rock on ATONEMENT-fantastic-lu changed up the lyric cadence but it all jelled all nasty like. Blu Lu the perfectionist came out and it took three starts for sweet side to sound right to her-but she was right and the 3 times was the charm-there were a few other brief starts and stops and stutters but i think its cool that she has the courage live to stop a song because of her artistic integrity to herself and her music-lotsa great stage banter by lu all nite giving extra info on the songs-she was in great form all night and after some early tension relaxed and felt the love in the room and let the good times roll-
btw thats what she means when she says LET THE LEGEND LIVE ON lucinda williams is a perfectionist on the live cd before sweet side-

from people talkin right down thru words fell her and the bands performance was simply magnificent and moving on an emotional, spiritual and musical level-
before american dream lu read a short but deep lawrence ferlighetti poem called Pity the Nation that brought me back to his Our Father that he read during the Last Waltz-MY COUNTRY TEARS FOR THEE!…..OH MAN!

Overall i was really impressed with the way Lucinda and her excellent band pulled together the entire album performance and feel-very very good-i was completely knackered and went to the show on 2 hours sleep after ashitload of work-as always, nothing heals the body and soul like good heartfelt music-

during the break i split outside to burn The Chalice-I man, in the smokin area outside-was nice to have a smoke and chill out in the cool cough cough fresh night air.very cool that irving plaza/the filmore does that for its customers-thanks house folks-

went back in to find fionn regan playing between Lu’s sets.
got a brooklyn beer in a can(GREAT)and a water from the bar in the back and headed up to the front where I intended to stay for the rest of the night and to hear shows 2 and 3 of the night. first one show two and music from mr fionn regan.

as an aside I just came back from seeing my woman and going to the Electric Picnic in Ireland and musta seen 100 commercials and adverts for Fionn Regan there on telly and radio-he was up for the mercury award in the UK this summer for his album the end of history which is a really big deal over there and sadly the crowd was talking thru his performance-
it seemed to pissed him off pretty good and he began singing out of the lone spotlight and off mic-i was 20 feet away and i couldnt hear a fucking word-I APOLOGIZE MR REGAN for my stoopit rude north american scum brothers and sisters.the little bit i heard from song 2, and his last song(3) of the evening which is from his mercury nominated album, Be Good or Be Gone-very catchy tune and i think the kid has a real future and talent to spare to have to perform for rude fookers like that.
show him some respect and you might be impressed.think of him as charlie louvin at the beginning of his career, or Blu Lu even.give him a break or split, but dont be disrespectful or heckle anyone trying to entertain your stupid ass-just leave-the folks next to you maybe actually be digging it-

anyway i hate to say this but set 2(show 3) was even better than WWT set opener for me-looser and wilder, Blu Lu and her friends ripped it up from the start-i really really hope at least abottleg of this gets out-id gladly pay for an official released version.

started off with LW and band ripping and shredding pineola apart-lu seemed even looser and in better voice than set one and it smoked.
pineola had that your guts ripped out kinda feeling while you were rocking and dancing-
jim lauderdale next with what i thought was called head for the hills which he said he wrote with robert hunter-it was a very fine folky kind of a song on first listening-king of broken hearts was dedicated to gram parsons and another cat ive forgotten,who jim told a story about-this was a great pure country steel guitar sort of track and also very very tight and good-lu came back out and did a new never recorded song called jailhouse tears-a hilarious send up of a broken hearted no good man trad country westerny man woman duet thing with jim on the loser man’s part and lu on the sufferring woman’s part-kinda obviously i guess-was twangy and funny and very musical cool at the same time-alot of it had the audience and band in stitches-

lu brought out carrie rodriguez on fiddle/violin. they did a lovely version of crescent city dedicated in spirit to the katrina mess down nola and the gulf way.our shared national shame we aint even owned up to it yet.RENEW ORLEANS-TODAY!
anwyay legendary songwriter chip taylor came out and did his wild thing with lucinda and carrie and band and it was a big ole rocking fun time with the whole audience singing along-chip sounded great, a bit like the legendary roy orbison-seems chip and carrie have been working together lately and they did carries song called i dont wanna play house no more or something like that-excellent sexy rocking song.theres definately a chemistry with carrie and chip and i look forward to hearing what they put out there-lu’s band dont hurt no song they play on either-

charlie louvin came up next and stunned the crowd with his amazing voice and presence on til i stop dreaming i think it was-think i saw charlie do this on long island and it was killer and it was a show stopper tonight-the band was so tight on this one even charlie said something like you sure got some pickers here to lucinda-charlie’s singing and voice was a bit deeper, but reminded me sorta of aaron neville if he was born a little old white man-when you hear it your kinda forced to shut up and listen-after that quiet stunning moment lu and charlie did a duet together and blew the house away with lu’s gospel blues stomper get right with god. became a marching dancing revival tent by that very very highpoint.lu was dancing all over the stage and started swinging and waltzing with charlie, who god bless recently turned 80-

last song i heard was honey bee, just lu and the band which rocked like elvis costello and the atractions doing pump it up-searing ripping shredding guitar stuff going down with slide and thumping stomping bass and drums rhythms and the entire band swing and rocking at the same time and letting it all loose-superfantastic way to end a spectacular evening of music-

cant wait for tuesday-enjoy tonights gig for me y’all-peace love music and revolution! hey whats so funny! special thnx to Blu Lu and her special guests and supertalented band musicians for a rocking good time.possibly the best time ive seen lucinda live-

and please do consider officially releasing some of that set 2 stuff. id buy a cd of it right now if i could.the live WWT gig cd is spectacular too!
pace y’all-btr/nyc