Lu in Lebanon, NH 6/25/14

Lebanon report by stoger’s understudy 🙂 :

Lu took the stage and was smiling and beautiful, with red lipstick, rosy cheeks, trademark dark smokey eyeliner, sky blue cowboy boots and lovely blonde locks. She didn’t wear her signature “Get Right With God” belt buckle, but an equally kick-ass skull buckle.

1) Blessed (Lu started solo, with graceful entrances by David, Butch and Stuart in turn)
2) Can’t Let Go
3) The Night’s Too Long
4) Pineola
5) Drunken Angel
6) Jackson
7) Over time

8.) Compassion (It looked like TO videotaped Lu’s performance of this beautiful song from side stage – I hope Miller sees it!)

9) Lake Charles (Haunting, as always)

10) I Envy The Wind (If this wasn’t the first time I heard this played live, then it’s been WAY too long. Stunning. Moving. Mesmerizing. The entire crowd was too in thrall to clap after Stuart’s solo, which was gorgeous and oh so smooth. Lovely smile from Lucinda at the finish of this one. Truly special.)

11) It’s Gonna Rain (Given that it was a rainy evening, this gem of a song was apropos. Lu mentions that Tom pulled this song out of the archives and encouraged her to record it. The Seattle gal in me thanks you, Tom!)

12) Are You Down (First line, of course, is “Can’t put the rain back in the sky” — a nice transition from the immediately prior song 🙂 This was a jazzy rendition, to my ears, and Stuart absolutely tore it up. There aren’t enough superlatives. Lu was clearly grooving to Stuart also. The band at the end, with Lu looking proudly on, threw D.O.W.N! She, fittingly, introduced the guys here.)

13) Protection (Have you all noticed how Stuart has this look of sweet calm, with a faint smile, no matter how hard he is rocking? So humble. He’s all about delivering the goods, not the self-adulation and forced showmanship that you see in so many guitarists (not that there’s anything wrong with that).)

14) Change The Locks
15) Out of Touch
16) Essence (I love Butch’s work on this song. Always.)
17) Joy
18) Honey Bee (The couple in front of me gave each other a little kiss during this song. It was awfully cute so I thought I’d mention it.)
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Passionate Kisses (solo)
Rockin’ in the Free World (Lu says to start: “This song goes out to all y’all!”)

Lu concludes with an enthusiastic “Love, peace and power to the people!” and Butch stands and gives a hands-in-prayer (real reverent like) to the crowd. So gracious.

A few highlights from another excellent KBB set: Kenneth mentions that they had to throw a tarp over the band’s van because it sprung a leak 🙁 After 400,000 miles, though, I guess it’s entitled to. He notes that they spent the three days off in New York City, “which is a little intimidating when you’re from Alabama.” In the intro to ‘Goodbye West Virginia’ (a beautiful song that I can’t wait to play over and over when their new album comes out), Kenneth notes that Frank was “born in a motorhome on the way to a bluegrass festival.” They made it to the festival on time. This is my new favorite anecdote. Kenneth ends the set by saying “Thank you for giving us a place to play tonight.” Such nice guys.

For a seated venue, the crowd was enthusiastic and jamming. There were lots of smiling, happy, freely rocking people in Lebanon this evening (in NH, at least, I can’t speak for the other one)! Peace out, Viv