Minneapolis Shows

Good recap of Dakota # 1. Click on link to see pics. 🙂

http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2011/02/lucinda_william_1.php

Last Night
Lucinda Williams at Dakota Jazz Club, 2/20/11
By Andrea Swensson, Mon., Feb. 21 2011 @ 1:09AM

Snowstorms be damned. While over a foot of snow came wafting down from the clouds last night, the Dakota Jazz Club was dry and packed for the first of three sold-out solo performances by Lucinda Williams.

“You guys are great,” laughed owner Lowell Pickett, introducing the performers for the evening. “For every person who gave up their seat for tonight’s show because of the snow, we had two more dying to take their place.”

As the orange flicker of snowplow lights flashed across the back wall of the Dakota’s expansive main floor, young Shreveport, Louisiana native Dylan LeBlanc warmed the crowd with a set of sparse, somber alt-country ballads. It was LeBlanc’s second time playing in the Cities, his first appearance taking place only a few weeks prior when he opened for Lissie at the Cedar Cultural Center, and it was clear from his shy stage presence and reserved mumbling between songs that the 20-year-old Rough Trade signee is still adjusting to life as a performer. Nonetheless, his voice had an otherworldly quality to it that caught the audience’s attention, and his songs had an underlying eeriness to them that was reminiscent of a solo performance by Ryan Adams or, as my date suggested, maybe Robin Pecknold of the Fleet Foxes.

​After a brief break, Lucinda Williams emerged with such unassuming fanfare that it took a minute for the crowd to quiet down. “Y’all can keep on talkin’ and drinkin’ if you want,” deadpanned Williams. “I don’t mind.”

And just like that, the crowd was hers.

Williams took advantage of the rare solo performance to talk at length with the audience, setting up almost every song with some back story or context. At one point, while setting up “Metal Firecracker,” she told the whole sordid tale of her love affair and breakup with the former bass player who inspired the song. “I may as well just start saying all this stuff,” she said, shaking her head mid-saga. “It’s either that, or save it for my memoirs.”

Armed with only an acoustic guitar and a three-ring binder full of lyrics, Williams wielded her voice like a weapon, cutting through the air and allowing it to fill the entire room, then reigning it back in when it was almost too much to bear. The flawless sound system only served to further accentuate every scoff and crack in her vocal delivery, like punctuation marks at the ends of her lines of lyrics about heartbreak and desire.

​ ​Lucinda’s set was heavy on new material from her soon-to-be-released album, Blessed (“It’s Blessed, not Bless-ed,” she stressed), but with a whopping 20 songs in her main set and another four in the encore, it gave her plenty of time to pluck out songs from throughout her lengthy career. Actually, she managed to squeeze in seven of the 13 tracks from her first commercially successful album, 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, compared to just five from Blessed.

For the encore, she brought out Minnesota native (and current Austin, Texas resident) Randy Weeks, who wrote “Can’t Let Go” from Car Wheels, and his moaning and chugging electric guitar accompaniments quickened the pace and made for an energized conclusion to a night of pensive and soul-baring songcraft.

​
​Personal bias: I’d never seen Lucinda live, but I’ve been a fan of her music for at least a decade.
The crowd: Prim and proper, a stark contrast to Williams’ gritty tales.
Overheard in the crowd: The clinking of wine glasses and silverware as people finished their dinners during the performance; some heartfelt but off-tempo clapping during “Can’t Let Go.”
Random notebook dump: “My band is starting to get worried.” — Williams, talking about how much she has enjoyed playing solo for a change.
For more photos: See our complete slideshow by Tony Nelson.

Set List:
Greenville
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Pineola
Memphis Pearl
Port Arthur (tribute to Janis Joplin)
Lake Charles
Crescent City
I Don’t Know How You’re Living
Ugly Truth
Somebody Somewhere (Don’t Know What He’s Missing Tonight) (Loretta Lynn, written by Lola Jean Dillon)
Metal Firecracker
Concrete and Barbed Wire
Buttercup
Kiss Like Your Kiss
Lonely Girls
Blue
Side of the Road
Born to Be Loved
Blessed
Honeybee

Encore (with Randy Weeks on electric guitar):
Something About What Happens When We Talk
Can’t Let Go
Changed the Locks
Joy

Thanks West Words, for digging this up and noting that Lu made good on the set list variance from Sunday to Monday. “Minneapolis” in its own element, my my. . .

Could anyone make the bridge to tonight with some narrative or a setlist from Dakota Residency Night Three? There’s a certain “Lu gap” here which needs be plugged. I think I can take it from there. . . .

I will try to get something up soon if I can. Gotta do tonight’s setlist first.

@stoger wrote:

Thanks West Words, for digging this up and noting that Lu made good on the set list variance from Sunday to Monday. “Minneapolis” in its own element, my my. . .

Could anyone make the bridge to tonight with some narrative or a setlist from Dakota Residency Night Three? There’s a certain “Lu gap” here which needs be plugged. I think I can take it from there. . . .

Well stoger, try to take it from here for the Dakota 3rd night.
From FB
Quote”

· Hey Lu and Tom… what did you think of playing at the Dakota? NOT my favorite place for music in the Twin Cities… I spose you really can’t comment about that in this public forum… I think the vibe there is square and uptight… Not to mention its a $250 night minimum if you have drinks and dinner… Just wasn’t “Lucinda like” to me. In terms of intimate, I prefer a joint like George’s in Fayetteville… those were fine shows 😉 But it truly was wonderful to see Tony, Randy and Erik play with Lu… Sorry about all that snow. Dylan looked even more outta place…. but his fine voice was yummy, as was Lu ~ Peace AND Revolution
End Quote”
Great You Tube . Changed the Locks followed by Joy with Tony? and Erik? along with Randy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeG2nQ-qVgc
and if you click on the person who posted the above video bhuebner0637, you will go to his/her channel for 2 more excellent videos.
Real Live Bleeding Fingers… (solo)
and Get Right With God

lwj

@TOverby wrote:

I will try to get something up soon if I can. Gotta do tonight’s setlist first.

…nice to see that “Something about what happens when we talk” still remains part of the setlist…I remember lovely when Lucinda asked us, for two years in Zaragoza, which song would we hear in Barcelona, two days later…

@stoger wrote:

Ah those Spanish cities. That Metal Firecracker squeezed its way through the streets of Barcelona, bigsubi, as you well remember. May you witness a form of it plying the avenues of Manhattan come March… .

😀