Nashville "Seating" Continued

i was at carrie rodriguez at the lobero in santa barbara yesterday…(i was impressed by how crowded it was, but certainly wasn’t sold out. the box office said 90% sold out/they seat 240)
the flower stand across the street from the theater had a sign saying, “closed, due to the demise of our economy”.
friends that are bartenders/waiters have all told me it’s been horrible for them. i’m shocked to walk in and see favorite restaurants that are usually packed, very empty(altho, Opal was packed last night. really good food for anyone looking in santa barbara)
concerts that would usually sell out have lots of tix available (example being pool tickets for van morrison’s show at the hollywood bowl where he’s doing the complete astral weeks album)

gary louris had to cancel his last tour due to lack of sales, GARY LOURIS (i was bummed)

we’ve got so many awesome choices for music these days, that contributes to the attrition.
it’s survival of the fittest these days i suppose.

@DavidinMaine wrote:

Or could it be that, as several have postulated in this forum, that her current sound and set-lists are causing quiet protests that are resulting in low ticket and records sales.

I knew that argument was coming, but I really don’t think that accounts for more than maybe a tiny bit of it. Talk to anyone who works or owns a business in entertainment, dining out, or other markets that depend on folks having disposable income to spend. They are all hurting, like stellablue mentioned above. I think cutting back on spending unnecessary dollars is far and away the major reason, particularly in the secondary markets where Lu plays so many shows. In the big metropolitan areas, you have a so much bigger population base to draw from, and you have more people who have plenty of money.

Besides, look at the set list from this show. Lu and the band played 13 songs out of 20 that aren’t on the new album, including two off of the “Self Titled” album (and a third that got axed from the initial set list due to time constraints combined with her reacting to shouted-out requests from the audience – something many artists just do not do). And personally, I was really wanting to hear two other songs from Little Honey – “Circles And X’s” and “If Wishes Were Horses” – songs that IMHO rank up there with anything she has ever recorded.

So, this “play the old stuff or we’re gonna boycott you” deal is isolated to a few diehards, IMHO. But what do I know. I’m a self-admitted “Lu Can Do No Wrong” cheerleader. I just relish each and every opportunity I get to see her perform, no matter what she plays.

Tom

@DavidinMaine wrote:

I appreciate your persepctives, Tom. Well said, and yes, I do respect the fact that you are a self-admitted LW can do no wrong cheerleader. Good for you for that bit of self-awareness. Diverse viewpoints are what makes everything worth while…

Absolutely. I am all for listening to (and giving!) diverse viewpoints. I can only speak from my perspective, and I know I had a freakin’ blast Friday night – well worth the 9-hour in 24 hours round-trip drive. And, I’d do the same again given a chance even if I knew ahead of time she was just going to play Little Honey straight through. But that’s me. You come from a different perspective, obviously, and are certainly entitled to it.

Tom

I have to agree with Tom (tntracey) as well David. I’m certainly not a “can do no wrong fan” but I think the mix of older to newer songs is right were it should be. I admire professionalism from the entertainers I see. I I’ve only seen a half dozen LW shows and about about the worst I’ve seen is Lu getting frustrated by not being able to find a song in her book, and having to call the stage manger over to do it for her. I just figured her eyesight was about as crapy as mine, so didn’t worry to much about it. I wanted to hear the duet “Jail House Tears”, and “The Knowing” but instead she played “Can’t let Go” and IJWTSYSB. By my ameteur estimates the crowd was down about 30% from when I saw her at the same venue from the West tour. Before the show we met at Barley’s in the Arena District, near the Short North which are two adjacent thriving downtown residential/entertainment areas. There were only a few other patrons in the microbrewery bar/restaurant from 5 to 7:00 which should be prime time for eating and happy hour after work in this kind of community.

@Dixie Diva wrote:

So a question for you veterans…..do the set lists vary by venue or does she have pretty much the same set list for the same tour?

Hope you guys enjoyed Nashvegas!!!!
Dixie Diva

She mixes it up pretty well IMHO (check out the “Set Lists” link from the main page). There will be some songs that she will pretty much always play. For example, she often (but not always) will open a show with the same song for stretches at a time. Right now, she usually opens with “Real Love”. 5 or 6 years ago, she often opened with “Drunken Angel”. Then, for a while, she opened with “Ventura” sometimes. And these days, she is nearly always closing a show out with “It’s a Long Way To The Top”.

In between is where she’ll mix it up more, more so than many artists, but still not enough for some fans. She will almost always play “Joy”. She plays “Out Of Touch” a lot (suits me – one of my favorites). She’s been playing “Honey Bee” a lot.

But, you just never know. She well even often deviate from the set list taped to the stage on any given night. For example, I’ve seen her 15 times or so over the last 6 years, but I have never heard her play “Side of the Road”. I LOVE this song and it’s not that she never plays it, just that I just haven’t seen her when she does. Well, Friday night in Nashville before the show I peeked at the set list taped to the stage by her mike. Woo hoo!!! “Side of the Road” was the first song listed for the encore! But then, she played a song that someone shouted out (“Lonely Girls”) during the first set and ran out of time, so she axed it from the encore. I was a little disappointed, but it’s not like I won’t get other chances. Heck, hopefully I’ll see her 15 more times the next 6 years!

And, yes, we enjoyed “Nashvegas”. It was our 3rd time there to see Lu, plus I have visited on business a few other times. It’s a great town that we love to visit. We walked up and down the Strip after the show & it was wild as always on a Friday night!

Tom

Oh, and many kudos to Tom (“tntracy”) for encouraging the rest of us to get off our asses!

This was my first Lucinda show and I loved it. I was awestruck from the moment she walked out on the stage. I stood for a while outside the venue with a few others by her bus. She came out took some pics chatted a little and gave me a hug. I have posted some pics on my myspace page if anyone is interested in seeing them. Just go to the pics section.

http://www.myspace.com/cherfan01

James