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What a thrill to finally see Lu. I was front and center for the only day I’m attending the Ottawa bluesfest. I love the new songs, it sounds like a rockin’ album is on the way in September. I was surprised to see Lucinda using sheet music and in fact forgot the lyrics midway thru Drunken Angel. She did say she liked playing these new songs to which I yelled back “They sound great Lu” and she smiled and said “You sound great to.” They came in at an hour 25 or so with Steely Dan starting right after her. I think this is just squeezing in the time slot, I’d love to see her when she does her longer shows. Are You Alright was rushed and Joy was shorter than I’ve heard before (but still smokin).
1. Fruits of my Labor (false start for sound problem)
2. Right in Time, great concert now that my favorite is played.
3. Are you Alright
4. Druken Angel
5. Little Rock Star
6. Real Love
7. Tears of Joy
8. Essence, my other favorite (I find I have alot of favorites)
9. Real Live Bleeding Fingers
10.Come On
11.Honey Bee
12.Joy
Encore
13. Bone of Contention
14. Long way to the Top (the ultimate R&R song)With apologies for mistakes. I was just awed to finally see these songs brought to life. The band sounds great, it was a smokin hot day. The beers went down real good. Lucinda had said early in the show it was nice to back in such a beautiful country, and I hope she comes back again real soon. Thanks so much.
Thx for the report. Sounds like you had a good time.
Not many mistakes in the setlist at all: well captured! “Are You Alright” was in front of “Right in Time,” and I think you had “Real Love” and “Tears of Joy” reversed, but you’re right that it was rockin’. I too was front, if not exactly centered–not enough of a Ladytron fan for that, to stake early claim. Doug’s guitar had to be changed out during “Tears of Joy.” Before “Bone of Contention,” Lu announced that the band had encouraged her to do it solo again last night, having heard it that way in Milwaukee. But they entered midstream, and it was superb. She prefaced it with a variation on Milwaukee’s show’s intro: “this is my 4th of July political statement.” As for “It’s a Long Way to the Top,” this was the first time she specifically mentioned AC-DC in front of it.
Immediately afterward, I had to choose between Richard Thompson and Chuck Prophet, each having started a quarter hour before Lu finished. Since Thompson was playing solo, I went indoors to the 231-seat air-conditioned stage, not very full at all at that hour. Chuck did best he could; we were a sedate audience. Afterwards, it was a pleasure to stand outside and chat with him and Stephanie Finch, while listening to the strains of Steely Dan across the way. Donald Fagan (sp?) even acknowledged Lu during the set, as the bands on the two major stages were staggered as to avoid the sonic overlap which happened in Milwaukee. I had to miss Otis Taylor completely. As Chuck Prophet himself put it to me, “I was my own fourth choice”–Williams, Steely Dan, and Thompson overlapping at least partially with his own set. Prophet is probably the best Lu opener (2002) I’ve ever heard, to this day.
Hope someone else will pick up the ball and post for Maine and the Mellencamps: the ride ends here for me, ’till Atlanta. . .
Thank you very much Stoger for the great reporting on all those shows. Going to the Lowell show on Saturday, hope to see you out in Lu Land later in the year.
That poor guy in front of me, with his Austin City Limits hat, kept shaking his head in disbelief/disappointment. With all respect, it’s 2008 Lu, not 1998 Lu. Gone are the days. Hey, Little Rock Star… welcome to the balls to the wall ROCK SHOW. No joke, if you like your Lu rockin’ hard, check out this 2008 version. Maybe it was the occasion, we will see if she goes back to Greenville at the Grassroots Festival(I’m hopeful).
First time at the “Blues” fest. Great site, great weather, great time, and some great music. I’ll pass on Ladytron, but Crooked Still, Justin Rutledge, Michael Burks, Nick Moss and the Flip Tops, and Luke Doucet all helped contribute to a wonderful day of music.
The new stuff sounds sweet live. Loved it when the band came in midstream during Bone of Contention. Nice groove. Fabulous vocals.
Lasting memory… Mr. Pettibone’s guitar splitting the sky with that opening note of Essence. Blistering Hot.
I also like what Chet brings to the band. Butch and David were rock solid all night. Thanks for the ride Buick 6. I do believe that Lucinda won over a multitude of new fans with a short, but hard rockin’ set.With all due respect, I can empathize with the Austin City Limits Hat-Man. I, too, miss the 1988 through 1992-era Lucinda Williams shows and sounds. Gurf Morlix on lead guitar (a now celebrated producer/solo artist—listen to Slaid Cleaves or Mary Gauthier for more 411) with Lucinda singing her latest gems was an awesome treat during those way-early days. She was like a lonely tour-bus driver telling her lucky passengers where she has been and what had happened on her roads. Then, when she resurfaced several years later with Kenny Vaughn (awesome studio musician) on lead was another interesting reflection of musical persona. Luckily enough, she captured Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan’s famed lead guitarist) for sometime for the Essence days. Somehow, she went to Iowa City to get the incredibly swampy sound of the one-and-only Bo Ramsey’s guitar (Greg Brown’s long-time sideman) who partnered with the now infamous Doug Pettibone (you won’t find a more dedicated audiophile/guitar hound anywhere). All of these journies add up to a truly an amazing ride. Truly.
Without a doubt, LWs sound is now different. She comments on this herself. Her songwriting has morphed, too. As it should–change is inevitable, growth is optional. From my perspective, it’s OK to miss the past. I was lucky to be take part in those early days when us fans were considered “cult-like” (appropriately so!). These were the times before Tom Petty’s opening slot, before $100 tickets at Stone Mountain, before she was a darling of anybody anywhere. This was a time when she was on Rough Trade Records opening for Graham Parker and what not…
I don’t think anyone can argue with the fact that “Sharp Cutting Wings (Song to a Poet)” off the classic Happy Woman Blues is one of the best songs ever written. Or on “Side of the Road” where LW reflects:
If I stray away too far from you, don’t go and try to find me
I doesn’t mean I don’t love you, it doesn’t mean I won’t come back and
stay beside you
It only means I need a little time
To follow that unbroken line
To a place where the wild things grow
To a place where I used to always goEven one of LWs biggest fans–David Byrne–laments for his early days—a time when his songwriting was innocently spontaneous, fresher, less laborious and less celebrated. Once you come up with Happy Woman Blues or Sweet Old World, it’s hard to keep that momentum up. From another perspective, I really value Talking Heads early material and concerts just as I truly cherish LWs early material and concerts—there will be nothing like them ever again. But, the same is true for LWs current stuff and David Byrne’s most excellent solo material and shows. They are awesome—just different. Not “the same as it ever was…” Nonetheless, it’s OK to wonder and reflect while we all change, grow, and morph as time goes on. As Jimi Hendrix once said: Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens
I envy DavidinMaine. Thanks for your post. Cherished memories indeed. Personally, I prefer the earlier stuff. My dream show would be first set acoustic, second set electric. It would also be a 3 or 4 hour show. Enough dreaming, back to work!
David, I know what you are saying here, and I am among those who “found” Lucinda in the self-titled/sweet old world era, and I thought it couldn’t get any better with the release of Car Wheels. I regard many of those songs as the greatest of all time. “Side of the Road” never ceases to move me, and what a thrill it was to see her do the self-titled album live in the New York City 5-night run last fall (with David Byrne as a special guest during the second set, no less).
But how terribly sad it would be if she were stuck in that era; if her shows were simply “lucinda’s greatest hits from the last millenium”, a nostalgia trip for all of us who feel part of the “cult like following.” Aside from the apparent fact that Lu just seems to simply groove with her band these days, I love that she is constantly reinventing her music. (It must be that New Orleans gene — taking all influences into the blender and making something new). It’s never stagnant. It’s still surprising and fresh. With each tour now she is pitching us curve balls and fast balls, and some of us shake our heads (in our ACL caps) wondering what just happened!
Last year, when she started playing “Honeybee,” she’d introduce it as her favorite song to play. Some posters here found that song beneath her. I understand — it isn’t Sweet Old World, or Side of the Road, or Am I Too Blue. But what fun, what a happy, unexpected surprise it was to hear her and the band play it! I see each new song as part of a long path of creativity, one leading to another, some better than others, but she’s trying something different or new, following her instincts. (The alternative is to just keep going around and around in a not very creative circle…) I look forward to what she brings us next year, or in five or ten more years!
I am happy that she finally seems to be enjoying the “fruits of her labors” — not in the sense of one who is taking the easy path (she never has), but in the sense that she seems to be finally free to create and play without limitations.
Can’t wait to hear the 2008 version! 😀
****
I’ll add my thanks to all for those great reports from the midwest. (Is Ottawa, Can. considered the midwest, too?) After the hiccups in that first show in Milwaukee, it sounds like Lu and “Buick 6” have already taken it to a higher level. (we can just call that first show a typical Lu false start…) Thanks, especially, to Disco Stu and Stoger for those great, thoughtful, detailed reports from Minnesota and iowa.
Great comments, Ray. I appreciate you taking the time to reverb. How excellent is it to frame the current LW runs with those of her earlier days–it makes the picture complete. We can’t recreate the past just like we can’t ignore the past. Many long-time culties take offense at LWs new “sound” and presentation, which I don’t agree with. But this is missing the point. As we get older our views change. Our styles change but we hold onto and reflect our essence. After all, World Without Tears, Lonely Girls, Out of Touch, and I Envy the Wind are all LW classics and can certainly be hold-up against anything in her catalog as well. Those of us that have been riding the LW bus for 20-plus years are lucky in the fact that we have this perspective.
Sure, much of Live @ the Fillmore is, in part, considered a dud by some fans, but that is besides the point. As fans, I think it is our ultimate responsibility to support the artists and their music with an appreciative yet critical eye. Not every recording is good. Not every song is a hit. Not every concert is smooth. The same is true with two other artists I cherish and have followed for over 25-years: Prince and Elvis Costello. Not every record of theirs is solid nor is every concert “the best.” Especially these two because they are so all over the place with their music. Like Lucinda Williams, I appreciate all of their music. An “off” Elvis C, or Prince, or David B, or LW song is much better than an “on” song from most other artists in my opinion. But, it is only my opinion! Thanks, for the dialog.
Agreed. So, DavidinMaine, did you get to see her at Stone Mtn, Brownfield,ME? Reading the other posts, that sounds like the venue of the year — for any performer! Wow. Perhaps less than 200 people, in a small performance space, with that band!
Inside Job — how about a tour full of these small venues (if you can even find them)? Aw, i know it wouldn’t pay, but just think how cool it would be…
Good question, Ray and I imagine several posters will disagree with my thinking here. As a teacher/educator, my summer days are very busy (attending nat’l conferences, tutoring, other work) so I can’t attend everything that I want. Plus, I am not totally in love with LWs sound and setlists right now. Love Doug Pettibone’s work–especially when he played with Bo Ramsey–those two could really work. Love her music and I love her concerts, but I am just not feeling it right now. I know I will catch a couple of shows this fall, and that’s cool by me. The Stone Mountain show would have been a $300 night with close to 4-hours of travel and framing this against the many times that I have seen LWs, it’s just not the space that I am in. I have seen her “up close and personal” several times and so I will leave my couple of seats open for someone who wants this opportunity. Color me crazy, but I will simply wait…
As a side note, David Byrne is touring this fall (“The Music of Byrne and Eno”) and I take the same approach: I will see two or three shows of the tour and call it good. I always do this with the core of musicians that I follow. 2 or 3 shows of every tour. For me, I can capture the essence of a tour with this and it fills me comfortably full. Full of tasty memories that age and mingle with other tasty musical memories. I could never do an all-you-can-eat Phish-style coast-to-coast tour thingy.
Thanks, again, for the interesting dialog and maybe see you at the edge of a LW show sometime!
One music, one people,
David
Hi all. I am a great fan of Lucinda having discovered her music while at Jazzfest in New Orleans a few years back.
I was so glad to see her in Ottawa my home town this past summer. While I found her performance somewhat subdued, I certainly enjoyed it. I think the Bluesfest schedule is so tight here, she was under pressure to finish on time. I was somewhat suprised her band members were mostly from LA (the city) and not from LA (the state).
She is a phenominal singer/songwriter/performer and has popularized the so called alt-country or country rock genre that Gram Parsons established before his tragic end. Yes I saw Gram Parsons way back in 1970 in Toronto with Janis Joplin et al…
Anyways, for what is worth, here is a link to a few shaky pictures I took of Lucinda in Ottawa:
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/568525583BiIXMCCheers y’all,
Dave
Dave, Thanks for the pics they bring back great memories. It was my first Lucinda concert. Got there two hours early to get up front and Lu didn’t disappoint me at all. We had met a couple from Michigan who came just to see her and after the show the lady remarked that I was sobbing….I was ….Lucinda touched that night the way no other performer ever had.. Come back to Ottawa soon Lucinda!!!
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