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Wow…this was one of the worst concerts I’ve ever seen! Her performance incompetence was amazing.
-She read from a BOOK the whole time! What? She would look at the book and then look up and try to sing, awful! Even ‘I’ knew the lyrics after she had sung them enough times. It was funny it was so bad.
-Her lyrics are terrible! Honey Bee? Are you kidding me? They all rhyme exactly the same way, have exactly the same content (she’s pissed off at an ex, that’s a new one!), and have the same droning on and on and on. It sounds like a pre-pubescent high schooler wrote them.
-She was actually booed.
-Nearly everyone at the concert was bored and sometimes their chatter rose above the music.
-I will say, however, that her band is great! They carried her the whole way.
-Myself, and several people around me were commenting how embarrassed they were for her. It was really THAT bad.
-I’ll admit that there were a few (3) good songs in there, but the rest was junk. Seriously. Once she can play more than 2 chords, can sing without droning like she’s drunk, can create lyrics that I actually can’t guess before she sings them, I’ll pay money to see her. Otherwise it was an hour and a half of my life that I’ll never get back.
@Addicted wrote:
Just curious, are you comparing this show to other Lu shows that you have seen?
Haven’t seen her before, this was the first and last time. Maybe she was good in her heyday, but she’s awful now.
If you want to hear a real singer/songwriter that doesn’t have to read her lyrics (I’ve NEVER seen that before), check out Patty Griffin, Josh Ritter, Patrick Park, etc…they all put ‘Lu’ to shame and don’t have half the exposure.
To respond to underwhelmed…I wasn’t at the show, so it’s not for me to judge, but I just can’t believe the show was as bad as you say.
First of all, she read out of a book at the St. Louis concert too. It’s not like she needed it for the whole show, but mostly for older songs. I didn’t mind it, because she put so much of herself into the performance. SO WHAT if she had to look at the book?! She has a large repertoire of songs. At least at the show I was at, the book thing wasn’t an issue because she also talked to the crowd a lot in between.
To my recollection, the song “Honey Bee” (I’ve only heard it once) is not about being jilted. It’s a cute “I am in love” song and talks about wanting to be “stung.” I don’t think that it’s just another typical break-up song. In fact, a lot of the newer stuff she tried out seemed to me to be about an evolution in her music toward something happier.
I have a feeling that Underwhelmed might not have sung the praises of Lucinda Williams even on a “great” night. (Would Underwhelmed have been under whelmed at the St. Louis or Baltimore shows, too?) Even if the criticisms are valid for that night, what’s interesting to me is how people either “get” Lu immediately, or don’t. I think those of us who love her work — who love her — feel like we’ve found a kindred spirit. This is a soulful thing. It’s really an incredibly personal thing, too, even though we share it (differently) with tens of thousands of her fans. We are touched. We feel connected. And so we don’t care too much about unpolished, rough edges. We see through superficial things (like a songbook right next to her as she performs — so what? how amusing! it only makes me smile) and we let the poetry and the voice and the emotions and the music speak to us. It was like that for me when I first heard her self-titled album and “sweet old world” a long time ago, back the early ’90s — I was hooked. I’ve only seen 4 shows, two this year and two about 8 years ago, so I’m not able to compare a whole lot. But each show was very different, and her attitude and rapport with the audience was never the same. I know there were “flaws” in the shows that bothered some more than others, but I came away from each more attached to her music than ever. In one of the other posts, someone wrote about how Lu casts a spell — and it’s true — but you have to be receptive to the spell in the first place. You have to allow the Honey Bee to sting you, I guess.
@Essence wrote:
To respond to underwhelmed…I wasn’t at the show, so it’s not for me to judge, but I just can’t believe the show was as bad as you say.
First of all, she read out of a book at the St. Louis concert too. It’s not like she needed it for the whole show, but mostly for older songs. I didn’t mind it, because she put so much of herself into the performance. SO WHAT if she had to look at the book?! She has a large repertoire of songs. At least at the show I was at, the book thing wasn’t an issue because she also talked to the crowd a lot in between.
To my recollection, the song “Honey Bee” (I’ve only heard it once) is not about being jilted. It’s a cute “I am in love” song and talks about wanting to be “stung.” I don’t think that it’s just another typical break-up song. In fact, a lot of the newer stuff she tried out seemed to me to be about an evolution in her music toward something happier.
If by ‘put so much of herself into the performance’ you meant: she reads the line, briefly looks up to sing/say the line, then looks back at the book, then you’re right (how is that amusing? It’s terrible!). Honestly, it was horrible. There were about 3 songs that she didn’t need the book for (and they were good!), out of what, 13 songs? Not to mention the fact that she quit in the middle of a song, hacked into the microphone several times, and then babbled incoherently like she was wasted (which I’m betting money she was). Be able to handle your alcohol if you’re coming on stage.
After she said she was going to sing Honeybee, I was joking to my friend about what the lyrics were going to be, and I was dead on! It was like she wrote that song in her sleep…heck, I did just sitting there.
Ray, maybe you’re right, and I just don’t ‘get’ Lu. And like I said before, maybe she was good a few years ago or back in the 90’s, but based on this performance, she was horrible (and yes, I’ve been to about 70 concerts) and I wasn’t the only one who thought so. She sung stuff off her new album, and it just droned on and on and on about the same old thing, with the same 2 chord rhyming pattern.
Homosacer…she was booed and hissed about 6 songs through. As for why, it was probably because of the way she read the lyrics (after looking at them) instead of singing them, the way she ended seemingly every line on the same note, the same theme in her lyrics ad nauseum, and because it was like she wasn’t even there. Her band truly carried her the whole way. I loved her band…but she was awful. The fact that people’s conversations were drowning her out says more than the booing, she just bored me. You don’t come to a sold-out Red Rocks concert and bore people and get booed, but somehow she managed to do that. That’s not endearing to me.
Hey Ray, nice try with the attempted explanation to Underwhelmed, but if someone like Lucinda has to be EXPLAINED, that person will never get it in a million years anyway.
to underwhelmed and anyone else who is put off by the lyric book, keep this in mnd. while she is the only performer i’ve ever seen with a music stand and lyric book, she is far from the only performer reading lyriics. there are quite of few acts with teleprompters (not coincidently *older* acts with larger catalogs), difference is, you never see them. they’re a screen flush with the stage or look like a stage (speaker)wedge. the lyric book may look tacky or out of place, but it’s obviously what she’s comfortable with. but, she ain’t the only one reading.
@Mike wrote:
Hey Ray, nice try with the attempted explanation to Underwhelmed, but if someone like Lucinda has to be EXPLAINED, that person will never get it in a million years anyway.
You’re right, maybe you should explain it to most of the 9,000 people that saw the exact same show that I did…because with the hissing and booing and jabbering going on, I guess they didn’t ‘get her’ either. Please. An 8 year old could ‘get’ her lyrics off of West:
Are you alright?
All the sudden you went away.
Are you alright?
I hope you come back around someday.
Are you alright?
I haven’t seen you in a real long time.
Are you alright?
Could you give me some kind of sign.
Are you alright?
I looked around me and you were gone.
Are you alright?
I feel like there must be something wrong.
Are you alright?
‘Cause it seems like you disappeared.
Are you alright?
‘Cause I been feeling a little scared.
Are you alright?[Chorus:]
Are you sleeping through the night?
Do you have someone to hold you tight?
Do you have someone to hang out with?
Do you have someone to hug and kiss you,
Hug and kiss you, Hug and kiss you?
Are you alright?Are you alright?
Is there something been bothering you?
Are you alright?
I wish you’d give me a little clue.
Are you alright?
Is there something you wanna say?
Are you alright?
Just tell me that you’re okay.
Are you alright?
‘Cause you took off without a word.
Are you alright?
You flew away like a little bird.
Are you alright?
Is there anything I can do?
Are you alright?
‘Cause I need to hear from you.
Are you alright?[Chorus]
Are you alright?
Are you alright?
Hey…Dude I’m so over you
You don’t even have a clue
All you did was make me blue
You didn’t even make me, come on!You’re so self-involved
You’re in some kind of fog
You’re hung up on your hog
You didn’t even make me, come on!You think you’re in hot demand
But you don’t know where to put your hand
Let me tell you where you stand
You didn’t even make me, come on!Dude you’re so fire
Shut up, I’m not inspired
All I’m feeling now is tired
You didn’t even make me, come on!You weren’t even worth it
I’m sorry I ever flirted
The effort wasn’t even concerted
You didn’t even make me, come on!All you do is talk the talk
You can’t back it up with your walk
You can’t light my fire, so fuck off
You didn’t even make me, come on!
Ok, I could post all the lyrics but I’m not going to….they’re like nursery school rhymes. Like I said before, she may have been good in the past when she wasn’t drinking or coughing up a lung into the microphone or reading from a book, but when I saw her, I was really disappointed. You’re right though, maybe I just don’t get her and we don’t have this spiritual connection.what i dont get is why specifically join a list dedicated to a performer to come on and bitch about a bad performance/disappointment to her /their hardcore fans-just to let us know?-OK thanks! did you expect a warm and fuzzy reaction?
im honestly not trying to get into a pissing contest with you but if we do ill win.
70 concerts, isnt like.. a whole lot.not sure what credence you think that number gives you.maybe youre jaded from your vast experiences?im 50 years old.probably seen close to 50 shows this year.some great some dogs.
sorry you didnt dig blu lu.she’s better than that performance though.trust me.i saw the white stripes play their 1st gig at historic at msg here in nyc last week and walked out early.they were ok.pretty good even but just kinda interesting to me-music never really hit me-maybe it will some day-you never know-
a band called grinderman opened for the WS and i thought they were amazing.they were booed by the stripes kids/fans.they were way to heavy and dark for a hockey arena. id go see them in a heartbeat.the stripes?yeah, maybe.after the gig i didnt join the WS list to tell them and their fans i thought they sucked.in fact the white stripes were highly praised for the performance in the media by both the ny times and the village voice and they rarely agree about anything-ever. music-NEVER!
so am i stupid, do the white stripes really suck or are the ny times and the village voice wrong and full of shit?
none of the above although i can be stupid from time to time, the white stripes must suck some nights and the vox and nyt are wrong from time to time too.
i just didnt like it.happens.i got it just didnt care for it.move on.
dig your honesty, you jab and spar on the forum and thats cool too-personally i cant really believe blu lu was THAT bad, ive seen her shakey but NEVER seen her suck.seen her about 10+ times-
was this the redrocks gig with ryan adams, and the old 97’s-how did they go over with the denver kids?
personally i never boo any act no matter how stupid(i leave)because….
1976/77, the good rats a famous Long Island Bar Band make their first big rock album and play their first gig outside of a bar-opening band some young unheardof punks from queens called THE RAMONES.sat in the first row and gave joey the finger all nite-he spit on me about 20 times-my friends literally had to physically hold me down in my seat to keep from murdering him. it was real spit. crowd and world had not yet ever been exposed to punk(1976!).crowd was there for the rats and the ramones were barraged with hate and boos-
NO ONE had ever seen shit like that before-they were stunned.1-2-3-4 blitzkrieg bop-heads exploded!moral of the story is that a year or 2 later im paying good money to
hear and see the ramones play all over nyc and eventually tall over the world.
ps-the good rats never ever made it.must really really been a BAD night for lu.maybe twas the thin air.
and im pretty sure her honey bee leaves his honey on her belly in the lyrics(its a new song,only heard it once)-its not a he left me and broke my heart song, its a he fucked me good song and i was he was back here right now song, im pretty sure.
also i wouldnt read the lyrics to pineola,bleeding fingers,or american dream to any 8 year old-let em grow up a bit innocently before you smack em with realities few of us ever realize.
peace billytherhinonyc
(imagine how much joey ramone spit would be worth on ebay today?)
If Underwhelmed doesn’t appreciate Lu or her music, why spend so much time on this site? You do have some other life out there………..right? Betcha Underwhelmed can’t resist another nasty reply to try to taunt us.
I don’t think Underwhelmed is taunting anyone. He was asked why he didn’t like the performance, and he gave his reasons. We might not agree, but that is his opinion.
>(imagine how much joey ramone spit would be worth on ebay today?)
forget the joey ramone spit, i want one of the dozens of toy rats i threw back on stage during the massive rat *war* at the capital theater after the good rats threw them into the crowd.
particapate in any *rat wars* with the band, rhino?
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