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Great show in a small standing venue.
Official setlist ignored very early – this is what we got! 😀
Everything Has Changed
Fancy Funeral
Lake Charles
Bus To Baton Rouge
Mama You Sweet
Crescent City
Drunken Angel
Jailhouse Tears
Can’t Let Go
Still I Long For Your Kiss
Righteously
Those Three Days
Atonement
Honeybee
Joy / Riders On The StormSide Of The Road
Essence
Come On
Unsuffer Me
WestLucinda Williams, The Plug
REFLECTING on nine years in Nashville, Lucinda Williams observed that she fell between the proverbial crack between country music and rock. “Now they’ve caught up with me.”
Despite her languid style, the singer songwriter from Louisiana has always displayed a fiery and independent spirit.
On Wednesday night, she criss-crossed the whole country-rock spectrum, starting with the slower, more reflective songs, such as Everything Has Changed and Fancy Funeral, written after the death of her mother, both from the new album, West, and Bus To Baton Rouge.
Jailhouse Tears was the jaunty essence of country music with a call and response routine with guitarist Doug Pettibone.
Gradually, though her acoustic guitar was replaced by electric, the songs developed more muscle, Pettibone’s incisive guitar solos got longer and the four-piece band went through the gears.
Songs such as Righteously, Come On and Unsuffer Me – and even a suitably brooding Riders On The Storm – bought her and the audience to life over the last hour of a marathon two hours 20 minute set.
With Williams, there are the add-ons – the rambling introductions and the ritual of her flicking through her book of lyrics, or rather having somebody to do it for her.
At times, it affects the pace of the show, but this is what she is. There is no compromising her personality as well as her music.
And by the end, she was at the height of her considerable powers with results that were little short of mesmeric.
peter kay sheffield telegraphI was there too – and enjoyed every second of the show.
There’ll be a longer report on my blog some time in the near future.
Hope she comes back soon!
I went to the sheffield gig, and I have to say it was brilliant – everything I expected and more. It was a welcome surprise, as it was my first time seeing her, how good her voice sounded live. And there were some great licks from her band, too.
The audience amused itself by shouting out requests, but Lucinda seemed cool about this. She patriculary adhered herself when she said she had a better feeling about Sheffield than London. Always goes down well oop North.
I don’t know if I agree that the introductions to songs was unwelcome. Yes, she may ramble a bit but her words were usually of interest about the song or her past. And anyway, what would be better, a singer who says nothing and reveals nothing of his or her personality?
Although I love the slow songs on her CDs, the rockier tracks sounded really great live – Come On, Honey Bee, etc – and the way she built up to these up to the encore was well done. Unsuffer Me stood out most of all.
There’s a small report here:
http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2007/12/entertainment-part-3.html
Thanks to Moondance for kindly letting me use the excellent photos. 😀
Hey, thaks for putting the photos on the website. I got my sister to text me during the gig with the England score – I had no idea the two events would clash. That said, I’m also glad I went to the gig.
Its a shame there’s no clips on youtube of the gig.
I saw Lucinda last year at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester – a very sterile venue with a seated audience. I was very disappointed with the concert: it never seemed to catch fire. So I was a bit ambivalent about going to see her in Sheffield, and only bought a ticket at 5pm before the concert. The only thing that swung it for me was that it was at The Plug – I’d been to see Patti Smith there earlier in the year. A great standing only venue: really a black box with a bar running down one side! This time she was fantastic and Doug was allowed let let rip – as good as the concerts I’ve heard dating from 2000-2002 some guy sent me over from the USA when I bought a CD on Ebay! I hope other artists ‘plug’ The Plug as it’s a great venue – although odd on a “tour” that took in London and Dublin! Wondered who booked that…
Hi Padchio – I too was at Sheffield (and IndigO2 on the Sunday night) and have some great footage on a new camera which I am struggling to get on YouTube in an acceptable format – but I will find a way. I have 8 complete songs from Sheffield – Drunken Angel, Jailhouse Tears, Still I Long for Your Kiss, Righteously, Come On, HoneyBee, Joy/Riders and Essence. I am trying to get some ‘techy’ help – keep checkin’! The two gigs were very different but equally as good – London was much more of a ‘show’ and the acoustics far superior, sheffield was more ‘organic’.
Hey great news about your filming of some of the songs. I will keep an eye out. I don’t know about the acoustics so much but during the slower songs I felt Lucinda’s microphone needed tweaking or something.
Have you seen Lucinda’s myspace page? Can you really contact her, and if so has anyone had a reply?
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