Beautiful Loser

I thought I would share the local KC music critic’s review of the show at Voodoo Lounge on 6/17. It does fill in the gaps from the setlist that was shared.

Review: Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams has played all over this town, in nearly every major venue and in front of some big crowds. Wednesday night she returned to the VooDoo Lounge. It was her second performance there in a few years, but it was before one of her smallest audiences — fewer than 500 people. Lucky them: They saw one of her best local shows ever.

Her voice sounded excellent — strong and soulful. Maybe the honey she sipped from a cup all night had something to do with that. It was supressing a cough, she said; but she sure didn’t sound sick. Her setlist was built for long-time fans and not just those who jumped aboard her bandwagon with the “Car Wheels” album. (I’ve seen her at least 10 times; this was the first time I heard her sing “Memphis Pearl”).

She brought her band Buick 6 with her, though it’s a different band these days without guitarist Doug Pettibone, who’s off doing the solo thing. His replacement, is Eric Schermerhorn, whose resume includes gigs with Bowie, Iggy, They Might Be Giants and The The. This evening, he fit right in with the band’s country/Delta blues stylings, and he whipped up a few solo storms, especially during the covers of “Every Picture Tells a Story” and AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top.”

The rest of the set list was all hers, and it went back to her earliest albums, including the Folkways records (the first of which turns 30 this year). She turned things down in the middle of this two-hour show for a run of quieter, acoustic numbers, including “Memphis Pearl” and “Jackson.” (And this crowd kept quiet and listened hard to it all.)

Things got loud and bluesy again, starting with “Piñeola” and then the back-to-back combination of “Joy” and “Righteously.” She dropped in a new one between those, the hard but bubbly “Honey Bee,” which sounded great live. Speaking of sound, the VooDoo can be one of the best live venues for sound when everything and everyone is working right. This was one of those nights.

There’s room to complain about her closing the show with two covers, but during “Every Picture Tells A Story,” her voice gave Rod Stewart’s a run for his money; and the AC/DC cover was not a big surprise; it’s on her latest album. And besides that, she filled the rest of the night with an array of songs that perfectly captured 30 years of eminent songwriting.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Setlist: I Just Wanted to See You So Bad; Happy Woman Blues; I Lost It; Concrete and Barbed Wire; Crescent City; Tears of Joy; Everything Has Changed; Memphis Pearl; Jackson; Fruits of My Labor; Still I Long For Your Kiss; Real Love; Drunken Angel; Piñeola; Little Rock Star; Out of Touch; Changed the Locks; Come On; Honey Bee; Joy; Righteously; Motherless Children; Every Picture Tells a Story; It’s a Long Way to the Top.