elizabeth

We bought our tickets early, thrilled that Lucinda would be in a town near us, ‘cuz it was a week/worknight.Have been strong fans for about 10 years. Excellent seats by the stage. Got there at a few minutes past 8, asked “um, where is she?” and was told the bus was here. Waited for another hour and half(9:30) for her show that was listed on the ticket at 8, wishin we’d stopped for supper instead of boltin’ a sandwich…bought a t-shirt, checked out the venue, and crowd, settled in. We were tired but happy and excited to be there…
The intro at 8 by the band was wonderful. Don’t usually like long instrumentals (even old Led Zeppelin)but they were inspired and brought us to some unusual places.What a band. Finally, finally Lucinda wandered out, barely acknowleding the crowd except to growl”About f-time, eh?” and started up, peering at lyrics, and looking sorta dazed and confused. Some guy who came out and ministered to her after almost every song, was beginning to annoy me. Was this the new hubby? Why was he so in her face? What was her problem? Finally with some of her older materials she stepped away from the lyrics and began to rock. We were now truly enjoying the show-the band, her voice, the “sweet sad songs” and feisty ones (“I’m so over you, You don’t even have a clue..”) when suddenly she lashed out at a couple in the audience who got up to leave in the middle of the set. WTF? Who knows why they got up, maybe some sort of medical or personal emergency, maybe not…but who cares? It’s not her place to give an udience who waited till 9:30 a hard time. Her harsh response was totally out of line. An apology would have been more than appropriate, before or after the outburst, for whatever was making her so sullen and indifferent.This after all is her audience, her fan base, bread and butter. Maybe she was sick,maybe hungover, maybe blue…but it was shocking and sad too. I couldn’t help contrast this seeming passive AND agressive hostility to the L Cohen concert we attended at the Wang where L gave all sort of respect & thanks to his audience, over and over, verbally, non-verbally. After that concert we left on cloud nine. This one made the t-shirt “You took my joy, I want it back” kind of prophetic and symbolic. Lucinda-get a grip-lose the attitude- 😐 we don’t HAVE to pay to come see you. : (