stoger

@tntracy wrote:

Pics, or should I say “a pic”, has been added, with a note promising more. But check out the comments at the end of the article; more particularly, the comment by “Annie Zaleski” who posted a forwarded message from a Spanish fan (“Beatle Bob”) who wanted to attend one of the October NYC shows & who related his problems dealing with Live Nation & some subsequent communication with Tom O. regarding same. Good stuff that shows why Lu’s fans love Tom as much as we love Lu! 😉

Tom

P.S. I was at that March Atlanta show Tom mentions in his reply to “Bob” and can attest firsthand how screwed up it was at will call. Not only was the computer mix-up an issue, but there was this guy behind the will call window (in the interest of full disclosure, undoubtedly a venue employee as opposed to a Live Nation one) who was making it even worse by copping a major ‘tude towards those of who were waiting for our tickets, etc. Remember, stoger? 🙄

Yes, I remember, tn Tracy–though let me clarify one thing from this stream: Beatle Bob is undeniably NOT a Spanish fan. The guy’s thoroughly middle America, despite his haircut and alliterative moniker. One seems him at Midwestern shows and music fests galore, and maybe a bit beyond, but I don’t think he’s been spotted on the Iberian Peninsula.

As for over 10% of the slide show being comprised by Susannah, allow me to turn from the verbal to the visual, right now.

@mshedg wrote:

Nice to have met you too Stoger. I might see you St. Louis. For those of you making the trip, Obama’s favorite pizza (PI) is right next door to The Pageant.

Blue state (or blue zone within red-tending state) pizza and GA Lu: Let’s Kill Saturday Night, as Robbie Fulks might say. Too bad no Chi town dignitaries on stage last two nights, but no complaints.

I failed to mention in my report that the arc of my Chicago Thursday included going straight from a C.D. Wright poetry reading at the Art Institute auditorium downtown to the Lucinda Williams concert at Park West. Somewhere, the ghost of Frank Stanford is pondering all that. Practically Wright’s first words when she took the mike? “I made a playlist, but I don’t always stick to it.”

We’d make a decent 440-relay team, Paul, as I’ll take up that baton and supplement you a bit here tonight, then run the lead leg on the third night. Thanks to Lafayette and her brother John for giving us rides back to our respective hotels, me first, but my decision to grab some breakfast food prior to the computer lets me riff off your mainly accurate setlist with some addenda and one errata. Though the setlist our “new friend” Janet plucked off the stage does say “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues,” it was in fact “Disgusted” which got played 20th. Those Chicago references got the crowd going even more. I suppose technically the format was violated tonight, in that two songs from Essence were done in the second, or encore, set–the album revisited, as it were, after six from it were done in the 30th anniversary format of the main set. But why get legalistic about it; both rocked. Little Angel, Little Bro & Lake Charles featured Chet and David only. Elaborate crew intros were done by Lu early in the set. “Metal Firecracker” featured a story about the days Lu shared a bus with the band and an incident where the toilet seat was left up “one too many times.” “Steal Your Love” had a false start, and after “Blue,” Lu pronounced it to be a better song than “Steal,” adding “they can’t all be masterpieces.” After “Out of Touch,” she said, “I need to go somewhere and write me some more of these rock songs.” This seemed at odds with earlier in the evening, when Lu spoke favorably of the ballads and the opportunity to play them for audiences like ours. “I envy the wind” had Lu tipping her hat to Lila Downs (sp?), who recorded it in Spanish and English. It seemed a bit up and down of a night moodwise for Lu, but a rousing show all in all. Disco Stu, where art thou?

Good job, Fuji–the records are certainly listed in order, even if you got the song sequence a bit off. I would guess you are spot on.

Lafayette, you’d like “Fancy Funeral” & “Mama You Sweet” again too, right? But “Wrap” would be a treat for Thursday night, to be sure. Sorry you won’t make that one.

Well darn–after Disco Stu rightly called me out on a song title I should have known (since I’ve listened to Happy Woman Blues a lot lately), we find out it wasn’t played after all. I guess the same is true of “Six Blocks Away.” Still, it’s nice to note that “Those 3 Days” was seemingly done in NY?

@tntracy wrote:

Oh man, what a night. It is nearly 1:00 PM & we just woke up. After being out even later last night than the previous two (we got back to our hotel room after 4:00 AM), we decided to blow off all our “touristy” plans for the day & sleep in to (finally) catch up on some sleep.

The setlist in the first post above is accurate, except for “Unsuffer Me” being listed in the second set. It indeed was not played a second time, Disco Stu – good catch.

Some notes I took during the show while tracking the set list (I don’t have the memory of stoger! 😉 ):

“Fruits of My Labor” – Oh my God, she NAILED this one! I was blown away by Lu’s vocals on this awesome song – the best performance I have heard of “Fruits…” ever. Period. After the audience response, Lu remarked that we were a “cool audience” & that she could feel a vibe, saying, “all the cool people come out on a Monday night”.

For “Rescue”, Lu introduced a special guest, violinist David Mansfield. He played with Lu & the band on “Rescue” and the next 6 songs, leaving the stage after “Well Well Well”. I loved the addition of the violin. There was a little “hiccup” in the middle of “Rescue” but, rather than restarting, the band just went with the flow, completing the song pretty much seamlessly.

On “Unsuffer Me”, Eric played some blistering lead guitar. Very impressive.

David brought out the upright bass several times this evening, utilizing it on at least 4 songs – “Rescue”, “Everything Has Changed”, “West”, and “Well Well Well”.

Prior to “Everything Has Changed”, Butch & Eric briefly left the stage, returning for the following song.

After “West”, Lu commented that “we don’t get to do these slow songs that much. Thank you for being a great listening audience.” If I could editorialize a bit here, Lu was right. I especially appreciated the respectfulness of the audience during the more quiet selections. There wasn’t any “chit chat” (at least that I could here from my position front & center), something that bugs the crap out of me at too many other shows.

After “Well Well Well”, Lu commented, “that’s what I am talking about”, perhaps about David Mansfield’s contribution on violin during this song. I thought he added a lot to the performance on this song in particular.

Lu introduced the band between “Tears of Joy” & “Honey Bee”.

Just prior to the last song of the first set, “Plan To Marry”, Buick 6 left the stage, leaving only Lu on acoustic. When introducing the song, Lu said, “I’m going to sing one more song from the last record,” immediately after which a fan towards the back yelled out an anguished “NO!” Lu smiled and said, “Oh, we’re going to some back and play some more songs.”

For the second set, Lu took the stage with just David Mansfield to play a “song by special request” – “Minneapolis” (congratulations, Ben!). After the song, Buick 6 took the stage. David stayed on, playing violin on the next 5 songs, leaving after “Changed The Locks”.

After “Changed The Locks”, Lu announces that “Willie Nile” is in the audience, having “just flown in from Holland”. She asked him “to come up and play” if he was still there, but he did not appear.

For the encore, Lu performed “Angel”, dedicating it once again to the late Jim Carroll, even though it was not listed on the setlist. As in the show the night before, Lu performed this song alone w/ just an acoustic guitar.

“Happy” was once again listed on the setlist as a possible alternative to “It’s A Long Way…”, but the latter was performed to close out the show.

That’s all my notes. I enjoyed the show immensely, despite some of the setlist exclusions pointed out previously. I have never been to a Lu show where there were not several songs I wish she had played – these three nights were no exception. I would have particularly liked to have heard “Like A Rose” & “Which Will”, but it was not to be. Nonetheless, I was so happy to be a part of these three epic performances, and would like to thank Lu, Tom & Buick 6 for their memorable performances.

Tom

Thanks for answering the call, Tom–more than. Great details. “These three nights” were glorious for you indeed, despite the absence of “Those Three Days” from the proceedings. Has Buick 6 ever played that one with her? No matter. I envy both the wind and you for staying the course all nights.

Not quite simultaneous, my early bird LA friend. I notice Paul did not deign to mention what technically might be called song #17, or the first one in the “second set.” It was a surprising Buick 6 [re]walk on, Radiohead’s “No Surprises.” I would call it filler, but apparently there had been some forethought of it. So yes, 25 songs compared to 28 the previous night–or 26 slots counting the Radiohead cover. Only three songs–Joy, Honeybee, the AC-DC cover–duplicated.

Lu launched into a couple of “humorous asides” early in set, especially before “Right in Time” as regards the Good Morning America appearance of several years back. The late Duane Jarvis was duly acknowledged prior to “Still I Long,” and “Angel” was dedicated to the late Jim Carroll. “Tears of Joy” went out to the birthday boy, that late 40ish-looking (and very much alive and kicking) Thomas Overby. During “Steal Your Love,” Lu abandoned her superfluous guitar midway. Little else happened by way of unusual blip a la the Saturday show, and the electric fan on stage got turned on in a much more subtle manner, fairly early in set.

Thanks to all and sundry, and please don’t tempt me to stay for the third night, Forum members: the boarding pass is in the shirt pocket. Someone will nail the third night’s list no doubt, and who knows but what 30+ songs might get played. Can anyone say Ramshead a few years back?

@Rhon wrote:

I’ll be there for all three shows. Hope to see you, the Missus, Mr Stanley and any other friendly forum fans. OMG…I’m so stoked…Yikes!!

Now you address me by formal title, “Rhon.” Amtrak-ing it in, are we? Soon, SR