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From Tom:
We love to go to places that maybe a lot of people don’t go to very often.The risk is that sometimes there can be an element of unknown and maybe there’s a reason why people don’t play a certain place -they don’t really go out for shows in that town or the show is under promoted by an inexperienced promoter are among the things that can go wrong. The upside is that you find a really appreciative audience and a promoter who really believes in a market and is great to work with. When we find this kinds of places we love to go back -in fact Tarrytown where we are now is an example of that and we are now doing two shows there. We’ve been really fortunate in that more times than not we’ve found these great places to play and I think we may have found another one in Dayton– where Lu had never in anyone’s recollection had ever played. It was apparent very early that Lu felt really good with that audience as she continued to be very talkative. She can sometimes come up with some good one liners as when she introduced Can’t Close The Door oOn Love by saying “this song is proof that I can actually write a positive love song -imagine that”. Another great night on a really great run of shows. Thank you Dayton for all the love and keep supporting live music -you have a promoter, a hometown boy, who really wants to keep bringing shows there. We can only speak for our great experience on all fronts and we will be back.
From Tom:
We seem to be following the path of the rainstorms -I think we’ve had at least some rain on almost every day of the tour. So of course it seemed normal that it rained all day while we were on the bus. It also led to the inspired (sarcasm) idea of opening with the song It’s Gonna Rain and somehow it just seemed appropriate. That song was one of 7 songs played for the first time on this tour -we love to keep mixing it up. We did have a pretty humorous audience, especially for a Sunday. Early in the show a fellow near the front loudly yelled out “I LIKE YOU!”, during a quiet moment between songs. There were also at least three marriage proposals -and of course Lu accepted them all—things always get so complicated. An oh yeah it was Stuart’s birthday so there was celebrating all around.
From Tom:
Great night in Madtown—in fact i’d say it was the best and probably largest crowd we’ve had there. Early in the show Lu made note of all the whoopin’ and hollerin’ -which she loved. At first Lu wasn’t talking much between songs because she had been told there was a curfew but we got word to her that it was ok -she had time. She told a story about her dad being guided into science despite his love for writing that she had never told on stage before. Lu and the band are just playing consistently at a very high level right now so we just keep rollin’ on. Thanks Madison for another great night on this run.
From Tom:
Lu was surprisingly stressed before the show going thru keys on a couple of songs last minute but once she got out there everything seemed to fall into place and she just sailed right thru it with a couple of minor hiccups. There are definitely some songs that have been rediscovered snd revitalized. The two biggest actual changes is she went back to the original title of Drivin’ Down A Dead Street and wrote a brand new verses and a new melody -which she feels is a big improvement over He Never Got Enough Love. Prove My Love has also been changed from a bluegrass country feel to more groovy r&b thing now. But the two biggest rediscoveries are Sidewalks Of The City and Memphis Pearl -the new recorded versions are pretty killer and both versions went over great last night.
At the end of the set list after a moving version of Which Will Lu said “ok time to take that record off the turntable”. She can pretty damn funny when she wants to be. After the show I was talking to a friend wh works in the business and he said he thoroughly enjoyed the show -and after I mentioned that we may do some Sweet Old World shows later in the year after the new version come out (9/29) and this person said “come back and do it again here”. I was surprised but who knows maybe we’ll come back and do it again.
Thx Mr. Stoger. Great report.
From Tom:In recent years Lu has talked a lot more between songs, telling the background stories etc, but last night she was downright chatty. At one point she said something to the effect of “I know i’m talking a lot, but that’s good, it just means i’m comfortable with y’all”. And that was definitely the truth-she was very upbeat and loose. There were 9 songs in this set that were played for the first time on this tour including 4 from Sweet Old World album. 3 of those hadn’t been played in several years and the newly re-written Drivin’ Down A Dead End Street was the first time ever. Every time we come to the Pageant we talk about how it’s the perfect venue for Lu fans—with the standing floor and seats up around the top. It would great if there were more places that offered that option. All in all a really great 2 nights in St. Louis -for those keeping score at home it was 36 different songs over the two nights. And oh yeah —a great review of the first night:
http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/reviews/lucinda-williams-sets-the-bar-high-at-intimate-contemporary-art/article_6cf1082b-114b-52c9-9eac-f6541bcb27e6.html. We’ll take that anytime.
From Tom:
So we drove the orange bus to play the Orange Peel in the time of Orange Julius Caesar. That’s some crazy synchronicity right there. Ok glad we got that out of the way. We do always look forward to playing the Orange Peel -it’s one of Lu’s long time favorites and the crowds are just always ready to go and a packed house last night was no exception. Lu and band are just thrilled with the beginning of this run Lu is really feeling the love. Couldn’t have stared a tour much better. There were many highlights longwise. Since we just finished recording the Sweet Old World album for it’s 25th Anniversary Lu has been wanting to work those songs back in and last night was the first time playing Sidewalks Of The City. We’ve always thought this was one the lost gems in Lu’s catalog with lyrics that are more timely than ever. The new recorded version is phenomenal so the song now feels like a brand new one and Lu was hesitant about doing it last night but made an on the spot decision to go for it. It’s now a song she can really get inside of and definitely did last night -she was happy how it sounded and it’s only going to get better from here. We also had a request for West which hadn’t been played for awhile and we all were raving about that. Overtime that gets played we wonder why it doesn’t make it in the setlist more often. Too many songs too little time but it’s a nice problem to have. And yes I’m sure there will be some jokes about some of the photos. From the angle by the stage the L in Orange Peel on the back wall is blocked out by a pole. So bring on the wisecracks.
From Tom:
There’s something about what happens when we… play Atlanta. Once again it was just a fantastic audience that completely lifted Lu and the band. We were told before the show that it was definitely going to rain -and maybe hail -so we started 15 minutes early to try and get in as much of the full set in as we could. But we got lucky and it didn’t rain until well after the show. Someone after the show said the threat of rain combined with the crowd just created the right energy for a great show. Whatever it was, Lu and the band were absolutely thrilled with the show. There were several songs that the band thought were among the best we’d ever done them- Jackson was mentioned and so was Foolishness. And with out a doubt one of the surprise highlights was Memphis Pearl which doesn’t get played very often but Lu wanted to do it as a nod to the Amplify people who were giving proceeds from the show to the homeless. Lu was a little worried about hitting the notes right on it but she nailed it and you could’ve heard a pin drop. Could go on and on but in the end it was just another great night in Atlanta. Just maybe we’ll back in August. Gotta love that.
From Tom:
Here we go. Beautiful night in Charleston -not a bad way to start this run. Lu was in really great voice -it really opened up on Something About What Happens -other highlights included a very groovy Hot Blood and Steal You Love which built to a big ending -with Something Wicked in between this two that was definitely the groovin’ part of the set. The encore started with maybe the best version of Jesus Just Left Chicago that we have done -and Lu was correct in guessing that the crowd would be into that. Afterwards Lu and the band felt it was a very good first show.
