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From Tom:
I’got to better at getting these done a little faster. By the time I get around to doing it I’m trying to remember the highlights of the evening. The College Street Music Hall is a fantastic new venue. We love the venues that allow for both standing and sitting -we know we have people that want o have that choice. I wish there were a lot more like this around the country—they are perfect for Lu. And of course it sounded fantastic.
Place In My Heart was really incandescent -I think it is destined to be a classic Lu ballad. Jackson was also wonderful. The encore featured Lu’s version of Woody Guthrie’s Ain’t Got Not Home In This World Anymore with the new lost verse about Donald Trump’s father being Woody Guthrie’s landlord in the late 40’s in Brooklyn. Crazy world we are living in. Lu apparently wanted emphasize the lost verse because she sang it twice. How’s that for crazy American history. You can’t make this stuff up. but we did have legendary New Haven Pizza after the show. Let the pizza wars begin. And of course all the other ones too.
From T.O.:
Night two saw three more new song debuts, (highlighted in blue) and everyone was happy with how they sounded on the first live play. We loved having Amos back again and it was a real spontaneous addition that he also sang on Sam Cooke’s Change Is Gonna Come. Were back stage talking during Joy and I said to Amos “Hey do you know Change is Gonna Come?” and he said “the Sam Cooke version or the Otis Redding version?” to which I said “ok, you gotta do it”. And he just went out and killed it. That song was made for the two of them. Lu could hardly contain herself watching him sing his verses.
Thank you Philly for kicking off the tour in the best possible way.
Remarks from Tom:
Well that was a great way to start the tour.
Break in some more of the new songs. Check.
Awesome Philly crowd. Check.
No major first night technical problems. Check.
There were many highlights right from the beginning. Lu mentioned that she thought it was the best version of Something About What Happens in a while. People Talkin’ was really good. Woody Guthrie’s Ain’t Got No Home In This World Anymore was done with the lost Ol’ Man Trump verse, which she decided to sing twice for emphasis. And of course with Lu did a great job of explaining the history of the lost verse. Our good friend and homeboy, Amos Lee sounded great as always on Little Angel Little Brother. Of the new songs making their live debuts, Doors Of Heaven really hit a groove and went over nicely-that one is only going to get better. Lu did kind of forget the phrasing on I Know All About but she basically made up a new one and rolled with it.
There could be worse places to start a tour than Philly -especially with the weather as great as it was. And we have to give a shout out the Black Sheep -that is our kind of neighborhood pub.
All in all an excellent first night.
Some remarks from T.O. and a corrected set list:
What a special night. With only one night of rehearsal with everyone it was a bit of a highwire act but I think we pulled it off. The smiles on everyone’s faces throughout the night was worth it alone. There was a lot of joy on the stage. It’s not often that schedules will allow some true geniuses to come together for a night and make some incredible, original music together. We’re all still basking in the glow.
After a fabulous dinner with Grumpymama and Polly and Steve from Zoeys in Ventura, site of many immense concerts, we arrived at Royce Hall and had enough time to enjoy a fine wine with Samishseamike! Sean Rowe opened at 8 and played a pleasant set of tunes on his guitar, accompanied by his pal who played piano and drums, simultaneous-like.
Lu hit the stage solo at 9:04. Big crowd. She admitted later in the set that she was nervous. Bill Frisell joined for the second song; with just the two of them playing you could appreciate how awesome his guitar playing is and how he was sympathetic to the tune. I thought he sounded fabulous and he looked like he was having a good time. Greg joined for the 3rd number and he was of course stupendous in the extreme. It was at this point that a gentleman sitting behind me objected to my entering the set list on my phone and tapped my shoulder, actually smacked it really, and said “that’s really very irritating”. To which I replied, “more irritating than you?” He said my phone was too bright. After a brief debate we agreed that if I did not stop he was going to punch me in the face. Hence, no set list last night. I really have a way to connect with people.
Ventura was problematic. Lu was nervous. Rather than abort she rallied by the end and it was quite pretty. With the whole band playing, 3 guitarists, David and Butch, it got pretty loud, especially when Butch was expressing himself. Go Butch! Lu played excellent versions of Overtime, Blue, and Copenhagen, back to back to back. We were having a fine evening.
Charles Lloyd was the sax guy, a legend from Memphis it says here. I guess Lu met him through Greg and Bill as they all play together at some place in Santa Barbara. He added another element to the songs that had not been heard before. I don’t remember a sax at any prior Lu shows. He seemed ultra cool and played great.
When Lu launched into Joy I thought that was a bit premature but she came back with a 4 song encore, including a
lengthy Faith and Grace. She ended with a Sam Cooke cover and the show was over at 11:10.It was great to see the usual people it is great to see, especially Mike, who is going to all 5 NYC shows btw, Peggy and Robert, Eric F. who played tour manager for one night, Mark Humphreys, Matt Blake, Leanne McNeil,and T.O. Sorry we missed Los Doyers. I am now going to go stare out the window until the rain arrives.
Going to have to wait on the set list. It was a splendid night of music. The band included Greg Leisz, Bill Frisell, and a sax player named Charles whose last name will come to me eventually. Slumber awaits. 😮
P.S. See this note from Tom about Mr. Lloyd. Note humor 😆
Just saw your post -thought you had maybe seen the stuff on FB that we posted -he’s Charles Lloyd -he is a true jazz legend -but he was born in Memphis so at 16 years old he was playing with Howlin’ Wolf, BB King and Johnny Ace. He later was recruited by Brian Wilson and played on some Beach Boys records and also played Roger McGuinn’s first solo record. He is the closest thing that we have to John Coltrane. Just letting you know, because I have nothing better to do at the moment.
