not a full review, just some thoughts and tidbits about the 3 shows i've seen, jumbled together... sorry this is so long.
Setlist – what’s on the setlist is all great, the problem is what is NOT there. When the show was 90 minutes at the beginning of the tour with Dancing in it, it was already extremely short. I don’t necessarily agree that one cannot do a show that short – lots of performers do it, I have seen Bowie and Tina Turner do even shorter, just 1 hr shows in the past, and from what I understand SN also does an extremely limited and short setlist as a rule while charging an arm and a leg for it. So it’s not that it’s unfair to people and that nobody’s doing it (no pun intended). It’s just that we are not used to short set like that from LB. He used to do 3 hr shows, then a 2 hr show, and now a show which is down to only 13 songs is just not enough.:distress:
Of 13 songs he does, all of them are without the background track except 4 – Stephanie, Come, ISA, and GYOW. And onlythe last 3 are electric, all the rest are acoustic. I really loved experiencing Come and new ISA with that guitar thumping backup – I never thought it could be good without real drums but it is just so different and interesting to hear it this way. The one drawback is that he needs to stay in the middle of the stage (I guess to control everything if he goes off script?) so he can’t move to either side of the stage, completely close towards the audience as he normally does for guitar solos.
Set is also so short b/c he hardly talks during the show this time around – just a welcome/intro speech before Not Too Late and his Big Love “power and importance of change” talk, that’s it. So again, the set is really tight - it’s all music that you get.
Intensity / energy - in Sacramento, there were people sitting next to me asking – wow, this is crazy intense and powerful - is he always this passionate?! Having seen 5 shows on SWS tour last year, and 3 shows just now, I would have to say that this year’s show is much more intense than last year’s. He does seem to manage sucking in / taking everybody with him for the whole setlist. Setlist is really tight and there is no song out of place in it. Well, maybe Trouble. But – he can and should add at least a couple of songs – maybe at the end if he doesn’t want to break up the tight set. Probably adding a few songs right before Big Love-ISA-GYOW finale would work nicely. Not that he will, I know better, but have to say it anyway... He used to add songs that were not fully ready or rehearsed at UTS tour, and I don’t know why he stopped doing that. While I understand that if you want your performance to be tight, you can’t completely change the set from day to day (like Grateful Dead used to do while having a pretty crappy show in the process – but most of their audience was not in any shape to notice :shrug:), there can be always a few more songs that are ready to go. And we KNOW he has Rodeo ready b/c it was on that original setlist.:nod::nod: He really needs to add it in, there’s no question about it. (He seemed puzzled that we knew about the original setlist btw.)
Completely acoustic vs this show - there’s been a lot of discussion here about this over the last few months. I’ve seen it going this way: at the beginning, when we first heard that he will be doing a tour completely alone, majority of fans claimed that they are absolutely not interested in seeing LB solo doing a completely acoustic show, that they want him to rock. Then there was a minority wanting him to do a classical unplugged acoustic show, the kind that people have been doing over the last 20+ years. Because he can, he has songs for it, and it would be something different for a hard core fans. Again, that was a substantial minority that said they’d love to see that. While I agree this might be different direction for Lindsey’s live show, claiming that artist doing an all acoustic show is something new and revolutionary and breaking new ground in general is absolutely ridiculous – it’s been done for decades, and more and more artists seem to be doing it this days. So while LB can absolutely do it, he also has all the freedom to do what he wants and feels comfortable with. This is a 62 yo man who’s been frying his brain with ridiculous amounts of drugs and alcohol for decades and is lucky to be alive, let alone putting out music and shows as he does. Unlike many other artists his age and stature, he’s never phoning it in. His live shows were always incredible, and this one is even more impressive b/c it IS just him and all those guitars and amps (well, and Stan and William of course). And while I might like him to serenade us acoustically from time to time, I can never see a completely acoustic set generate the kind of energy he does with the set he has… although yeah, I guess I should just think Big Love or Go Insane before saying this. Actually, Go Insane has been insanely good on this tour. I was not really that impressed by it during SWS tour, and I thought his holding the note in the end was just annoying. In fact that whole acoustic part plus UTS and AMS was something that for me just needed to happen before finally getting to the really good stuff on SWS tour – In Our Own Time, Illumination, That’s The Way Love Goes, all the rockers. But at Fillmore and Redding – wow, Go Insane was unbelievable!!
So back to my point – if LB feels like he wants to do 3 electric songs and 10 acoustic ones, that works for me (except of course he needs to add about 5 more acoustic ones :p:angel:). I understand it doesn’t for everybody, but if one reads all the stellar reviews he’s received on this tour so far (granted he almost always receives great reviews for his live performances, but this time around they are just phenomenal, seems that people don't normally see one-man shows like this), appears that most people going to these shows are on board with the show he does. I don’t have a good grasp on what’s all out there these days, but I actually think that what he does is DIFFERENT for a one-man show, especially of someone of his rock stature, than doing just a regular acoustic show that now all of the sudden everybody seems to want him to do. Like I said, I liked SWS tour setlist a lot, mainly because of all the great new SWS songs and rockers in it. And while I know many people who are classically trained musicians who loved his opening acoustic set, I didn’t think they are in majority. Again, even among the fans, there was just a minority of people who were actually excited about the all acoustic set. So I guess what I’m saying is – he can do whatever he wants and feels comfortable with, and you can like it or not like it – that’s up to you. But what he’s doing seems to be a typical Lindsey so I’m not completely sure why there's suddenly all the complaining here and why is that so surprising.
He’s true to himself and he gives us great shows and unbelievable experience in the process. I am just incredibly grateful that he decided to do this, and while I will endlessly complain about what all is not on the setlist and how short the setlist is (plan another post for analysis of what should absolutely be in the setlist), I am really glad I went - if I didn’t I would be missing a powerful and intense experience that you don’t get every day, even from LB.
Fillmore - by the end of the show the smell of pot permeated the venue. That’s something I haven’t experienced for decades – since smoking was first banned inside venues. Don’t know whether this smell of pot had something to do with the venue; I’ve heard some comments that people working there were kinda slow… so maybe it does. ;)
He messed up Stephanie a bit at Fillmore, so that was interesting to see.
Audience reaction after the encore - I’ve been going to different shows in the US for the last 20 years, and normally I’ve been disappointed how audiences seem to just feel entitled to the encore and just wait there without actually putting any effort in trying to get the artists back up. I don’t know how is it these days, but that was not the case in Europe – and I’ve been to shows in many countries. This Monday in Fillmore was i think the first time I've seen that people stayed after the last encore and were trying to demand for more. Of course, maybe it was just that pot smell lingering in the air that made people want more. :D
And now, to wrap up with the most important parts – outfits and hair:
- Leather all 3 nights, I don’t think suit will show up again on this tour and don’t even think he took it on the road with him – probably left it with SF area relatives.
- LB is unbelievably skinny now – even skinnier than on the last tour. He really is a tiny guy.
- I don’t know what he’s been doing re his receding hairline, but there’s hair now in the places where used to be none just 6 months ago. Even the bald spot on the back is going away. Guess he must be getting some good hair plugs or something – whatever he’s doing for hair “re-growth” looks great and natural. He actually looks much better now than last year.
I plan to talk about this later, after others chime in, but I want to at least mention the absolute highlight of this trip for me (besides shows etc) - getting to finally meet in person and to have a spectacular 4-day road-trip across northern Cali with Viv and Del – priceless!! :xoxo: of course, with me driving, they are probably thanking their lucky stars they are still alive right about now.
Also great - to hang out with DavidMN again - who even dragged LB over to introduce us!, plus with several other people who are not on this board but have made my time on this trip really interesting. If only I could have gotten a bit more than 3 hrs of sleep per night, may have been even better, but you can’t have everything. :angel:
