Oklahoma date!

[michelej1]

It was a great show. Not an improvement over the show I saw in Los Angeles, but equally as good.

You guys are always complaining about people not standing, but when you're at tables, it's hard to stand anyway. Not that I believe in standing at all, but even if I had wanted to, the close seating and chair and round table obstructions would have made it rather difficult. I was several tables back, though. Up front, I guess people could have gone up, but they didn't.

Before the show came out, guy came out and told us this was the last time he would ask us to turn off the phones and said no texting. If we were caught doing it, we'd be escorted out. I think he was being unnecessarily gruff. He said photography was ok, but no flash. He said he would come and get the meet and greet people after the show.

It seemed to me that the guitar on CAD sounded a bit tinny. Since the venue was called "Peformance Lab" I expected excellent sound, but it wasn't on that first song. it was great after that and Lindsey's voice was wonderful. As crisp when he whispered as it was when he roared.

When the opening notes of BTLH started, people seemed to recognize it right away and there was a rustle of applause immediately.

He held his hands apart, like an accordion that got smaller and smaller as he brought the bellows in. He said he started with a 10 piece band. Then for years he traveled with a smaller band, there were 4 of them. Now, it's just him.

This generated laughter from the audience, but Lindsey didn't seem to become really enthusiastic himself until after Stephanie (that song always makes me want to sing "Teach your children well . . . " When he mouthed the words "oh yeah. Oh yeah," with a big grin twisting and transforming his face.

You know, on past tours, Come seemed to pick up speed, getting good at the end guitar solo, but this time around it sounds great to me early on. The tempo is just right; the singing is as enthralling as the playing and I don't think I always got that energy from it. That was the first song that got several people standing after it. A guy yelled, "you're playing your ass off," after it ended. Lindsey smiled, lips ever pursed.

Big Love: Lindsey if you really can't remember "1987" after struggling to recall the exact year night after night, concert after concert, you've got a mental problem. Get that checked out, buddy. Honestly, while he pauses to search for a date, I'm just going to yell out "1987."

The intro to ISA has such a drum, congo beat these days I'm almost starting to mistake it for Tusk. Maybe that's why Tusk has gone missing. The setlist isn't big enough for 2 tribes.

I like the way the music stops abruptly at the end of GYOW. That was unexpected. Of course, I'm used to him jumping up and down in front of a drummer and ending it that way. But this way, when he's facing the audience and there's sudden silence is jolting and fun too.

At the end he said it's the small machine that keeps him growing and aspiring to be an artist, to take risks. He thanked us for being a part of it.

He said he was only going to do one more song and the audience moaned. He said, "how quickly you turn."

He said that he's getting a blister. It's been a month since he last performed (which verifies he didn't do that Cedars thing) and he said that blister is going to be bad for the next show tomorrow night.

Lovely night, thanks to a guy who won't shut down and s staying around as long as he can.