Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Concert Report
Went to John Hiatt and the North Mississippi Allstars at Chautauqua with Andrew. We went last year. I think the NMA got a little better, but I'm not sold on the lead guitarist, Luther Dickinson. His solos are technically OK but they have no structure and they go nowhere. The lads start a song one way, go through a few changes and then end it differently. Not my idea of a satisfying set. When they are in a groove with a song, they are good. And when the guitarist changes guitars, the sound from the guitar changes as well. Not everyone does that.
Hiatt took about an hour to get to the stage so the set was a little short. He didn't have time to talk trash about the President as he did last year. He did tell a story about an astronaut friend of his (whose name I have forgotten) who worked on the fix of the Hubble Space Telescope (whose main camera quit working last week--way to make the repair last, zoomie). Hiatt dedicated his Blue Telescope to the guy.
Between songs (no Memphis in the Meantime (Listen) or Thing Called Love (Listen) this year, just as well--I'm sick of the latter) he would talk about his wife and his children, one of whom just graduated from DU, my alma mater legis, more's the pity. He made a great point. He mentioned a song that was 11 years old. 11 years--that doesn't sound so bad. But then he compared it to his childre. His 28 year old son, he was 17 when the song came out; his recent graduating daughter was 11; and his youngest daughter, just out of High School, she was 7. ("And then I begin to feel really old," he said). Don't we all?
He did a great job on Riding with the King (Listen) (he still sings wimped down non-racial version now) expanding it without padding. His voice was pretty good the whole set. But then he ruined the mood with a whiny, nasal, horrible version of Have a Little Faith in Me (Listen). But the last song was my favorite, Slow Turning (Listen), which he did proud, so I left pretty happy. Tough to read Andrew, though. He might have been unimpressed.
Hiatt took about an hour to get to the stage so the set was a little short. He didn't have time to talk trash about the President as he did last year. He did tell a story about an astronaut friend of his (whose name I have forgotten) who worked on the fix of the Hubble Space Telescope (whose main camera quit working last week--way to make the repair last, zoomie). Hiatt dedicated his Blue Telescope to the guy.
Between songs (no Memphis in the Meantime (Listen) or Thing Called Love (Listen) this year, just as well--I'm sick of the latter) he would talk about his wife and his children, one of whom just graduated from DU, my alma mater legis, more's the pity. He made a great point. He mentioned a song that was 11 years old. 11 years--that doesn't sound so bad. But then he compared it to his childre. His 28 year old son, he was 17 when the song came out; his recent graduating daughter was 11; and his youngest daughter, just out of High School, she was 7. ("And then I begin to feel really old," he said). Don't we all?
He did a great job on Riding with the King (Listen) (he still sings wimped down non-racial version now) expanding it without padding. His voice was pretty good the whole set. But then he ruined the mood with a whiny, nasal, horrible version of Have a Little Faith in Me (Listen). But the last song was my favorite, Slow Turning (Listen), which he did proud, so I left pretty happy. Tough to read Andrew, though. He might have been unimpressed.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 4:39 PM 
