Row M, Seat 1 – left section, on the left-center aisle
There was a torrential period of rain early Friday morning
in Rockville, and another short burst a few hours later. Fortunately, the effects
of ex-Hurricane Debby had pretty much vanished by mid-afternoon, so the weather
was fine for both the drive to Virginia (which was faster than usual) and the
show itself. The lower level of the Filene Center seemed to be mostly full, but
there was plenty of open space on the lawn.
Lyle and friends were in fine form as usual, with the
strongest crowd reaction for classics such as “Church”, “Here I Am”, “She’s No
Lady”, and “I Will Rise Up”. A new addition to the repertoire this year was “It’s
A Naked Party”, which was written with his two kids. (It was followed, appropriately
enough, by “Pants Is Overrated”). He also rolled out a few songs that I don’t
remember hearing live before – “Black And Blue”, “Give Back My Heart” (both
from Pontiac), and “If I Were The Man You Wanted”. He mentioned that
this was his 30th (!) show at Wolf Trap, and threw in a number of stories along
the way, including one about he and Robert Earl Keen co-wrote “This Old Porch”
(one of my favorites).
Since they now seem to have an opening act for all of their
shows, I do wish that they would start at 7:30 rather than 8:00, as the 11:00 Wolf
Trap curfew always makes things rushed at the end. They didn’t do an actual
encore, but finished up with the mandatory “If
I Had A Boat”, getting in just under the wire.
The 7-piece Preservation Hall Jazz Band started the evening
off with a scorching 45-minute set that energized the crowd. Highlights included
“St. Louis Blues”, “Keep Your Head Up” (the only track of theirs that’s currently
in my iTunes library), and the closing medley of “When The Saints Go Marching
In” and “You Are My Sunshine”.
No comments:
Post a Comment