The Gorge
George, Washington, Sept. 9, 2000
|
<prev<
>next>
Show Reviews |
Music In Head T O U R |
Updated: . Bookmark: http://HyperRust.org/Tour2000/?R69 |
|---|
Jump down to...
The Set List.
Kevin's early report.
Caryn Rose's "kind of a review".
Modemless Fred's trip report (part 2)
(more reviews coming)
Also See:
The show details.
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer pre-show article.
A Seattle Times review.
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer review.
If anyone is confused on the definition of immortal and God, it was defined by Neil last night.
I will leave the set list, etc. for others, but the show rocked. I paid over a hundred dollars to stand and dance the entire evening. And will do the same for one of the future shows.
Absolutely fantastic Words. The best of the show. Winterlong, besides being one of my favs, was incredible. Cowgirl In The Sand, once again fantastic.
And the rest of the band, what can one say? Ben Keith and the lap steel guitar. It was heaven!
Three encores, and Neil left us after incredible music with "our Minds Mellowed". As if he wrapped us up with his music and sent us on our way.
Off to find tickets to another show.
kevin
this is kind of a review... ...but not really.
i had no money to see this tour - conflicting touring year, dontcha know, springsteen and the who AND pearl jam, when it came time to plonk out $95 i just didn't have it. but then a friend gifted me, and all i had to do was drive. :-) i would have been so, so, so upset to have missed this.
motorcycle mama just set this great tone for the show, planted this HUGE smile on my face. i completely lost myself during cowgirl (after having a brief conversation with my friend & benefactor about how they've been doing it but not every night -- and all of a sudden there it was!!) i don't think i breathed during tonight's the night, and watchtower was hot. just plain hot. winterlong, too, was just this unexpected moment for me.
TTN -- neil was so INTO this. now i have not been reading any reviews for spoiler reasons (initially it was because i was irked i couldn't afford to go and didn't want to know), so i don't know if he acts like that every night. it was like he wished the piano was a guitar because he wanted to pick it up and just ROCK OUT. swaying back and forth, it was just so physical. so intense.
i love the dynamics of this band. watching motorcycle mama and observing how much that is going on up there that is totally nonverbal, but the conversation was so intense. if that makes any sense. i love how they play so close to each other - they could have the run of the stage but the dynamic, the energy wouldn't be the same.
i thought the sound was magnificent. looking forward to hearing the tapes. there was a kid just to the right of the soundboard who videotaped the whole show with one of those mini-digital cameras, only to be busted by gorge security after the first encore. damn.
audience: if you thought this audience was bad, be glad you weren't there for the who three weeks ago. this was a calm, civilized, pleasant bunch o' folks compared to the roaring drunkfest that was the who audience. (although, what was up with those folks with the glowing paddles in the front row, doing the interpretative dance all night? and the pal i carpooled out with, she was in row 7 and the guy next to her SLEPT through the whole thing.)
weather more or less cooperated. high wind during pretenders which dropped as neil's set started, and then picked up towards the encores. the drive home through the pass was not one of my most pleasant experiences, visibility was pretty nil.
finally, i'll just say it: NOT ENOUGH ELECTRIC! just not enough for me. but i realize that this is me, and it is a totally subjective statement, and i won't pretend that it's not. =) still, it was a truly special evening. maybe it wouldn't be so special if i had known every tiny little detail in advance. i dunno, not pretending to offer any kind of expert opinion here.
and i couldn't see "the belt" from where i was! =)
--caryn
(thinking really hard about bridge now)
I hit the road again right after the Boise show. I ended up in a caravan-type drive with The Pretenders' two buses for about 60 miles. Finally I pulled into a motel at Pendleton, Oregon at 6:00 a.m. The desk-clerk said "Checkout time is 11:00 a.m." I said "What was that?" .... "Checkout time is 11:00 a.m" ... "Well then give me a wake-up call at 10:30."
Soon after arriving at the Wildhorse Campground just down from The Gorge, I was forced to catch a wonderfull 3-hour nap, then I was ok.
It was so wonderfull to meet up with the Rusties at the campground, some who I'd known from Bridge/IRF, and some new faces. A highlite here was a cell-phone chat with my buddy Crazy Moon. All of the Rusties at the campground were First-Class associates, without a doubt.
After I got to the show, I said to the folks next to me "Why didn't Tegan & Sara play tonight?" He said "They did." It's amazing that I'd missed them after those Rustie posts from previous shows to be carefull to get there early to see them. To give you an indication of how disoriented I had become, somewhere along the roadtrip, I had let my watch read 2 hours ahead of the correct time due to the time-change from Pacific to Standard Time near the Idaho-Oregon border. ;>)
The Pretenders, again, were very good. But I had enjoyed them more in the indoor Boise venue. Their sound was more full. I'm not sure whether it was because I was further back from the stage in Boise, or what. But in either case, Music In Head sounded great at both shows!
The highlite for me at The Gorge was Watchtower. Has to be my very favourite all-time version of the song. Previous to that night, my fave version was Dylan's. It seemed that Neil gave the vocals a more Dylan-type feel at the Gorge.
Neil was a gem of a person at the Gorge. One couldn't count the number of times that he thanked the audience for coming out to the show. And he seemed to really mean it -- similar to the Sunday Bridge Bridge 13 show.
At one point, Neil asked a roadie to bring out his fleece vest, then remarked "It's a fashion thing". Duck Dunn replied (off-mic) "Which year?" Wonderful, wonderful down-to-earth humour from two down-to-earth people.
Speaking about fashion, both Astrid's and Pegi's attire added a very nice visual appeal to the show. Our little section at the Gorge were cheering and applauding lots for Astrid and Pegi all night. Then they both waved and they were looking right at us when they waved, so we looked back at them and clapped even louder. Yeah, they were definitely looking right at us when they waved.
Neil would use Ben's Telecaster for mostly Tonight's The Night tunes. Then on the song Tonight's The Night, Ben did some beautifull guitar and steel guitar work. On one song, he plays this kind of flapping instrument that sits on the floor beside him. It looks like an old cardboard filing case and he kind of pumps it from side-to-side. What a talented, versatile musician he is!
In true Country & Western style, at one point (I think it was here at the Gorge), Neil called out "Steel Guitar..." and looked over to Ben, who proceeded to play a wonderfull solo. One can see that Neil has definitely been to Nashville.
After the show, I caught another motel at (I think it's called) Moses Lake, about 40 miles east of The Gorge. At Spokane, I had a nice Irish-version of Shepherd's Pie for lunch, serving as compensation for not catching Dylan in the U.K. I'll say that Music In Head was compensation enough though, because when you're as good as Neil and Dylan, it's probably impossible to pick a "better" or "best" because it just doesan't get any better!
Fred
(more reviews coming soon... --RE*AC*TOR)