He’s 76, but he still sings as well as anyone. Great show, great band. I tried to reconstruct the set here as a playlist. He did “In the Afternoon,” “Help Me,” “Raincheck,” “Burning Ground” and “Ancient Highway” as a medley, not one right after the other, but blended together as a long — what’s the right word? — let’s say a long reverie. There may have been snippets of a couple other things in there as well . . . something about Big Joe Turner and sittin’ pretty. He did more of a standard version of “Help Me” as an encore, then “Gloria” as a second encore. Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Concerts
Elvis Costello at the House of Blues
First time I’ve seen a concert at House of Blues in Anaheim. It’s a general admission standing room venue that holds I’d say around 1,500 people plus a seated balcony that you can get into for a premium price. Pros and cons you can probably guess: You’ll have to stand for about 3 hours but once the show starts, you don’t really think about it. If the 64-year-old performer can stand for the whole show, so can I. On the plus side, you can get quite close to the stage. Maybe not right in front unless you’re first in line to get in, but the sides of the stage you can get to easily. Also, you get to see an A-list performer in a small room. I don’t go to concerts in large venues anymore — Staples Center, Honda Center, the Forum, Rose Bowl, etc. I wouldn’t enjoy that. I… Read more →
Randy Newman at the Hollywood Bowl
Great show . . . he’s 74 years old and doesn’t walk so well from the wings to the piano but he can still play, sing, tell stories, and he has a song catalog that few can equal. I put the set list into Spotify and included it here. Read more →
Janis Joplin – Ball & Chain
I can’t imagine anyone ever left a Janis Joplin concert thinking, “I didn’t get my money’s worth. She didn’t put anything into it.” That looks like Cass Elliot mouthing “oh my god” at the end . . . Read more →
People I Thought Were Dead
Johnny Mathis – singer I got an email this afternoon notifying me that priority tickets are now available for a Johnny Mathis concert Nov. 8 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. If you’d asked me this morning if Johnny Mathis is still alive, I would have said “I don’t think so.” Read more →
Let it Bleed
At my piano lesson tonight, I noticed what looked like a streak of blood on one of the keys. The next thing I noticed was that the tip of my right index finger was bleeding — apparently a paper cut from a sheet of music, although I didn’t feel anything at the time. I didn’t want to ruin the piano so I stopped playing and tried to get everything cleaned up. I asked my teacher, “If you’re playing a concert and you start bleeding, what should you do? Just keep going?” “Yes.” “What if in addition to being a pianist, you’re also a hemophiliac and you might die? Would that alter your advice?” “Are you a hemophiliac?” “Fortunately, no.” Read more →
Neil Young Acoustic Show at the Dolby Theater
We were lucky enough to see Neil Young’s solo acoustic performance at the Dolby Theatre in LA last night. I say “lucky” even though we paid for the tickets because they did sell out rather quickly. Here’s the set list, to the best of my recollection. I may have some of the harmonica instrumentation wrong. He had the harmonica rack on for the whole show; some songs he played it and some he didn’t. First Set From Hank to Hendrix – guitar, harmonica. A good opener for this kind of a show: From Hank to Hendrix / I walked these streets with you / Here I am with this old guitar / Doin’ what I do. / I always expected / That you should see me through / I never believed in much / But I believed in you. On the Way Home – guitar, harmonica Only Love Can Break… Read more →
Neil Young in LA
Neil Young is playing a couple of solo acoustic shows next month at the Dolby Theatre. Tickets went on sale Monday morning, but somehow I missed the fact that they’d been available via “pre-sale” since last Friday and were all gone by Monday morning. What a heartbreaker. Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of technology and social networks, Mr. Young and his team were able to inform me via Facebook that a third show had been added and I was able to log in and get tickets for that one. The sold-out shows are on a Saturday and Sunday. The new show is on a Tuesday. Am I looking forward to driving in to LA and back on a Tuesday? No, but on a list of solo acoustic shows for which I’d be most willing to knock over my own mother to get a ticket, Neil Young would be second, behind… Read more →