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FLASHBACK BLUES
WINDOW SHOPPING THROUGH THE PAST
The Prine Shrine Archived pages
(you never know what you might find here)
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Washington
Seattle "Woodland
Park Zoo" Seattle, Washington
August 29, 2001 with Todd Snider
By: Barb & Art
Great to see John again. "Please don't feed the musicians." "I put on the suit and guitar, but my voice still isn't quite awake." (Although talking was sometimes rough, songs sounded great) "My new titanium hip will be around longer than me." The concert was somewhat rushed. No encores for John or Todd; the baby elephant no doubt needs her beauty sleep (surprisingly, no Sabu, or Space Monkey for that matter). Notwithstanding some local controversy about kids running around during the Woodland Park Zoo Tunes concerts, people of all ages were generally attentive, well behaved, and appreciative. Here's hoping John writes a bunch of tunes, puts out a new CD, and plays the Gorge next year.
By: Red_Knuckles
Having been a John Prine fan for years this was only the second time I have seen him live. The first being the Landmine Benefit Concert in Santa Rosa and this show. Despite the controversy with kids at the Zoo concerts (it's not really the kids it's the irresponsible adults) this was one of the best shows I have seen. The warmth he provides to his audience is incomparable. A poet with a sense of humor and can play the hell out of a guitar! It doesn't get much better than this.
Mount Baker Theatre, Bellingham, WA
August 27, 2001 with Todd Snider
By: Bill Baerg, Ta Ta Creek, BC . Canada
Great concert last night in Bellingham. It was "awesome" (from an old fart's vocabulary) to listen to John in Person. He really seemed to enjoy himself.
I also found the audience to be highly respectful and appreciative as they (we) howled their heads off only when John's last cord died off and then Blessed him with a double round after each song or longer if he wasn't about to say something. We all hung on every word, we didn't utter a sound
except for the odd whimper or deep soulful groan as he played a personal favorite. It all seemed so private and personal. The audience just couldn't contain themselves though for Sam Stone, Paradise, Hello In there, Fish and Whistle and All The Best. Each of these songs had a huge personal tug on a lot of hearts out there and the souls groaned out in perfect unison. These were the only sounds from the audience other than the long, loving applause and the odd REQUEST.
It's really too bad that the sound wasn't even close to being
"High Fidelity" It can be done in sport arenas and the Theater would have been a piece of cake. No fear though. It was well worth the 1260 mile round trip to see John again.
By: Don H.
I will just add a bit to MA's nice review below. Originally I had decided that I
would skip the show, because it fell on the night before the first day of school
(as a high school teacher). Low and behold, I won a pair of tickets calling in
on a whim Sat. AM so I ended up going anyway. All I can say is "WOW",
I can't believe I almost skipped this one. I had seen Prine once before opening
solo for Jerry Jeff Walker, back in the day, Bruised Oranges release or so.
Although I've always been a big fan, I hadn't seen him live since. We ended up
sitting center near the soundboard and there the sound was great. The mix of
tunes was solid and John's voice was a revelation. The only drawback was the
drunken former frat-boys sitting behind us, trying to impress each other with
who knew the most words to the songs. Sing- blurting them out about 50% correct,
sometimes with Prine, sometimes a beat or so ahead. Very annoying. Maybe I'm
just turning into an intolerant old fart. The accompaniment made the songs that
they were unfamiliar with, the most enjoyable for me, but the instrumental mix
and vocals sounded good to me when the drunks were being mellow. Really, there
were too many highlights to single any one out. Incredible show.
Todd Snider was funny and wonderful. I especially liked the
added verses to the Talking Grunge Blues song, giving credit first to Dylan,
then to Guthrie for the form of the song itself.
All around, it was well worth being a bit tired at work today.
By: Ted Jasinski
We got to the theater an hour before show time allowing for delays in border
crossing and Mexican dinner. The Mt. Baker theater was a beautiful venue typical
of the palaces that were built to house vaudeville and other forms of live
entertainment seventy years ago. It's in the final stages of restoration
provided lots to look at while waiting for the show to begin.
Todd Snider was an excellent opener, He comes from the same
vein of folk humour as John Prine and he even pounded out the chords to his
songs on John's Gibson. I hadn't heard of him prior to the show, but I'll pick
up one of his CD's and get a better sampling of what he has to offer. There
aren't many artists that I take an instant liking to but Todd snagged me on his
first song. He seemed a bit nervous at first, but the audience warmed up to him
in a hurry and he loosened up and treated us to thirty minutes of honest folk
music. Not many lesser known warm-up acts command an encore. Todd responded to
the standing ovation and gave us a fine taste dessert.
John and Co. came on at precisely 9 PM and we were launched
into the land of Spanish pipedreams. He played for over two hours both solo and
with accompaniment from Wilber and Jacques. He took us back and forth in time
through the past thirty years. It was AWESOME! I had to stop myself from singing
along several times as I wanted to hear John provide the lyrics. Although we
were only fifteen rows back, I found myself watching much of the concert through
my binoculars because I wanted to see the expression on John's face as he
delivered the tunes and reacted to the crowd.
He's been through a lot in the four years since he was in
these parts but it seems to add to his character. With the health problems he's
endured, I'm more than grateful that he stands up and cranks out great songs for
hours on end. The reaction from the fans in the audience showed that his legion
is not dwindling.
John's creative juices are still flowing strong (as evidenced
by the great new songs he provided) and hopefully a new CD is in the works.
I hope it's not another four years before he heads back this
way.
By: MA
John Prine's magical musical tour touched down at the old Mount Baker Theatre in
Bellingham last night. Unfortunately, to these ears at least the sound quality
did not match the beauty of the theatre. The theatre was built in 1927 and has
been both lovingly restored and maintained. Todd Snider opened the show with a
strong set of mostly humorous songs. It must be difficult to try and win over an
audience with a short set lasting some 30-35 minutes. Todd however succeeded to
charm the crowd with songs such as Happy to be here, Just in case, Can't
complain, Talking Seattle Grunge Blues and D.B. Cooper. The serious Missing You
an ode to his late father was thematically quite reminiscent of Steve Goodman's
My Old Man. Todd is a perfect opener for John as his song stylings and between
song banter are very similar to John's.
John came on and launched in to the standard raucous opener of
Spanish Pipedream. This was the first of numerous examples that you do not need
to be a 20something in order to kick musical ass. The vast majority of John's
set would be drawn from his early and arguably best work. Trips down memory lane
included visits to Paradise and the other twin lakes- ( Bottomless & Marie
). We once again experienced heartbreak as we realized that a question can't be
a question as we knew the answers too. Different forms of loneliness were
illustrated by the Old Woman from Montgomery, the old folks , and Donald and
Lydia ( two young lovers with nothing to do - S. Miller ). John recalled that he
had not been to Bellingham since he and Steve Goodman played " at the
school ", ( Western Washington State University ). He then did a heart
wrenching version of Souvenirs concluding with the regular dedication to Steve
Goodman. As an aside, is " boughten " really a word? Sam Stone was an
example of the message songs I wished John still wrote. Plenty of humour was
injected through classics such as Dear Abby, Fish and Whistle, Big Old Goofy
World and the more recent In Spite of Ourselves. In no particular order other
songs performed from the Prine catalogue included Grandpa, All the Best, You got
Gold, Sins of Memphisto, Please don't Bury Me, Great Rain, and Ain't Hurting
Nobody. Advancing years accompanied by related memory problems and lack of a pen
and paper( see memory problems) ensure that I will have missed listing some of
the songs played. Especially encouraging was the inclusion of a couple of new
songs Bear Creek and The Other Side of Town. I'm sure that most men in the
audience allowed themselves a laugh and were consequently glared at by their
companions during the playing of The Other Side of Town. I know I got that
" You better not laugh again because we are not amused " look from she
who bore my children.
Dare we hope that a disk of new material is on the horizon?
The accompaniment of Jacques and Wilber was impeccable.
They've set high standards in past performances and yet judging by recent
reviews they never fail to deliver. As a trio the three musicians form a well
oiled machine. The fact is that John's voice appears to have gotten raspier and
more strained. Long time fans however have always placed more emphasis on
Prine's words and music. In this regard John is not dissimilar from say Dylan,
Kristofferson or Neil Young to name just three other fairly well known
singer-songwriters.
The fact that such staples as Illegal Smile, Blue Umbrella,
Late John Garfield Blues, Living in the Future, Unwed Fathers, Jesus, The
Missing Years, and One Red Rose did not make the set list speaks to the depth of
quality material in John's work. It would be impossible to hear all of your
favorites in any given show. The smiles left on the faces of the fans exiting
the theatre may not have been illegal, but they most certainly were genuine. In
a show that lasted some two hours and fifteen minutes John Prine once again
illustrated the meaning of real talent. He is a performer who connects with his
audience on many levels and truly has it done it his way. I can't wait until he
comes back this way again.
Gratuitous Editorial Comment Section:
The Gestapo type Border Attendant must have been a John Prine
fan. After bombarding this poor innocent and as usual co-operative Canadian with
far too many irrelevant, pointless, nay stupid questions, he then barked what
Concert? When told John Prine, he did not say John Who? |
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