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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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Alabama and Montana 2001
City Stages, Birmingham AL
May 19, 2001
By: Rod
I had to respond to Bill's review. I've seen JP at least a dozen times over the years, including three times since December. I agree that the sound at the REAR of the Blockbuster Stage at City Stages was terrible. This was a temporary location for this year only. I sat dead center four rows from the stage. This was my favorite JP show ever! The band was excellent. Jason
Willber is a very talented musician as is the bass player. John even welcomed his wife and two young sons onstage for his encore of "Paradise".
Anytime I plan to see a popular act at a music festival, I always plan to arrive early so I can find a good seat. As for the set list, I can't recall exactly. All I can say is that John and his boys put on an excellent show. I hope the stage location for next year is better suited for larger crowds. I can't imagine not enjoying a JP show. He obviously loves what he does!
By: Bill Dodson
This was my eighth show since 1978 and I have to say most disappointing. The stage was relocated from previous years resulting in overcrowding and sound bleedover from other stages. At first I demanded a refund because I could not even hear the stage, much less see it. Being refused I had to wait for some of the crowd to leave before I could get within hearing range of the stage, but I still
couldn't see the stage. John sounded ok solo but I didn't like the band. And what set this show apart negatively for me was no talking between songs. I would go to more Prine shows, but not at City Stages.
By: Rodgers
John Prine put on one of the finer shows that I have seen since his recovery from cancer. I saw him at Chastain in Atlanta earlier this year and this concert was almost as good. I wish that he had brought along Iris Dement or someone to sing "Angel from Montgomery" with him, but he did a fine job by himself. As with any show that John
Prine performs, the true fans will always enjoy his music. His music speaks volumes for those of us who appreciate the smaller things in life. The only song that I wish he had played was "Mexican Home." Prine's set list was on the money for the crowd involved. The thing I love most about Prine is that when he comes on stage he stays and plays until he is finished. There are no set breaks. I enjoyed the show thoroughly. Thanks John for your music. Hope to see you again soon.
Alberta Bair Theatre, Billings MT
May 12, 2001
By: Charlotte Hinckley
We got to see John and his small band and Todd Snyder Saturday night in Billings, MT. Took my daughter and two of her friends as graduation presents. There were thirteen of us and we had front row, right square in the middle, tickets. I'd been introduced to Todd earlier this year. He is sure a sweety. John has obviously had some health problems but he worked his butt off and we are the richer for it. He played one song right after the other, no stops. Mentioned that he'd had a hip replaced and that he needed to sit down for awhile. Other than that he pushed himself to the limit. This was the first concert I have seen John do without a cigarette. Has he quit or was it the venue's rules? I loved being on the front row. It even felt like he was responding directly to us a time or two. Thank you, John, I love you.
IN SPITE OF HIMSELF, PRINE STILL PLEASES
Alberta Bair Theatre Billings, MT
By: By CHRIS JORGENSEN
Of The Billings Gazette Staff
Chris Jorgensen can be reached at 657-1311 or at cjorgensen@billingsgazette.com
http://www.billingsgazette.com/archive.php?section=local&display=/rednews/2001/05/13/build/local/prine.inc
These days, John Prine is in the enviable position of being able to sing just for fun.
His status as a legend is irrevocably established. He has won a Grammy Award. He has written two dozen songs anyone who ever had a poetic thought wish they had written. And, he's beaten cancer.
Everything after that is gravy.
The 54-year-old Prine, a little gray around the edges and standing a little crooked after a hip replacement, plowed through a long set of those classic songs Saturday during a stop in Billings at the Alberta Bair Theater.
It was his last stop in Montana after concerts this week in Missoula and Helena and he was met by a nearly sold-out crowd who knew every song.
Prine was joined on stage by two sidemen - one playing an upright base, the other an electric guitar and occasional harmonica and mandolin. Mostly the band laid low, adding a
bluesy line here, a bouncing twang there, and letting Prine find his groove.
He introduced "Souvenirs" as "an old song from my new record. I wrote it 31 years ago." The song is also the title of his latest CD, a collection of 15 of his most famous songs, re-interpreted after three decades of up-and-down fame, bad health and bad marriages.
It was clear early on that Prine's voice isn't what it used to be, and it wasn't exactly the velvet fog to begin with. It's a little more raspy now, and the range a little more pinched, but he made it work. And, besides, it was never about his voice. He's written some of the greatest lines ever set to music and many in the crowd sang along, word for word, laughing mostly but also grinning and elbowing each other in amazement.
He finished "Souvenirs" by saying, "That one's for Steve Goodman." Goodman, who wrote "The Train They Call The City Of New Orleans," and Prine were longtime pals and songwriting partners, before Goodman died of cancer in the 1980s.
Prine jumped quickly from song to song, most of them needing no introduction. There was a little of his trademark humorous banter. A few years ago, he said he went to Arkansas to act in a movie with Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton and he were playing brothers, and Andy Griffith was their father. Prine said he finally pinned down Griffith to sing him a song "that Mayberry had something to do with." Griffith, he said, never did talk to him again and the movie was never released.
The song, "Fish and Whistle," is now a classic and has one of Prine's great lines, "You forgive us/ and we'll forgive you/ We'll both forgive each other/ Till we both turn blue."
Another song Prine said he wrote for the movie, this one colored by his signature bawdiness, was recorded two years ago as a duet with Iris Dement. Prine sang the song, "In Spite Of Ourselves," covering both parts. "It has a boy part and a girl part. I'll let you know when the girl part is so you don't get the wrong idea," he said.
After nailing a quiet, bluesy "Angel From Montgomery," Prine sat on a stool for a solo set, joking about his hip replacement and needing the "hip-resting stool."
"The new hip is made of titanium. The doctor said it'll last 28 years. That's good to know that it will be out there somewhere long after I'm gone," he said.
His voice a little buzzy and tired, he still was able to dish up vibrant takes on "Donald And Lydia" and "Dear Abby."
At one point he asked the crowd, "Is there anything you want to hear?," which was followed by more than a minute of shouted titles. "All right," Prine finally said, "I've got my list."
The only song he did have to introduce was "The Other Side Of Town," about a man who escapes his wife's rants by escaping into his head.
Prine's solo set ended with "Sam Stone," with the band returning.
From there, it's a rocking set with Prine slinging electric guitar on house-shakers like "Ain't Hurtin' Nobody" and the rarely heard "Bear Creek."
Then more of Prine's classic songs, the crowd in his pocket the whole night.
"I know some of you drove a long way to be here and I appreciate it," Prine said. Not as much as Billings appreciated him being here.
Todd Snider was in the unenviable position of opening for Prine, but did a dandy job and surely won himself some new fans. Who ever heard of a standing ovation for a acoustic folk musician most people there had never heard of?
Snider killed the crowd with his Woody Guthrie style talkin' blues "My Generation"
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