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SASKATCHEWAN
Centennial Auditorium, Saskatoon Saskatchewan
Canada
Sept 7th.02
By: pj
This was the 4th time I had been to one of John's concerts and I was not one bit disappointed. He was fantastic. I travelled from
Kananaskis, Alberta with my husband, my brother came from Edmonton and another brother and my sister were in Saskatoon so we all went. Just after we got our tickets for the Saskatoon concert we heard he was going to be in Calgary, by the time we got back home and decided to go to the concert in Calgary it was sold out. After his concert I had his songs in my head everyday for months. I want to see him again.
By: Prime Prine fan
It has bee a few years since John Prine has graced our city, and he apologized Sat to 2500 fans, by saying "I didn't mean to stay away so long".
Apology accepted John. Here in the 'musical backwater', we're just happy to see you come back!!
I've long been a John Prine fan, but have never had the opportunity to attend one of his shows! "Oh Boy", what I have missed!
John and his two backing musicians were in fine form, ( though it was obvious John was having a little trouble at times clearing his throat), but his singing was still dead-on, and full of emotion. He did all of the old wonderful songs that we have come to love him for. "Dear Abby" went over huge, as did "Angel From Montgomery", and just about every other song he did for that matter.
The show was a good 2 hours, and a real treat was that he did almost half of it with just him and his awesome sounding old Martin guitar! It was cool with the bass and electric guitar accompanying him, but to be honest, just John and his acoustic, suited me just fine.
As I've read in other concert reviews posted here, John had a grin on his face for most of the show, and it lit the place up. He looked like he was always on the verge of a little giggle, and I know the audience was! All it would take was a little humorous story or quip from John and the whole Auditorium would erupt in
uproarious laughter!! What the hell, 'he had us at hello'!! He ended the concert with "Lake Marie" ohhh we gotta' go. But came back for a very satisfying three song Encore.
It was good, It was all very good!
Following the concert, over a pint, we marveled, at how, after these many years of
traveling, and doing these wonderful songs as many times as he must have, Mr.
Prine still conveys the same emotion and conviction in his songs, as he did when we first heard them and instantly loved them. One member of our group, summed it up pretty well when he said, it still put a tear in his eye when he heard John do "Hello In There".
It's going to seem like a long time until we see you again Mr. Prine, so don't stay away too long John!!
We also thought Greg trooper was a great 'opening act'. He got the crowd loosened up with his warmth and his Joe Pesci impersonation!!
It was obvious, he was into having a good time, and as he said at the show, he had the "best gig in the world"....no doubt, he even got to play John Prine's Martin guitar when he joined John during the encore, for Paradise! But from our seats, at that particular point in the space time
continuum,...I think we had the best gig in the world. Adios
Ticket sales were strong for last year's Folk Fest due to the popular John Prine concert.
Venue: Ottawa Folk Festival
By: Lynn Saxberg The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, September 01, 2002
Folk fest at a crossroads
Faced with a $5,000 shortfall, organizers have considered moving the event downtown to save money, but would likely risk alienating fans in the process. Lynn Saxberg reports.
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