Concert: Columbia, Missouri
Venue: Missouri Theater
Date: Thursday, April 29, 1999
Seating: 1223---Sold about 900 tickets
Show Rating: 7.83 **
Concert Length: 1 Hour, 42 Minutes

In a building that is slowly being reconditioned to its original splendor, the acoustics provided by the old place proved to be true to the engineering of 70 years ago for a vaudeville audience.

The show began around 8:45 to the applause of the enthusiastic crowd.

The set list is provided elsewhere. It is fairly standard this year, but Columbians were treated to a few extras tonight. John does many shows, and uses much the same material each time, but the shows are never, ever, "the same."

John brought a few different numbers to this concert, including "Christmas In Prison." and "Sabu." He seemed to launch into "Christmas" almost accidentally, as he was trying to get his guitar into proper tuning, and since he had it rolling, he just continued the number. This was during John's solo set, and this is the part where flexibility in his song selection is most common.

The song worked well, and the crowd appreciated it. He did a nice turn on "A Good Time," a thoughtful piece that probably was overdue in becoming a regular part of his live tour.

Interestingly, John's new showpiece song, in terms of reaction with the audience, has become "Bear Creek Blues". This song now serves to open the second third of the show, after the band returns to help John end up "Sam Stone." The audience reaction to this old Carter number is loud and happy: John has turned another Carter number into a modern sound. It must be remembered that he has a fondness for Carter Family songs: "Diamond In The Rough," and "Lulu Walls" are both from them. Years ago, John used "Lulu" to open up his show, playing it hot and fast. "Bear Creek" could serve the same purpose. It is moving, fun, and has the catchy tune so similar to early country blues songs, such as "Rose Blossom Special".

During John's seven-song solo set, he included this night the novelty "Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian" which brings laughs from his listening audience. John lost his place a couple times in the song, which just makes it more fun for the crowd. After the first two stanzas, John spoke to the crowd..."my wife calls that high-school humor.....knew there was a reason it took me so long ."

John then attempted to get back into the song.....musing out loud....."Let's see.....he's in Hawaii........?!" In a few moments he remembered, and proceeded into the section he stopped at...."It's a Honolulu ukelele sunset....."

For the first time in a long time, John and the band performed "Paradise" with no guest singer joining them. The "Two Guys" openers, decent bluesmen, might have provided an interesting twist to the choruses of this fun closer. As it was, John ended a longer-than-usual show with this number to the standing cheers of a satisfied crowd.

The earlier encore number was "Hello In There." An interesting observation on this performance: David Jacques had an unusual, sweet, bowed bass solo that really left the crowd appreciating his subtle touches to John's various songs. He needs to be given this moment, in this song, in the future. It was effective and most beautiful. David seems this year to be even more into the moments of his performance. He is interesting to watch, and his ability is evident.

During one number, through an apparent fluke in the sound system to his bass, the bowing was coming out scratchy. Adapting to the situation, David ended up stroking the strings with his fingers and didn't miss a beat, never letting the audience know that he wasn't happy with the sound.

Jason Wilber's work on harmonica, guitars, vocals, and mandolin continues to be professional and often quite moving.

It was an evening of more anecdotes, or "stories" than usual. This is always a good feature of a John Prine show. Tonight's speaking was often difficult to hear, as John's voice was lighter than usual. His wry comments and amusing asides need to be clearly heard by the audience. One thing noticed tonight: the genesis of "Souvenirs" is now in doubt! Telling most audiences that he wrote the song on the way to a Chicago gig years ago while in his car, tonight's Missouri audience learned that it may have been written in Arkansas while on a fishing trip!

Lighting for this show was nice. John's white shirt beneath the dark jacket showed cuffs about an inch out and he looked very dressy. The angle of lights seems to affect him from stage to stage, and this one was very flattering. John looked better than I have seen him in a long time, his hair looked kempt (as opposed to unkempt!) and maybe even a bit darker.

It would have been nice to have had a light man familiar with John's show. The only way to get the spots moved to the musician he needs highlighted seems to be for John to move that direction, with a jerky light eventually finding him beside either David or Jason.

The sound was excellent in the center of the theater. Subdued volume on the instruments allowed more attention to voice alone. The recent strains on John's vocal chords was more evident than when his voice is covered by guitars: he was at times subdued, almost quiet. John's normal enthusiasm for his songs seemed missing tonight. Perhaps John was tired, or maybe he is taking care of his voice. He sang the songs, they were still beautiful, but somehow the spirit of them seemed to have taken a vacation of sorts. It is one of those hard-to-define things.

There were no broken strings on "Lake Marie" tonight. It went its normal length, drew audience applause, but no standing ovation until the crowd saw John bow and leave the stage, ending the concert. The ensuing encore had "Hello In There".

John's fans are loyal: the fellow next to me had been a fan "about 25 years" he told me. This was his first Prine concert, but the two women with him remembered John's last visit to Columbia....1994...front row seats....big smiles.....

This fan should have been happy: a full one third of the 22 songs tonight were from John's very first album.