Even though I'd seen a 90 minute set by Elvis and Allen Toussaint at Bonnaroo, I have to see him when he comes through Columbus. For years he didn't come through here. 13 years, to be exact. ('89-'02) I should know. I lived through them all. Now he's here every summer with some other music legend, mining songs of the past as well his own back catalog. Last summer it was Emmylou Harris and the Graham Parsons songbook. This time around it's Allen Toussaint and Soul and R&B from the Big Easy.
But I'm straying from my original point...I'll get to the music in a minute. I couldn't justify paying whatever it was, I think $30, for a lawn seat, when I'd just seen him two weeks before. "But this is the whole show; not the Bonnaroo Digest Condensed Version," said the voice in my head. "He's coming through your backyard, practically. What's wrong with you?" So I did what every cheap bastard does. I tried to win tickets.
First time I was caller number #2. "Try again." Damnit! Next time I'm in the car driving to work with my carpool buddy and the morning deejay says it's going to be a trivia contest. No sweat, I think. I've got this. Nobody beats me at music trivia. Especially nobody beats me Elvis Costello music trivia. So like a good little boy, I actually wait until the deejay asks the question instead of just dialing and getting the ring until he picks up. He finally gets done blathering and asks, "What do Elvis Costello and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith have in common?' Simple. I punch the send button and wait while the phone rings and rings. Someone who dialed in before the question sniped me, goddamn it. Oh...by the way, Elvis and Tyler both banged Bebe Buell. Read her
tell-all book if you're extremely bored.
Later in the day my lovely wife IMs me and says that once again she was caller #2 for the last pair of tickets they were going to give away. I got out of work early and my wife got home a couple hours afterwards. She suggested an early start on the Thurman Cafe for dinner. ( the place is always packed ) So we pile the family into the car and head down to German Village. We're there early enough and get seated. I'm enjoying my huge-ass, artery-clogging sandwich, when son number #1 answers the "Dad's enjoying his dinner too much" alarm in his brain and insists on going to the restroom
again.
After spending a fortnight in the restroom waiting for my son to finish washing his hands and playing with the automatic hand dryer, I returned to our booth. My wife slides a ticket across the table to me. "I so got your back, man." I about flipped my lid. Someone came into the bar while we were in the john with three tickets to give away.
So she dropped me off at the "LC Pavilion" and I took a cab home after the show. I promise I'll talk a little bit about the show, but first let me do the annoying rant about staying sober at a show when people are getting steadily and purposefully drunk all around you. It's not like I've never gotten wasted at a concert before, but by and large concerts are like sacred events for me. I bring paper and a pen, keep a set list ( or try to -- It's really unnecessary in this internet age...I can always count on some obsessive in the crowd to be taking the set list down and having it posted somewhere on the 'net by the next morning. Oh...and
here it is.) I make notes of things to remember, and try to block out distractions and study what is happening on stage.
There weren’t a lot of drunks on the lawn; really a tame crowd in comparison to other shows I've been to at the Pavilion. It's just remarkable to see the same people trotting across the grass with, I can't even call them glasses,
tubs of beer...and then going back for rounds two, three, and four. I just think...damn, if you just want to drink beer and chat with your friends, save yourself the $30 and stay at home. Crank up
This Year's Model and open your living room windows. 50% of the folks on the lawn are all about "Watching the Detectives", "Alison", and "Pump It Up" and pretty much yammered through all the new stuff. I was happy Elvis dispensed with "PIU" relatively early, and then did "Alison" early in his first encore. I think it thinned the crowd out a bit. He motioned for folks to come up closer to the stage during his encore. And people did, to the best of their ability. The lawn was
barricaded from the reserve seats this time around. Still, I felt like for the last 20 minutes, Elvis had the crowd, maybe the nearer third of the crowd, completely in the palm of his hand, as he performed mostly songs that weren't his. It was a New Orleans love fest with an incredibly tight, smokin' band. I wrote last week about Big Sam Williams, the trombonist. He stole the show again.
Musical highlights: Great horn arrangement on "Chelsea". Elvis jammed, as best he can, on guitar during "Dust". "Detectives" featured a trumpet and trombone solo as well as reverbed vocals whenever Elvis sang "heart" at the end of the chorus. Steve Nieve finally got his chance to shine on a fantastic arrangement of "Clubland" during the encore. Elvis capped the show with a sing-along to "Sharpest Thorn". 15 minutes shy of three hours. Worth every penny.