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Post by bexface on Feb 5, 2004 20:39:59 GMT -5
The stage was set up simply with lighting that never varied through the show. Standard rack spotlighting with orange, green, and violet filters. Hanging down from the rack were strings of white lights. Between the strings hung five lit Chinese lanterns. Keyboards and drum set just in front of the lanterns. An array of other instruments (guitars, reeds, horns, little doodads) were scattered along the rest of the stage. Can’t get more basic than this.
Rickie and the band came out at 8:30 and put out a set that lasted about two hours. There was a bassist who, for the most part, plucked at an upright bass but on a couple of occasions, either used a bow or picked up a conventional bass. The drummer never left his seat. The keyboardist was one of the more versatile musicians. Besides his bread and butter, he also played some type of horn (wish I knew what it was) for a couple of tunes and took up an accordion near the end while simultaneously having a small string guitar. In front of the keyboards was the trumpeter who had the majority of the horns (and some small percussion items) and the dude with all the reeds (alto sax, tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet, flute). To the far left was Sal Bernardi, on the strat and harmonica.
Rickie was so casual about coming onto the stage (nothing like Tori theatrics), velvet brown hat with a wide brim on. She wore well-fitted jeans with a simple sleeveless blouse and a lacy dark red open sweater that covered her arms. I must say I was also impressed with how (…. ummmmm …) shapely she looked. Not bad for a gal pushing 50. For the first song, she sauntered up to the mike and shyly sang vocals, hands in her pockets, not looking directly at the audience. By the next song and for most of the concert remainder, she was more forthright and played guitar along with her wonderful vocals, leaving the hat aside.
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Post by bexface on Feb 5, 2004 20:40:49 GMT -5
Her voice is one of the wonders of the modern world. Really. How can one create such sounds with a mouth and a throat? She has not lost one bit of the strength, vibrancy, range, and breadth of sound mutations she had back in 1978 when she released her first album. In addition to the mike on the stand, front and center, she also wore a remote amplifier so that she could subdue her contribution by stepping back from the mike while still singing. More like background vocals and just as effective.
It became pretty evident by the middle of the set that the old favorites were few and far between. Some in the audience started shouting out: “Play the old stuff!” But they didn’t. Out of the eighteen tunes in the set, only seven of them came from her older albums. Where was “Chuck E.s in Love” or “Coolsville”? Not tonight. I have to admire her for sticking to her guns. Hey, that was old stuff so let’s stop living in the past. All the rest of the songs (except one cover) were from her latest release “Evening of My Best Day.”
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Post by bexface on Feb 5, 2004 20:41:59 GMT -5
My favorite moments: Her stage hand came up with an alternative guitar while she was shaking a rattle. He deftly took it from her while placing the guitar strap over her shoulder and kept it shaking in time to the rhythm. A few of us up in front gave a mini-round of applause. Bravo!
She introduced “Tell Somebody” with a political commentary. (I am paraphrasing all throughout here.) “Perhaps the most dangerous thing that has happened in this country was the creation of the Patriot Act. It allows the government to hold you in custody without access to an attorney. Most don’t realize the danger, thinking with a name like ‘Patriot,’ it must be for our own good. But it’s not. The menace is being manipulated by the dominating media (ex: Rupert Murdock, Clear Channel ….) What it ultimately is is a suppression of free speech and secession of our rights. I ask you to do whatever you can to stop it.” After this, a heckler in the back yelled out not to mix music and politics. He made himself known a few more times by yelling out “George Bush.”<br>
After “Youngblood,” she opined that a small glass of vodka would be great for the second part of the program. Not too much later, someone in the audience held forth something from the bar and left in on the stage apron. The stage hand took it to the amp between sets. She took a sip from the glass near the end of the show, saying “Cheers!”
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Post by bexface on Feb 5, 2004 20:42:37 GMT -5
The best dialogues were right before “Little Mysteries.” She spoke of how a few years ago she moved to California with “much vigor and enthusiasm.” But she absolutely hated it. She would take her daughter to school and was repulsed by the big billboards with sexy women and zippers. All that to sell a pair of jeans. So she moved to Washington. It wasn’t much different, although it didn’t have the billboards. So she moved back to California to be with the cars, the dolphins, the billboards, the sand. Now she is happy just to be somewhere, just to be alive.
“I won’t take long to tell this story. (we laugh and think, ‘no, please take your time!’) When I was young, I decided to run away to Canada… without a bra.” She was with a hippie who had $140, something the border officials questioned. “Back then, that was a big deal for a hippie to have $140.” She had no bra and they cited her for “lude and lewdicious behavior. So I got put in jail.” All the while she tells this story you can see her getting comfortable again, putting her hands in her pockets. “Do you know where I was?” Someone yells out “Windsor.” She smiles and says, “Detroit. It was July the 4th and I remember just looking out a small square window way up here” (she motions with her fingers, defining the window perfectly) “looking into downtown. They gave me powdered donuts to eat. Well, I’m so glad that’s behind us now.”<br>
Evident it was, in “Ugly Man”, that the set was ending. You can tell just by the way she saunters back off the stage, even before the band has started to wind down, but not too far so that we couldn’t see her. We gave her a standing ovation; she deserved every bit of it. Then she climbed onto the keyboard platform and delved back into the oldies from “Pirates” for a couple, with the entire ensemble working its magic. Ended the show on a cover where the bassist and trumpeter accompanied. I do not know its title. Only the words “special friend” stick out.
Great show. Period.
Bexface rating: 9.15 out of 10.0
Flying Cowboys
It Takes You There
Little Yellow Town
Bitchenostrophy
Mink Coat at the Bus Stop
Weasle and the White Boys Cool
Sailor Song
Tell Somebody
Ghostyhead *
Youngblood
Second Chance
Little Mysteries
A Tree on Allenford
Lap Dog
Ugly Man
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So Long Lonely Avenue *
Living It Up *
Ballad w/ Paul & Neil
* - not listed on setlist
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Post by ♥Mary♥ on Feb 6, 2004 11:55:53 GMT -5
KAAAAAAAAAAARL!!There's this funny pattern that happens around our household.... weeks go by, Sean says: 'what's new with Karl? has he been to any good concerts lately?'. Mary says: 'I dunno! he hasn't been around much on the forum'. Then WHAMMO Mary checks the OA forum and discovers 'what's new with Karl.' LOL, it happens over and over... So nice to see you back here, keeping up your end of the pattern.  Right, so the show sounded absolutely wonderful! I know what you mean about her voice....it's truly unique. And the ballad she finished with, that you didn't know the name of, could it possibly have been "On Saturday Afternoons in 1963" ? It's got the 'special friend' lyrics throughout... a pretty song, really, and a piano ballad. But it's HER song... it's on her same album as Coolsville and Chuck E's in Love, etc.... My PARENTS have it, lol! And Tori has covered the song live!  Great review, as always. 
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Post by bexface on Feb 8, 2004 14:05:23 GMT -5
Hi Mary! I should always consult with you before posting my reviews! Yes, you got it right. I just bought Rickie's first album (and her latest) a week before the show but never took the time to listen to it. So I just took it out and played it and, sure enough, "Saturday Afternoons..." is exactly the song she finished the show with. Good detective work on your part. I think this is the only cover that Tori does of Rickie's. (Tori did it at Wallingford back in '02.) So was it cosmic that I was there or what??  (sorry I've been gone so long. I am concentrating on keeping my New Year's resolutions. I think I made too many this year...  and I still have to post my album review of "lost in space".... ) |
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Post by ♥Mary♥ on Feb 8, 2004 18:07:58 GMT -5
Hi Mary! I should always consult with you before posting my reviews! Yes, you got it right. I just bought Rickie's first album (and her latest) a week before the show but never took the time to listen to it. So I just took it out and played it and, sure enough, "Saturday Afternoons..." is exactly the song she finished the show with. Good detective work on your part. I think this is the only cover that Tori does of Rickie's. (Tori did it at Wallingford back in '02.) So was it cosmic that I was there or what?? (sorry I've been gone so long. I am concentrating on keeping my New Year's resolutions. I think I made too many this year... and I still have to post my album review of "lost in space".... ) Ahh! Hooray for pegging the song.... didn't take too much detective work, though... I grew up with that song! And YES, come back when time/life permits and give us (me and Matt, specifically) your scoop on Ms Mann's Lost In Space!. PS- did you ever receive 'Yosemite' mail from me in January?! |
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and I still have to post my album review of "lost in space"....