From: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org (good-noise-digest) To: good-noise-digest@smoe.org Subject: good-noise-digest V2 #18 Reply-To: good-noise@smoe.org Sender: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk good-noise-digest Monday, February 8 1999 Volume 02 : Number 018 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Concert Review - Somerville Theatre 02/06/1999 ["Ethan & Summerset Banks"] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1999 22:03:58 -0500 From: "Ethan & Summerset Banks" Subject: Concert Review - Somerville Theatre 02/06/1999 This was the first time we had seen John in concert. I must say that I can not reconcile his speaking voice with his singing voice. For those of you who have never heard him do anything other than sing, his speaking voice is rather thin and a little high. The rich baritone voice that he sings with is about the last thing you would expect to accompany his speaking voice. John is humorous in person. I did not expect to spend as much time laughing as I did. I really think that when the show started he was ill at ease, and he went into some more or less random dialog to kind of introduce himself to the newcomers, etc. and to try to calm himself down. I took notes, so here's how the show went: The opening "act" was Trina Hafland (I may be spelling her name wrong). Trina is a gutsy singer whose voice is so powerful that it would take the paint off of an automobile at 100 yards. A simply amazing set of lungs. She played a 7 song set showcasing those powerful lungs, her guitar, harmonica, and tambourine. I had never heard of Trina before - if you follow her and want more info on her set, e-mail me. John came out afterwards, said a couple of lines of intro, and went right into - 1) Like My Watch. The way he performed this took me by surprise. His face was very animated, and his eyes twinkled as he accentuated certain syllables and hung on different phrases a little longer than in the recorded version. A real pleasure to see him do this one in that animated way, because it immediately wins you over (if you weren't a convert already). That song said to me that John is who he is, this is what he is like, and if we all understand that we're going to get along great. The show couldn't have opened better. After "Like My Watch," he went into a bit of comic relief about people who were newcomers and what they were in for, and oh my what if they had been dragged against their will, etc. He said that the next song would help the newcomers put the rest of the show into context. So then he played (to the happy applause of the newcomers) - 2) I'm From New Jersey. Again, very animated. He got several laughs during this one. From here on out I'll leave my commentary behind, because the balance of the show followed suit with the first two numbers - John interacted a great deal with the audience, took spoken and written requests, and talked in a very personal, real way in between many of the numbers. Unless noted otherwise, the numbers were just John and his guitar, i.e. no band, (which was great!). On 5 numbers, John played keyboard instead, and I note that. 3) I Saw A Stranger 4) Cypress Trees 5) Thorny Patch (request) 6) Let Them In, Peter - ? (keyboard/piano) 7) A fingerstyle instrumental jokingly called "Democrats Are From Mars, Republicans Are From Uranus" 8) When He Cries I n t e r m i s s i o n 9) Good Noise 10) Gypsy Life (request) 11) Temporary Road (request) 12) Part of Your Own 13) Lightning's Blues (included humorous lead-in anecdote about Smokey "the" Bear, etc.) 14) Where the Bottles Break 15) Blue Chalk (request) 16) Down in the Milltown (keyboard/piano) 17) Houses in the Field (keyboard/piano) 18) Branching Out (request) 19) Flying Red Horse (request) 20) St. Caffeine 21) Heroes 22) The Sentinel (request) 23) After Yesterday E n c o r e 24) Wee Small Hours of the Morning (keyboard/piano) by Bob Hillyard & David Mann 25) The Water is Wide (keyboard/piano) John recently recorded his version of this traditional song for a Pete Seeger album. That ended 3 hours of music by Trina & John. A great night overall! I'd go to see him again in a heartbeat. Ethan & Summerset Banks in Manchester, NH ICQ: Ethan-15759236 Summerset-22493767 ------------------------------ End of good-noise-digest V2 #18 *******************************