Words fell...

But apparently Lucinda Williams' roadies picked them all up and put them in Cliff notes for her to look at during her concert Sunday night at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton. I love her to death, but, in addition to being VERY distracting to the audience, the cheating detracted from her cadence, her inflections seemingly not quite in synch with the lyrics. And I know just the reason for it all - she was so damn happy, if not downright perky! No angst in her ballads; no fury in her f-bomb laden Those Three Days. What's up with that, Lu, we need to feel your pain!

But despite the above, Lucinda was still great to hear, playing nearly two hours ("We had some curfew issues the last couple concerts, but we've got none tonight."), backed by the sensational Doug Pettibone and her new rhythm section. Mixing the new West material (Learning How to Live, Unsuffer Me, Rescue, Come On, Wrap My Head Around That) in with the old (Righteously, Joy, Those Three Days, Out of Touch), Williams sometimes seemed at a loss to choose the next offering, once pleading, "What should I play, that's the trouble when you've got all these songs." The guy in back of us wouldn't stop with his "Crescent City" yells. Jesus, buddy, enough! She doesn't want you. One other note: while I applaud her ventures into rap/speak, I don't like the new Wrap My Head Around That, which Lu said was influenced by Howlin' Wolf and other old blues guys, at all. The lyrics seem pedestrian and her performance didn't sell it. But I still love you, Lucinda!

The trio Heartless Bastards opened the show with some decent blues-based material, but when it's Sunday night you just kind of want the main course right away. Speaking of main courses, we had an enjoyable pre-concert meal (I opted for the chicken/shrimp jambalaya) at the Northampton Brewery, topped off with a wonderful dessert of Tarheel Humble Overtime Pie.


The Hartford Courant's Eric Danton had a slightly different spin on the show - here. The set list courtesy of Danton's piece:
1. Rescue
2. Ventura
3. Fruits of My Labor
4. Learning How to Live
5. Right in Time
6. Those Three Days
7. Out of Touch
8. Righteously
9. Essence
10. Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings
11. Come On
12. Unsuffer Me
13. Sweet Side
14. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
15. Joy
Encore
16. Everything Has Changed
17. Still I Long for Your Kiss
18. Wrap My Head Around That