Besides the fact that the Orpheum Theatre was hotter than Hell last night, John didn’t play any Waits’ covers from his ‘Wicked Grin’ album, told a lot of boring stories about blind blues guys, and that I had to sit next to a popcorn eating ‘Woo-Woo’ guy, the show was okay, for about the first half. Don’t get me wrong, I love roots, acoustic blues, but after about eight songs, it gets pretty boring. It’s like gospel music, beautiful and inspiring . . . for a little while.
And on a side note, the Orpheum needs to get a better beer selection, seriously.
At least it wasn’t Chris Thomas King.
“Blues is from the Jungle” = crap.
Or Jolie Holland bitching about her cold-
I did like the show, and do enjoy solo performers, I just wish there would have been more variety in his set. You would think a guy who has played with the Stones, Dylan, and Tom Waits would have had at least half the show more diverse.
Are we allowed to bitch if the tickets were free?
I thought it was great. His storytelling was a bit droll at times, but enjoyable for the most part. All the hair on my arms and neck stood up when he just jumped into his first song.
I was also seated in close proximity to an obnoxious asshole. Every time Hammond mentioned a name this guy remotely recognized, he had to whoohoo or whistle really frickin loud. I don’t mind the whistles or the woohoos so much, because I do it too if I’m really excited and the performance merits it. What I didn’t like was that he talked through every fuckin’ song that Hammond played. I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying, but he flapped his gums every time the music started up again. This assclown obviously has no idea how obnoxious and rude he was being. I made eye contact at least twice with him throughout the night, giving him my best “SHUT THE FUCK UP!†look. Didn’t work. The only break was when he got up to piss and get another beer, and I got to enjoy one entire Howlin’ Wolf tune without his voice in my right ear.
By the time we left, it was all I could think about. I believe I said I wanted to stab him in the face. So we left before I made a scene, and one Surly IPA at Monk’s cured what ailed me.
Well I paid for my ticket, so I will bitch. I think for the most part, I just don’t like seeing music like that in a ‘church like’ setting. And who f’ing eats popcorn at a concert? I like clubs better. Because if someone is annoying me at a club, I can just move.
What did you people seriously expect? Did you do any research on the guy at all before you went to the show? He’s a blues purist…one of the last ones around. Did you really expect him to do some Dylan or Stones tunes? Tom Waits, well, maybe, since he did an album of Waits tunes. But it was no big deal to me.
This guy has played with the best of the best in the rock world, but more importantly, with the best of the best in the blues world. It seems to me the problem wasn’t with Hammond or the show. Some of the audience members just didn’t get it.
Oh, I like John, and have seen him before, I just expected him to do other ‘covers’ since he is essentially is a ‘cover’ artist. He did play in Wait’s band in the 70’s and the Waits album he did was produced by Waits. I expected at least ONE song, since he was playing covers all night anyway. I think he played like two originals.
Well if you read the interview in the SF paper, he says he doesn’t use a set list…he just goes with the flow. As a performer, I guess I would be worried that maybe I’d be leaving out a song or two that people would want to hear. And maybe that’s where he does fail as a performer.
But I found it entertaining anyway. We’re not going to have a lot of musicians around in the near future who can say they ‘knew’ Howlin’ Wolf, ‘knew’ Lighting Hopkins, etc.
So you have never seen the Blues Bashers? They do all that stuff.