We are staying here on our one day off and then playing a show tomorrow night at the hotel ....have never played here before… So, the concern is whether it will be a comfortable place to hang out for a few days. Our minds are eased right away when we arrive.. we like the place very much .. it is sort of like an old country club (with a golf course across the street). Very large rooms and a very very cool, refurbished dining room.. later on we would find out how good the food was.. just amazing! So all in all, we hit the jackpot here!
An old friend of mine, Dave, arrived at the front desk to greet us. Dave used to book our shows at the Bein Inn for many years .. about 10 years ago he sold his interest in that place and was hired here to do the music. At check in, we meet a very nice person Lauren who checked us in and gives us a bit of the layout of the land of the hotel with its winding corners. Lauren, on a personal note - thanks so much for helping arrange that little doctors visit the next day. And one of the surprises at check-in was to meet an old fan, Derrick, with his great daughter, Lisle... it was great to see them again and talk and kid with them a little bit before checking in .. we would see them several times before leaving and it was always a good thing. . We have been driving all day in pretty bad weather so this is a welcome home away from home… We relax in our rooms and our day off we have a delicious dinner downstairs. The show at the Greene Hotel We arrive at the little theater in the back of the hotel for sound check around 6 PM. A very nice guy named Travis seems to have the sound totally together so the check is very short one and then we return to the restaurant for another great meal and we hit the stage at 9 o’clock sharp. The show starts at 9 o’clock… So the booker, Dave and the band decided one long show would be in order... I was shooting for about an hour and 45 minutes and missed it by about 25 minutes I think we played for over two hours The show John and Goran have been amazing this whole tour… they seem to be floating in the clouds in the most beautiful places… throughout the near silent parts of the show… And there are many of those..and the audiences have been very appreciative of the magic they’ve created… And lots more would be created tonight. We could tell right from the start when we played “The Real Thing“ that there were huge fans in this audience .. We glided through the songs of the new album starting with “Whiskey Salesman”... folks seem to connect with this song and it’s little “lessons“ every night .. then a simple one, “I Like Riding“, always brings some very big cheers and did again tonight... as did “I Love You Today“ from the same album.. this has been a sort of “showstopper” on every show … Lots of lengthy applause after the song .. Gøran and John’s accompaniment on this one is so mesmerizing. The Black and Blue America segment of the show has been loved by all the audiences… And seemed to be again tonight. This album was an important record for me back in 2001 .. but it has just been released on Spotify and you can tell there’s some in the audience have been paying attention to that. “Theme for an American Hero “ sounded so soulful and touching on stage and received a huge audience response.. and “What a Smile You Had “ sounded so warm and loving ... both sent chills up my spine .. again, just magic stuff from Goran and John. The up-tempo ones were really shining tonight.. aside from the “Real Thing“ we did a very loose, but I think great ,version of Track 224 with John’s and Goran’s solos bringing cheers from the start. And when we finally got to “Dance With a Hole in Your Shoe” .. sort of off the charts with brilliant solos... The audience interrupted again. A surprising highlight was one of the 60s hits, “Anyway that You Want Me“.. for some reason we’ve been catching a very good groove on this and although it was a 60s hit, it seems to fit in kind of a nice emotional thing with the rest of the songs we’ve been doing.. it got a sensational response tonight. I guess the biggest highlights for me were “He’s a Good Guy as Well you Know “ from the Little Prayers Trilogy and a couple of other trilogy songs, “There’s Nothing Coming out of Me that I Like” and “Trying to Let the Angels Know”... but it would be very hard to pick favorites tonight, there were so many. At some point we did a tribute to Joan called “St. Joan“, with the audience totally singing along. This is become one of the most powerful .. sort of fun... songs in our set for the last several shows. After special versions of “Angel of the Morning” and “Wild Thing” ... which again had the entire audience singing along .. then we played our biggest current hit these days… our tribute to the prisoners, “Fuck All the Perfect People “.. it seems like people are singing along with almost every word of this song as it gets more popular.. so this was a special connection tonight… We ended with a song from Last Chance “I Wasn’t Born in Tennessee “ which had the audience clapping along and singing along. We encored with the song that seems to touch everybody, “Refugee Children” Again, this was another warm/ touching show with an amazingly warm audience... and amazingly sensitive performances by John and Goran. Said hi to many before wandering into the bar for a quick drink Hi to: Great to see my old friends, Violet and as soon as we got off the stage it was great seeing you guys I wondered if you had a long trip home back hone.. I didn’t quite get why you missed your Parnell’s visit last year… No excuses this year! See you soon! Hi Ian and Dougie.. thanks for the kind words hi Sandy good to see you and Robbie good to see you as well with your kind wife .. send your song to info at train wreck… I’ll try to give it a listen So great to see Lindsey and Ben.. thanks so much for those kind thoughts…comments like that make this touring thing worthwhile… The words were so appreciated... and Wayne… Very nice to talk to you… Thanks very much for your kind words about the music as well You too Mike!!! I couldn’t believe you asked for some of those Norwegian songs, like “Block out the Sirens of this Lonely World”.. “ This Darkest Day” .. they are among my favorites of all time.. So good to see my friends John and Barkley again… Barkley and I spent more time talking about horses than Music… Good luck with your new purchase Barkley I sure hope you can jump! Say hi to so many others I can’t think of their names but what a wonderful audience… Much appreciated by the entire band and Joan and Tony and me!! Hope to see you all soon.
1 Comment
Violet
11/11/2019 01:42:07 pm
Hi Chip, it was lovely to see you again, great to meet Joan too. The show was amazing, we so enjoyed it. We live 15 minutes away from the hotel, so a nice short drive home. We will definitely catch up with you in Parnells, hopefully next year. Love to you and your "Saint Joan" Violet & Stewart x💕
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