Apr 22, 2019 – Sportsman’s Tavern, Buffalo, New York

​​This venue is one of my favorite to play … has been for a couple years.
It’s a soulful bar/music venue, run by Dwayne, Ken, Dwayne‘s son Jason and Mark and others.. in the last couple years they built an overhang so folks can watch the show from the ledge above the stage… it has a very ample stage overlooking the main floor with the overhang a little above eye-level. All in all, it’s a very comfortable setting for an artist to perform.

​It was a totally reverent audience tonight.. most seem to know me from not just the hits but from my albums over a period of time. And the fact that John Platania and I have been playing since 1972 was pretty apparent shortly after we started this set… John was just amazing all night.. and we could interact so easily together because of the brilliant sound thanks to the soundman Jacob… The magic vibe on stage lit up the entire show.
We divided the show into two sections

Set 1
We started out with my theme song, “The Real Thing“ and quickly went into songs from my soon to be released album, “Whiskey Salesman” . You could hear a pin drop …it was just a total silent reverence… I love telling the story of Whiskey Salesman and the love songs for Joan, “Hold Her” and I Love You Today.” It was a wonderful feeling to feel it and see it.
 
We then played a very cool version of “A Sip or two of Good Scotch” with references to John Prine and his latest album “Tree of Forgiveness”.. and then a song I hadn’t played in a while the title song from “Yonkers New York“. It was only a 40 minute set but it was a very rich one!

Set 2
We came back to the stage and I talked about traveling with Joan to Naples Florida and the joy we have doing that together. That led to the first song, our new single, “I like Ridin’”
Then we turned into a glimpse of New York in the song “Some Hearts“ which seem to have some to the point of tears.. there was another big sing-along tonight with the final Whiskey Salesman track, “In the Stillness of the Night“… Just love doing all of this.

We shifted to the Meyer Lansky part of the show and started playing the hits. The hit that Al Gorgoni and I wrote for the Hollies and Linda Ronstadt, “I Can’t Let Go“… Which totally rocked.
We shifted back to the Brooke and Brittany Henderson story… And played “I’ll Carry For You“… the audience absolutely loved this and again somewhere close to tears.

We went back to the hits with a beautiful version of “ Angel of the Morning“ .. Very cool “Wild Thing” …then came a very reverent version of my song for the prisoners, “Fuck all the Perfect People“…. with the audience singing the title song like we were in a church choir… so beautiful!
We close the show with I think my favorite ever version of “I’ll Only be Me Once“ with the audience singing loud and clear along with us by song’s end.

What a night!
​
Said hello to several including:
Jason and Paul and Katy and Susan and Dennis and Bobby and Lynn… So great to talk to you Bobby… Wonderful to see Denise… Wishing all the best for your sister Joan.. Dave great to see you thanks for talking about the Steve Earle show I loved doing that.
Great to see Elmer and Steve again… Steve .. wish Nick could have come wish him all the best on his third album .. look forward to hearing it.. very good wishes to Ron and Liz… So good to see you guys there!
And great to see you Mark… Mark is the son of one of the greatest trotting drivers of all time, Buddy Gilmore … Who I remember very well from the late 50s and early 60s where he raced at Yonkers Raceway. Mark continues Buddy‘s legacy as a behind the scenes guy for the state authorities in the racing commission.. Great talking with you Mark.
Mike from Rochester… My cohort in rooting for the amazing Canadian golfer, Brooke Henderson and her sister Brittany who gave up her own playing to caddy for little sis. Just two days ago Brooke won the championship in Hawaii and is now tied for the most wins for any Canadian golfer.
Sorry to miss Ken… Dwayne, Jason it was great seeing you guys tell Ken I missed him
Huge thanks to all of this great place!
 

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