Al Stewart is my favorite singer/songwriter. His music has been one of the few constants, outside my family and some friends, in my life during the past 30 yrs. Hearing him is always a thrill and inspiring in a way.
An hour and a half before the concert I got excited, finally! I must be pretty shut down, normally I am bouncing off the walls for weeks before. This time people kept asking "are you really going to hear Al?"
When I had to endure years of painful physical therapy I learned to shut down the feelings to my body, but my mind was still full on. Now I guess I have begun to shut down my mind as well. Its been a very long few years and I am tired, sometimes it feels like my spirit is broken or lost.
I was very methodical and organized this time, I even brought 2 rare cds for him to sign, which I never do. I usually listen to all Al all the time before, esp if I have a long drive to get there. I drove the 410 miles listening to a book on CD called Empress Orchid!.
I needed an Al concert fix bad! and it was great!!!
The venue was a bit strange, uptight in some ways esp for a school of
folk music! The seats were fine, thanks Rob & SM! According to
Neville Judd (whom I unfortunately upset again) they did 4 songs for
practice/sound check and that was it. I heard 2 of the songs.
The concert opened with
Laurence. I found him amazingly perfect but
kind of soul less for the first couple songs, then he was fantastic.
At first he explained all this stuff for guitarists like tuning and
whatever ;-) but after a bit he toned that down. Maybe the glazed
over look of the audience... ;-)
He played
Mayby I'm amazed (from his "1 Rings Wepertoire")
One Wing cd Pass the buck -his own composition
Strawberry Fields Forever (using alternative tunings which told the
audience, also did a push for his LJ Custom Martin " in
Madagascar Rosewood with an Adirondack top.")
Mosaic animal
Pink Panther theme from the Grammy #2 winning record. His story about
his first grammy was funny. It was while he was with Wings and their
illustrious leader was sitting in a Japanese jail at the time.
Something showed up in a box, that needed to be screwed together, so
he screwed it together, and thought maybe this is what a grammy looks
like, so he called the management and asked if they won a grammy and
they told him yeah, we forgot to tell you.
Stolen glances. He referred to his marriage of 25(?) yrs several
times throughout the concert. Early he explained that 25 yrs in a
marriage in LA was really equivalent to 100 yrs elsewhere. Before this
song he was talking about a place they were staying that had a really
long bathtub. As the water was running in the tub he wondered to his
wife about it being so loud. She told him it was because he had only
seen short bathtubs, but what he heard was because he was a short
bastard. When he ask why she would say such a thing, she answered
because its true. Then he said something about the joys of marriage
;-)
While my guitar gently weeps. This was amazing.
Cobalt blue.
Then Al played alone
Flying sorcery (an aerodynamic metaphor for lost love)
On the Border
Al and Laurence together:
Al said they decided they were both professionals so they didn't to
warm up/practice, or at least Laurence was. Al was right, Laurence was right on!
Night train to Munich very fast.
Al explained about how they did
Between The Wars, Laurence's "sleuth productions"
and called him "one take Laurence. He said Laurence would play
something, put it down, Al would go home and write the words, come
back and put it down, thinking that they would record it for real
later, but Laurence went with what they put down then, or something to
that effect. So half the album was made before Al realized he was
making an album...
League of Notions-long explanation of
Churchill's hiccup (that's part of Jordan.) Lindy- Al says he never gets to sing this, but with Laurence there he could.
Time Passages- some very strange but wonderful instrumentals by Laurence.
This was really good, I would like it as a ring tone on my phone. So
far I have Peter playing Merlin's time, Al singing Katherine of
Oregon, here in Angola, Lear, Immelman turn and Christine McVie
singing everywhere.
Katherine of Oregon- Al talked of being 17 and playing wipe out, so
of course they had to play wipe out. Al also said "time goes by and
you're old and its not actually a bad thing"
for the refrain Al sang "Names in my memory are clear, then they're
gone again" instead of "Names in my memory are there, then they're
gone again"
Al talked said of all his albums he has liked 8 of them, disliked 8,
and he has liked all 3 that Laurence produced. He then said one was
very rare and hard to get. To which Neville yelled from the back "I
have it for sale" and Al replied "I bet you don't" Neville had the
following for sale: 30th anniversary t shirt, tour shirts, a best of
cd, down in the cellar and beach full of shells. I happened to have
Between the Wars with me which Al confirmed was the rare one. I don't
usually get my own stuff signed but since Al and Laurence were there I
did.
House of Clocks- he started out with his talking about the temptation
to play don't fear the reaper, so of course they played a bit of that.
Soho Needless to say- the usual stuff about it being rap. Al did say
it had more words than an entire Bee Gees album and that when he
couldn't get through it, it would be time to quit. He got through
it just fine.
Marion the Chatelaine- Al had to restart, he muttered something like,
oh yeah its "my sweet lord" chords.
Somewhere in England- Al said this was one of his favorites, the story
of Violet waving off the ship. He did have her wave off the train
first but then corrected himself ;)
The Encore
Al told the story about Yoko Ono, how he was her guitarist in 1967,
mainly because he owned a tape recorder, until of course she found
another guitarist. He demonstrated what he had played for 6 hrs, and
then did an imitation of Yoko singing "the snow is falling" which
completely cracked Laurence and the audience up. He also said he lent
Yoko 100 pounds to make a film which was basically 360 naked bottoms
which she wasn't able to pay back, and later he wrote John Lennon
regarding it and John sent him a check which he really agonized over
cashing but he needed the money...
Al said Laurence has played with 3 Beatles and Al with Yoko...
Gina on the Kings Road
YOTC
The set list also had possibilities of Mr. Lear, Broadway and apple
cider listed but not played. Flying sorcery is listed as flying sauce
;-)
I really like hearing Laurence with Al, it was a real treat. Their
excitement to be playing together just seemed to leap off the stage.
At one point Al discovered that there was a balcony in the place, he
seemed kind of startled. I hope he saw the woman in the balcony with
the leather mini, and over the knee tight boots not quite what I
imagine as Gina in the Kings road but the right period.
I couldn't get a cell signal in the hall, so no one got a song, sorry
:-( If I had gotten a signal, the volunteer ushers would have
probably confiscated my phone anyway, and 2 were nearby watching.
The venue was very strange, the workers there kind of stiff and rule
bound, but okay. When I grab the set list, the guy on cleaning up the
stage wasn't sure, finally he said if its okay with Al. I told him I
was going to ask Al to sign it.... which of course he did :-)
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