Fogey Central

Saw Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Joe Ely and Guy Clark in concert last night. I went basically to see Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt, having never heard of the other two guys. I frankly still don't know who they are and wasn't that taken by their music (liked it but did not love it) but they could all play some fantastic guitar.

So, Lyle Lovett is kinda petite. He's got little skinny legs. (And great big hair, still, though not as exaggeratedly so as in the later 80's/early 90's when I became a fan.) And it was funny how they had different styles of playing. John Hiatt has kind of a muscular style, Joe a bit of a rockstar thing going on, Guy a kind of relaxed old-guy manner, and Lyle? Kinda delicate. They are all of a certain age, and good heavens, so was the audience. I was definitely on the younger end of the demographic, and frankly that just doesn't happen as often as it used to.

They sat in a row, Lyle on the left (my left, is that stage left?), then John, then Joe, then Guy. They started with Guy and worked their way on down the line, each one playing and singing a song, with purportedly no playlist and no particular agenda (and no clue, according to Guy). Generally they did their songs solo or with one other person assisting: Joe would accompany Guy, John would accompany Joe or Lyle, but Lyle and Guy didn't really join anyone. I was a little disappointed in that, I had kinda hoped for more of a "jam" feel, but it was still a lot of fun. They would start over at Guy each time and went through the lineup several times, then did one song all together, then left the stage to a standing ovation and came back immediately for an encore. The time-honored concert tradition, just like how one moron has to yell "Freebird!" and some other morons have to find this hilarious and original and applause-worthy.

So, despite the repeated ridicule by a certain probably Neil Diamond fan blogfriend, we had a fantastic time and I remain a devoted Lyle Lovett fan. And now I would definitely go see John Hiatt in concert too.