Reviews

Augusta, Georgia

Lake Olmstead Stadium
August 17, 2006


[Reid Evans], [Tammy Nates]

Review by Reid Evans



Just got back from a really good show in Augusta, nice little ball park.

I showed up about 7:30, or an hour after the concert was to have begun
and saw Junior Brown's last three songs. I thought he sounded awful as I
was walking into the park, but I warmed up to him (a little) as his set
progressed. His entire band wore suits, which scores points with me.

Then I sat through all of Jimmie Vaughn's set. Ho Hum. The guy's got
chops no doubt, but I just have trouble sitting through that much blues.
I think the rest of the crowd was with me on that one...the telling
moment was when he tried to get the audience to sing the chorus of one
of his songs. Blank stares for the most part.

So he left the stage at about 8:45 and I was waiting for them to set up
the stage. I had gotten there as early as I did to scope out good seats
in the bleachers. I have decided to make a concerted effort not to put
myself in positions where some idiot can piss me off during a show, like
last April in Savannah when captain dickhead and his girlfriend
would....you know what never mind, lets just say, again, I am trying to
avoid situations where some moron can potentially ruin some portion of
the show for me. Getting in the crowd was not conducive to my plan. So I
had gotten pretty good seats in the 1st base bleacher, because I wanted
to face Bob...they were not bad seats at all. So I waited and waited for
that aluminum foiled keyboard to appear on the left of the stage and it
never did. 

Upon further examination, I realized that the stage setup has been
altered, really just reversed. Bob is now on the right hand side of the
stage (our right), a little closer to George with Donnie and Stu
flanking him.

So I switched seats and at about 9 pm Bob came out. I'm not gonna go
song for song here. Too tired. Instead here are some highlights and
observations.

1. His voice....it was on the higher end of the realm of variance that
is Dylan's voice. He was singing with much inflection/passion, often
breaking into a sort of choppy recital of lines with little stops in
between words. He seemed to be going all out, not really holding
anything back, and there was not a drop of upsinging until maybe the 
10th song. Even there it was fitting. 

2 The Band.....is starting to grow on me more and more, I used to think
that anything that was not Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton, was second
rate. I don't think that's true anymore. It's apples and oranges at this
point. I think this band is doing some things that those 1999-2002 bands
could not pull off. I was especially impressed with Denny Freeman, some
of his solo stuff, especially on Cold Irons Bound and Highway 61 was
phenomenal. I also think Bob has found his organ groove after working on
it for a few months.

3 The Venue.....a nice little ballpark. Nothing too fancy. The thing I
noticed first off was that the stage was set up alot closer to the
stands that those in previous ballpark tours. Last year they were deep
in the outfield, this year they were way out in center field, this year
they were set up just past third base. 

4.Random thoughts....did you know that we live in a place where it's
against the rules to smoke a cigar OUTSIDE, but it's perfectly okay to
sell someone a beer for six dollars. I think somewhere somebodies
missing it somewhere.

Now to sleep, then to Winston-Salem.

Reid

[TOP]

Review by Tammy Nates



The Oldstead Lake Baseball Stadium was in a beautiful setting, but the
weather was hot and humid until the sun went down and a cool breeze blew.
We arrived around 5:15 and entered the stadium before most ticket holders.
(We purchased presale tickets and were able to enter 30 minutes earlier)
We headed straight to the stage and found a spot in the "second row" (of
people) center stage. A friendly couple lent us a blanket to sit on.
Thanks!!!

Elana James started at 6:30 and played for about 30 minutes. She was
surprisingly good and I loved the electric fiddle!!  Junior Brown was up
next, and after a few minutes, I started to enjot his music. He played
this funny looking guitar that made a fabulous sound. He and his band were
actually rather comical. Jimmie Vaughn was disappointingly boring and I
spent most of the time looking around at the antics of the crowd rather
than listening to his music.

Bob came out at 9:00, and I immediately knew that this was going to be a
better gig than the concert I saw in Jackson, Mississippi.  Bob's vioce
was strong and clear for the most part. He looked great all dressed in
black with his cowboy hat on. The band was dressed in black as well, all
hats except the drummer. I had anticipated that Bob would set up to the
left, but they set up his keyboard in the center and he was turned to face
the left from our view. Since I was at center stage in the front, I had a
perfect view of him. Bob really seemed to enjoy himself. He laughed and
smiled often, danced around, and turned to look at the audience
frequently, which made the crowd go wild!! At the end of the concert, Bob
actually looked directly at me (well, in my direction anyway) and took a
bow and said thank you.

Bob sang several of my favorites, Stuck inside of Mobile With the Memphis
Blues Again, Cold Irons Bound, and Sugar Baby. However, one of his best
songs last night was Highway 61 Revisited. He absolutely rocked with this
song!!!  Another surprise was Summer Days. Bob was really on a roll at
this point of the concert and seemed to put his heart into this song. The
audience really responded with cheers and explosive applause. I was
disappointed in Mississippi by the encore songs, but last night Bob ended
the show with a bang. Like a Rolling Stone was sung with feeling and All
Along the Watch Tower was great too. I can not emphasize enough how much
the crowd seemed to enjoy the music and how much Bob seemed to enjoy the
crowd. 

Needless to say, I had an incredible time even though my husband left me
to sit in the stands. The crowd was friendly and I absolutely loved Bob's
music. Do not miss an opportunity to see Bob on his tour!!!  I'm ready to
go again.

Tammy

[TOP]

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