Thursday, April 20, 2006

Patty, Come Again and Stay A While

Sweet Tea and I went to The Orange Peel Wednesday night to see Patty Griffin play here in Asheville, North Carolina.

It was an amazing show to be sure.

The sold out crowd was there for the music, and hardly any drunken background noise could be heard during the show (not always so during the summer months when the Peel becomes the weekend bar of choice for the returned college student crowd).

The Opening act, Michael Fracasso, was very good - he played 5 songs - one on the piano; and he had a wonderful stage presence in between songs. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself, but then again, neither have you."

He never did.

The next 20 minutes waiting for Patty Griffin were long; somehow Sweet Tea and I ended up behind a blond giant and his clingy weaving girlfriend; this situation grew worse as the show started but seemed to even out in the middle: I no longer had to weave back and forth in the opposite direction to see.

Finally, Patty came out and pretty much cast a spell on us all. Opening with Moon River, she played a number of new songs, which she mentioned might end up on a new album, coming out next winter. Intermingled with older, more recognizable songs, she and her partner played for 90 minutes straight through.

The close of the show was a simple song about the moon following her home. Immediately after leaving stage, the crowd went understandably nuts, and she came out and did two encores: a rowdy bit and Let Him Fly.

Patty, come again and stay a while...

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Hear Patty Griffin's great NPR interview.

And check out this other Patty Griffin site.


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Btw, I saw all you digital fiends with your cameras and recorders!

How about email us at blogasheville@hotmail.com with a little Patty Griffin love...

1 comment:

Gordon Smith said...

Sounds like a great show. I know lots of folks who went.

We definitely need some Patty Griffin love.