Carrington Pavilion
August 28th, 2004
Danville, VA
Review By: Cole
Forewarning: This review will be a bit more lengthy than my usual ones. Quite the special show for me, and I'd like to capture as many details as possible.
I arrived in Chattanooga around 10:45 am on Friday, the 27th, to meet Tammie. We were going to leave my car at her friends home and take her truck to Danville. We figured it was a perfect
meeting place, and was only 6 1/2 hours from Danville. We met up, overloaded her truck with tons of pink (you can tell I was traveling with her!), and headed on the road.
When we started out on the venture, I informed her I had rushed out of my place with everything- except the directions to Danville! We decided we could use the atlas- but...
I decided that it might be best if I called Anita at work and had her look up directions on Mapquest. I could envision us getting lost in the middle of nowhere, and did not
want to see it happen! Luckily for us, Anita looked up our directions and I wrote them down and we were on our way!
Luckily for me, Tammie's as crazy as I am when it comes to certain parts in certain songs- we passed our road trip time listening to Patty of course (it's silly to even think of listening to anyone else!),
but we both are pretty intricate about listening to her- and rewinding certain lines to hear over, certain words, or certain parts in a song that she holds a note so perfectly. It passed our time easily, and before we knew it,
we were in Virginia.
Once we got off the main interstate, we were on a route that I assumed we wouldn't be on very long, it seemed like it led into town. How very wrong I was! We saw a sign that pointed Danville was straight ahead- only 99 miles straight ahead!
This street I thought "led into town"- led to an area that flashbacked "Cumming,GA" to me (a.k.a "Cow Country"). We had no cell phone service for 99 miles, and it was one of those roads you just gotta hope you don't need gas or a restroom, because if you do-
your just outta luck until someone decides to be a good Samaritan! Anyhow, we continued on our journey and entered "Vesta". I noticed the smallest building I've ever seen in my entire life and saw a post office sign in front of it. I assumed there was no way that could be a post office-
but I was wrong. One thing I decided on this trip is that Virginia should be called the land of many post offices- I swear we saw AT LEAST 15 in our 99 miles.
But then we came across my personal favorite building....as you'll see in the photo, we found "The Best Little Hair House in Vesta". Dolly Parton movie flashbacks, anyone? We also went through a town called "Meadows of Dan". It was in that instant that
I confirmed I am definitely a city girl, and would not survive in the country. As I told Garry in Augusta- I really feel every city should at least have a mall!;)
This long stretch of a road eventually led to our hotel, thankfully. We were able to check in (eventually. There was a long crabby line we had to wait in), and went up to our room. Now, let me tell you about our really great "ghetto room", as we dubbed it.
The bathroom door had wallpaper on it, which we thought was odd. When they made the bathtub, they must have made a mistake and thought it was going to Chucke Cheese- as you stepped on it, you could bounce up and down on it. Too bad I left my 6 year old niece at home, I could have
kept her occupied with the bathtub the whole trip! When you turned the shower on, our really cool bathtub didn't shut OFF- so unless you had record time of washing your hair, you had to turn the water off and let it drain out before you could finish washing the shampoo out of your hair. And, I must not forget about the toilet that never stopped running!
But, we awoke in our ghetto room on Saturday ecstatic and ready for the show. We got ready early and decided to go find the venue before we picked up some lunch. I was adamant about getting lunch after noon so I could order my first alcoholic beverage!
The venue itself seemed pretty neat- it was a small stage, and there didn't seem to be a bad seat in the house. The reserved seating was under a pavilion, and behind that was a huge lawn for the general admission seats. We left there, and headed to Ruby Tuesday's to get something to eat (and drink!).
After killing some time around town by heading to the florist so I could get Patty a bouquet of flowers, my head started to bother me. This alcohol deal is new to me, and my little tiny drink at Ruby Tuesday had too much vodka in it. Well too much for me anyways, and definitely too much
for someone who drank it on virtually an empty stomach because she was too nervous to eat! So we headed to a little tiny bbq place so I could get something small to eat, and ran into Marcia, Deanie, and Garry who were eating lunch as well! We were pleased and after we snacked, we decided it was probably time to head to the venue.
Our tickets said that the gates opened at 6 p.m, but wouldn't you know it never said what time the actual show started!? We got there early and just hung out prior to the gates opening. A long line started to form around 5:30, so we went to the line around 5:45, and were finally able to enter the gates and head to our seats.
And those seats we were delighted with! We had left stage (Deanie/Marcia side), front row, and couldnt have been more thrilled with how close they were. Their side seating really wasn't to the side- it was more center. You could have had the last seat on the side and still would have seen Patty PERFECTLY.
After an opening act called "The Taters" (I think- I just remember it was something to do with a Potato!), the band came out to start setting up. Tammie and I were growing excited, and laughing about random things (prompting Deanie to ask me if I was drunk), anxiously waiting for the show to just start! Right before she came on, my head was starting to bother me
again (I had one more drink at the show), and I was dying for her to come onstage so I could just focus on that and forget that my head hurt. To my delight, the lights dimmed about 8:15 or so, and Deanie began her intro to "Tear Stained Letter".
I have to mention that Deanie had on a Cowboy hat at this show- and when she was starting "Letter", and Garry came up playing banjo with it- Deanie just LOOKED the part! It was great. Patty came onstage, and the audience roared. I was pleased with their enthusiasm as she hit the stage- and I saw quite a few more "real" fans at this show than I have all year long!
From the very start, you could tell that Patty was in a fantastic mood. She was all over the place, FULL of energy.
I've said it once before in previous reviews, but Marcia is simply one of the most talented musicians I think Patty's ever hired. Her intro to "Nothin' But the Wheel" was just superb, as usual. We kept hoping for another song that would let Marcia show off a little bit more (so that's our request for next tour- anything with more keyboards so we can hear Marcia!).
Patty sounded absolutely flawless, and that is no exaggeration. She never missed a note (ok so only once, and not many folks caught it, and we thought it sounded cute anyhow!), and just seemed to nail every single song. "You Can Feel Bad" was a definite crowd favorite, and Deanie really had the crowd going clapping their hands!
"Trouble with the Truth" is a song I've heard quite a few times, and as much as I love it, I've never been overly ecstatic about it. But on this night, I've never heard her hold that last note the way she did. She sounded magnificent. I could say more and more about each song- but I'll start running out of adjectives to describe her!
Her introduction to Guthrie this time was a little bit shorter, she condensed her "I'm Patty Loveless, will you come play with me" story, and let Guthrie get right to his intro on "Halfway Down", which was fantastic. I take back any negative comment I made about Guthrie at the beginning of the tour- he has proven me completely wrong. He's got so much talent-
and he is totally different from Jedd, but reminds me of him at the same time- he's very serious about his playing. Anyhow, as usual, he nailed his "Halway Down" intro.
Before she started into "Draggin My Heart Around", she started talking about it being a special night, and began to speak of how much it means to her to have fans tell her how much her music has meant to them, been a friend to them, and touched their lives. I grew excited, thinking she was going to start talking about a particular song that fans write about, and thinking we were
getting a small set list change! But, she then started to say how she had a young lady there tonight, and it was a special night for her. At that moment, I had a feeling I knew where this was going, and I started to get nervous. Tammie kept nudging me, going "Girl!!!". Patty continued on, saying how a special young lady was there celebrating her 21st birthday, and turned to me and proclaimed she wanted me to stand up.
Now, when I say she proclaims for me to stand up, I do not mean she says, "Nicole, get up". Nooo, not our Patty- Patty smiled at me and said she wanted "NICOLE SPALLER" to stand up and pointed so everyone knew I was right there. I about died right then and there....and was speechless (and if you know me, THAT doesn't happen very often!). Far be it from me to disobey Patty Loveless, so I stood up as she requested. She then
started to talk again, telling the audience how I've been going to see her since I was three years old, and have now "really grown up", and that she wanted all of their participation to sing Happy Birthday. She repeated again my name, (which, I thought was cute as hell, she proceeded to say "Or Cole, her friends call her Cole, Or Nikki, or whatever!"). And then, Patty, the band, and audience proceeded to sing "Happy Birthday" to me.
Now to say I remember every single detail would be a lie. Because I don't. I was determined not to cry, and I cannot tell you what a challenge it was, on top of trying to really convince myself this was happening. Patty came right over to our side of the stage so that she would be right in my face as she sang, and all I could do was just watch every move she made.
Tammie was able to capture a pic of her starting "Happy Birthday"
As I took my seat, trying to collect my thoughts, and not to cry, it just hit me what all really had happened. I can't tell you what it means to have someone whose been your idol for 18 of your 21 years talk about you and do something like that on your birthday- I don't even think I really could come up with the words to describe it- and if I tried, it wouldn't be nearly enough.
She then kicked into her "OYWH" set, doing "Draggin", and then started that killer humming intro to "Nothin Like the Lonely". Now that perked us up, and before Patty could even begin the hum, we screamed at the top of our lungs. (Well, after Tammie left some bruises on my legs, hitting me from excitement;) ) This was one of the best humming intro's I've ever heard her do, and I am not exaggerating. She was absolutely
AMAZING on it! Tammie and I stared in awe as she just kept going. The last time I had seen her, she had cut the humming back a bit because she was sick. Now I think it's safe to say that she has licked bronchitis completely, because she sounded freaking awesome.
The Mountain Soul set was the same set shes been doing, which was "Grandpa", "Boys are Back", "Cheap Whiskey", "Daniel Prayed" and "Pretty Little Miss". During this set, as they sang "Cheap Whiskey", Patty sang, "the smell of cheap whiskey...and the smell of goodbye..." as Marcia and Garry sang the correct words of "sound of goodbye". Patty instantly realized it, and she and Marcia put their heads together, laughing so hard. It was quite comical for
those who knew the words. Those who didn't stared at us like we were morons. (Like thats the first time we've ever gotten THAT stare!)
Like I said before, I could go on, but I'm running out of adjectives. She continued the show with "On Your Way Home", which is just to wonderful for words. We gave her our usual standing ovation after this song. I've yet to hear her do this song and NOT nail it. The last verse gets me everytime! She continued on to "Lovin All Night", and then of course, the fan favorite "Blame it On Your Heart". We had made a sign for the "Oh Yeah" part- which Patty and Deanie both loved.
I think the audience had a FANTASTIC participation level on this one.
Never one to disappoint, she came back out and did "If My Heart Had Windows", and then to everyone's delight, proclaimed "Let's go On Down the Line". The audience went nuts over it! I was QUITE surprised they were that enthusiastic over that one, it was by far the most popular song of the night. Afterwards, it was sadly the end of the show, they took their bows, and left the stage.
I was told Patty wanted to speak with me after the show, so I anxiously (and nervously) sat with Tammie, as well as two other board members- Steve C and his wife Sunny, who we were able to meet at the show. It was fantastic to sit there and chit chat with them, and be able to talk about how awesome Patty was. Before too long, the meet and greet was over, and our group of four was taken backstage.
When we arrived backstage, Patty had a few folks still in there from the radio station, and sang a little bit of a song with one of the DJ's after she signed his guitar. We thought THAT was pretty cool- but don't ask me what song. If it's not a Patty song, chances are pretty good I don't know what the heck it is.
Sunny and Steve were kind enough to let us go last, and Tammie went up to get her photo with Patty. She'd only been able to meet her once before , and her photo didn't turn out, so I was thrilled she was getting a photo with her. (And I took it, so I knew it would be decent;) ). Before too long, it was my turn. I wasn't quite sure what on God's green earth I was going to say to her at this point, so I just walked up with a smile and hugged her to thank her.
Since it was my birthday, I did want a photo with her, but I chose not to get an autograph. As I got ready to leave, she handed me a quite large envelope. I asked her what it was and she just smiled, saying it was something for me. My heart was racing (I may be an extremely outgoing person who doesn't know how to shut up, but this is PATTY we're talking about. I was at a loss for words!), and I fumbled with the envelope and pulled out a large birthday card. As I opened it, I
saw signatures all over the card. It was from Patty, the crew, and the band. I read her inscription and just hugged her (partly so I wouldn't burst into tears). She said she hadn't had the chance to read what everyone wrote, so we stood there for a few minutes, looking over the card together, and Patty announced that she hoped everyone wrote something nice, she told them to.
We felt we had taken up enough of her time, so we said our thank you's, and bid Patty and David farewell, and walked out to the car with Sunny and Steve. I hated for the night to end.
So normally at the end of my reviews, I thank Patty, David, the crew and the band....but with this particular review, I don't even quite know how to begin to thank them. They gave me the most amazing birthday gift, and made it truly the best birthday ever. When I arrived home, my sister quizzed me about how many drinks I had, and was disappointed I didn't go out to get drunk. Turning 21 for me was a big deal- but not so that I could run out and
drink. I'm old enough to get into ANY Patty concert now!:)
Overall, this concert was over 1,000 mile roundtrip for us- and it's worth every minute of it. If you don't travel to see Patty, and you can...I'd encourage it!
