The Birchmere
Alexandria, VA
October 13, 2005
Review By: Cole
I flew out of Nashville earlier on in the week, as Richard, Patti and I had planned on doing an overnight at the venue to ensure we would be first in line. Richard and I arrived at the venue, put our two chairs out- and taped our sign to the wall of the venue. Every time someone went inside...they'd see "FIRST FOR PATTY LOVELESS" in bright yellow. You'd see people asking eachother if she was playing their tonight, or make comments like, "YOU'RE A LITTLE EARLY!". But, what mattered was we were first!
Yes, Yes, we know...we are certifiably insane. Richard told everyone we would be returning to the mental institution on Saturday- after we saw the shows at the Rams Head Friday night! The Honda made for a nice humble home! But, in any event- we had a great time. She was worth it! The best part of "camping over" was when Richard and I headed out to the street around 9:15...and they had
just changed the sign out there to read: "Tonight PATTY LOVELESS".
The morning of the show Richard, Patti and I were ready and roaring to go! We were anticipating about 20 folks or so to arrive at the show, so the morning was a waiting game, just waiting on everyone to arrive. When I did a tally of the folks coming in, we had people coming in from 11 different states. There were a few people who were not able to make it, but that didn't change that status at all- we ended up having over 20 people, from 11 different states, some flying in, some driving in. Not too shabby, we thought! It's always been pretty cool for me to see so many folks that show up to shows wanting to meet other people from something that started out as such a small endeavor to honor Patty. Our largest "get togethers" seem to be the Birchmere Trip & the Renfro Valley, KY trips.
As folks started trickling in, Richard and Patti headed back to our hotel to take showers, and I held our spot. Around 3:30, the bus pulled up, and it stopped before it could pull in, because they had to move a few things out of the way. We saw Patty in the front of the bus waving to us, so we were thrilled. But, a few seconds later, the door the bus opened, and Patty and Deanie popped off, and Patty waved to everyone, shouting "See y'all in a little while!" and then both girls got back on the bus.
By the time that 6:00 rolled around, we were all taken inside by our line numbers and seated- with our large group in the first few tables, directly in front of Patty. Richard and Patti had their daughter there, who had brought two friends of hers. They had never seen Patty before, and were surrounded by some of Patty's biggest fans- we were excited to hear their thoughts on the shows. Patty was slated to come onstage around 7:30, so it gave us about an hour and a half to chit chat, eat, and get everyone inside & seated, and gave me the chance to go around and get some snapshots of some of our faithful hanging out prior to the show. It was the one thing I noticed we didn't have from last year- just random photos of all of us. Tammie and I made sure we had plenty to go around for this year!
When the band came out at 7:30, they started into "Keep Your Distance"...and everyone's eyes immediately went to the side door of the stage, waiting for Patty to walk out. The moment she did, everyone started cheering. She looked fantastic - and was wearing a totally different outfit! She sounded top notch- and was completely energetic! The show was being taped by
"The Road" which Patty mentioned at the beginning of the show...telling us that the louder we were...the better it made her look, as she laughed. I think we did a pretty decent job- our tables were
very loud! She then thanked so many of us for coming, saying how she saw a lot of familiar faces, and that she heard that we had even spent the night outside for her- and that she really really appreciated it.
The set list didn't change much this show, except one minor addition in the acoustic set. She was in a great mood, and really into all of the songs. When we saw her on Friday night, Jimmy Johnson made the comment to us "Last night, she sung her ass off! She was so on last night!"- and that is no exaggeration. Patty sounded fabulous! During "You Can Feel Bad", she got really into the song, and at Deanie's moment to start getting everyone to clap, Patty started doing it as well. It was a great show to record- she sounded fantastic! We did notice that she was once again using throat spray, which we wondered about, but, she sounded better at this show than a lot of the shows we had seen earlier on in the year.
She started into "Dreamin My Dreams" by saying that she had a new album out in stores, and it came out on September 13th- right after the Hurricane Katrina disaster. She said that it coming out so soon afterwards made the album seem so trivial compared to the disaster, but a friend of hers told her that what she was doing
was important, and that the music was healing. She dedicated the song to the Hurricane victims, saying that she hoped all of their dreams came true. She nailed the song- it was one of the best rendetions I've heard her do. I think that she does this song better live than she does on the record. Too fast on the record for me...but live, she just sounds absolutely amazing on!
The Birchmere is a great venue- and her sound was great throughout the whole show. However, I think it's in the acoustic set where the sound at the Birchmere really shines. When she started into "My Old Friend the Blues"- you could hear a pin drop. It was complete silence and all you heard was Patty. Guthrie did a great job at the beginning of the song- and his parents were sitting in the table behind us, beaming.
During "Never Ending Love", the crowd went nuts over Deanie's fiddle solo- she was tearing it up! Patty did "Cheap Whiskey", which was great to hear again. I've said it once, and I'll say it again- I think that Troy Engle sounds absolutely amazing with Patty. He has one of the best blends with her that I have ever heard! Now, I'm usually pretty into the band & think that they all sound top notch. I wasn't as crazy about Kylie's vocals on this particular night. On "Cheap Whiskey" & "Big Chance", her voice just seemed "too loud", and Troy's wasn't "quite" loud enough. But in any event- I thought the acoustic set was great, and really shined at the Birchmere. The crowd ate it up- it was a great Patty crowd! During the set, Patty grabbed Shayne's hand as he set up the mic's and said that his baby is due any day now- they are naming him Jango & everyone in the crew was really excited!
After the acoustic, Deanie started her solo into "Nothin' Like the Lonely"- she was tearin it up! That's always been my favorite song to hear Deanie do...she never disappoints! Patty did a killer humming intro-- I can imagine those who tune into "The Road" and have never heard this song before will be VERY impressed. (And hopefully enough to make them go out and buy the cd!) They went from that to "Here I Am", which was nice since we hadn't heard it since earlier on in the tour- and she nailed every note in it. Whenever she does ballads, I always hear people comment in the crowd about how great she sounds on it- and I happened to hear a girl (who had never seen Patty before) as we walked out of the show say that she thought "Here I Am" sounded better live than it did on her cd, and she was so impressed.
Of course, at that point, it was time for "Lovin All Night", and "Blame it On Your Heart". Everyone got really into Blame...and she went down the whole front row, putting the mic in each person's face, so just about each of us had a chance in! Like I said before- she was
really energetic on this night. I don't know if it was from being at home for a bit, and then getting back out on the road, or that the show was being taped or
what, but Patty had it goin' on this night. She was all over the stage, and making comments about everything. (Which I'll leave to Barbara to post about, since she was taking her notes!)
During the show, someone had yelled out for "If My Heart Had Windows", so when Patty came back out for her encore, instead of doing "Nothing But the Wheel", she chose to do "If My Heart Had Windows", which sounded great! It was nice to have a tiny switch in the set list, as well! Afterwards, she closed with my personal favorite encore..."Elvis"! Everyone did "C'mon Patty Get It Together" in perfect timing, and she smiled, ran her fingers through her hair and said, "After 20 years you'd think I would!". The one thing we noticed about Elvis this year that we got tickled over was after she says it, she turns her back to the audience, and then whips her head back around to start back into the song. It's just been so cute this year. We
really missed this song last year!!
It was an amazing show- unfortunately it was raining afterwards, so we didn't get to chat with Patty after the show. That didn't stop us from standing outside under an awning to hang out for a little while, however. Although 95% of us were going to be at the Rams Head shows the following night, there were a couple that weren't, so it was great to spend a little extra time with those folks! (Marie & Jake, I'm sooo glad we got together again- it had been too long. We'll get together for dinner next time you guys come down to Nashville, or Patty comes up your way!) Sandi, Tammie, and I had also met "Tom", who was a new fan of Patty's...and we promised him his photo with us three ladies would be "on the internet"...so here you go, Tom:)
Now we were headed for Annapolis, MD for two great shows at the Rams Head.....
