Liberty Theatre
Liberty, NC
August 20, 2005
Review By: Richard
Liberty North Carolina is a small town. It is located between Greensboro and Siler City, but it a dot on the map. The proprietor of Liberty Showcase, formerly known as Liberty Jubilee, is a fellow named Ron. His wife assists him in managing an old converted movie theatre that they have made into an intimate music venue. The place holds 580, but it feels smaller than that. The stage is huge. It is about 5 feet high, so I am wondering whether Steve C. and his lovely wife, Sunny, have visited their chiropractor today to recover from looking up from their front row seats. There is also a balcony, where the high stage works to the audience's advantage there. Patti and I were way back in the second row, where we had some perspective of the stage. Ron's thought is to put the performers on the same level as most of the audience. As the rows go back, they incline, so that one's view is never impeded by big heads in front.
Booking Patty Loveless and her band for two shows, 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., was a monumental project of labor and love for Ron and his wife. He told me that he was tired of attending cold and impersonal shows at arena after arena around the country. You could not tell one place from the other and the management of such places were not concerned about the happiness, comfort, and sight lines of the audience. This pair of rebels was successful in their efforts to provide top of the line music to folks who may not venture out to the cookie cutter arenas for other concerts. It was nice to see that other acts are starting to book Liberty Showcase. Whisperin' Bill Anderson, for one.
Ron and his wife (sorry, I neglected to get her name) created magnificent tickets for the shows. A script of Liberty Showcase is at the top of the ticket, with a beautiful On Your Way Home - era photo of Patty in the middle, and the section and the seat number on the left. On the right side of the ticket is the phrase "Presents Patty Loveless". When is the last time you had non-computerized tickets? Great style.
Patti and I arrived about an hour before the scheduled 4:00 p.m. show. We met Steve C. and Sunny in the parking lot. They remembered seeing us at the Newberry Opera House show two summers ago. Liberty and Newberry are similar kinds of small towns, each with a high quality music hall. We made it to the theatre minutes before the sky opened up with a long and very intense thunderstorm not to be believed. The lights flickered several times, allowing me the fantasy of an all acoustic evening. There was not a power outage, however, but a guy can dream.
Due to the rain, people were late arriving and the show started late. This backed up the 9:00 p.m. show, but I did not hear any complaints. I wondered if a corporate venue would have made the audience their first priority like the folks at Liberty Showcase did.
I bought my new black Patty cap and headed in to endure the opening act. It appeared that the house was full. I could not see any empty seats. Then bliss began when Patty and the band took the stage to the now familiar opening bends to Keep Your Distance. At the start, Patty and the band appeared to be road weary from their long drive to get from the previous night's show in Rising Sun Indiana to North Carolina. After two shows at Liberty, they would get back on the bus to drive to Dayton Ohio for a Sunday night show. That reminded me of one of the reasons I quit the road in 1973.
But the weariness faded after a couple of songs, and the ensemble hit their stride. It struck me how happy and content each of the musicians, especially Patty, appear on stage. It strikes me that one of Patty's goals and talents, for that matter, is to take care of the people who work for her. I think that the camaraderie that we witness night after night on the tour comes from her genuine commitment to the people who work for her. The word family comes to mind.
I won't post the setlist as it is now familiar to us. They did Elvis as the first show encore and Wheel and Elvis as the second show encores. Guthrie, Deanie, and Troy hit their grooves during both shows. And Ms. Loveless was in fine form. That impossible note at the end of Grandpa' ("LOOOOOKS" so natural") blows me away every time. She excelled on the new material. The Steve Earle penned My Old Friend The Blues has become my favorite (today). That song packs an enormity of emotion in three minutes.
The crowd was overwhelmingly responsive at both shows. Troy appears to make more and more fans from his vocal solo on Daniel Prayed. Patty mentioned that she used to live in Shelby North Carolina and was craving some of the fine barbecue that the locals offered. This was clearly a PL crowd - no talking during the acoustic songs and since alcohol was not served, no drunken hecklers. My wife and I have been so lucky this year. All of the audiences have been great.
Toward the end of the second show, Patty mentioned in her band introductions that there is a scholarship set up in the name of Guthrie Trapp's grandmother to Deanie Richardson's dance school in Nashville. I'm sure Cole can find out the details about this.
We spoke with David, Shayne, Guthrie, and Jimmy during the course of the long afternoon and evening. Thanks for not letting me lose my sunglasses, Shayne. Once again, David worked his magic with the sound. I was a bit concerned when the sound for the opening act was all bass, but David quickly cured that. Patty appeared a bit frustrated at the start of the first show with her monitor, but that was fixed in a flash.
My Old Friend The Blues returned during the drive back to the hotel after the show, when we realized that this is our last show until the Birchmere in October. Almost two months. We are hopeful that some November dates are going to be booked somewhere that we can travel to.
Besides Steve C. and Sunny, it was great to spend quality time with Teresa. It was also nice to see Melinda and Todd.
