The Birchmere

Alexandria, VA

October 1, 2008

Review By: Richard


The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia has an international reputation as a top-notch music hall, hosting a myriad of artists since the mid-1960's. The walls of the venue are lined with marvelous photographs of those who have played there over the years. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Doc Watson, Dr. John, Marty Stuart, Joan Baez, Desert Rose Band, John Hiatt, John Prine, and our own Patty Loveless, among many others, have graced the stage at the Birchmere. In this context, Patty's show on Wednesday night marked her return to the stage after her 3-year hiatus. Although the Birchmere shows are not the first ones on the tour, it was apparent from the enthuiastic response from the crowd and Patty's professed love of this venue that this was her "coming out" show.

The performance of Patty and the band proved that this was a kick ass show to kick off the tour. I am certain that the representatives from Saguaro Road Records, who attended the show, were VERY impressed with their new artist. The set list was essentially the same as Lancaster, with the notable additions of That's All It Took, When Fallen Angels Fly, and Elvis. Patty's vocals were strong, passionate, and evocative. She sang a most powerful rendition of If My Heart Had Windows and tore up on Cold Cold Heart. The latter song was again the encore and Patty left the stage with a tear in her eye after singing what is arguably the saddest song ever written by hillbilly poet Hank Williams. She blew away the audience.

Patty noted that many of her song choices for the set list were inspired by fan requests on her My Space page. She said that one person actually created an entire set list for her to consider. I was personally blown away by That's All It Took, which took me back to the legendary Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris duet from 1973. Garry Murray provided superb harmony with Patty on that song. In fact, the backup vocals from Garry and Marsha were flawless throughout the show. Once again, it seems that the band will get tighter and tighter as the tour progresses. I can hardly wait to get back to the Birchmere tonight.

It was cool to hang out in line with Crystal, Chris, Jackie, and Dennis. I think Dennis is the original adult Patty fan (after all, Cole was 3-years old when she first saw Patty). Dennis has been a fan since 1985, when Patty first hit the stage after her North Carolina days. He still has Roger Ramey's business card in his wallet and told many great stories about some of Patty's early shows.

The set list was as follows:
Blame
Chains
You Don't Seem To Miss Me
Wheel
Thousand Times A Day
Lovin' All Night
Lonely Too Long
Windows
Why Baby Why
Crazy Arms
Sleepless Nights (longest and loudest applause of the night)
That's All It Took
When Fallen Angels Fly
My Old Friend The Blues
Here I Am
Halfway Down
You Don't Even Know Who I Am
You Can Feel Bad
Elvis
Cold, Cold Heart

Color of the Blues was on the set list after That's All It Took, but was not performed. Maybe it will be tonight.