Newberry Opera House

Newberry, SC

October 25, 2008

Review By: Cole


The Newberry Opera House is by far one of the best places to catch a show. It's nestled in the small town of Newberry, SC, which was only about an hour and a half drive from Augusta, GA. They do two shows at NOH, one at 3:00 and one at 8:00. Our hotel was directly across the street from it, which is always convienent. We got settled in and headed over to the first show. Our front row seats were the same for both shows, which were directly in front of Garry. And, lucky for us, our friend Teresa was sitting in the same row just a set over. We caught up as we waited for the show to begin. Their stage is slightly higher up than their seats, so we had a feeling our necks might hurt a little bit after the show!

I was slightly worried about how the crowd was going to be once I looked around and realized the House wasn't full and saw more empty seats than I wanted to. They started to fill in as it got close to show time, and definitely proved me wrong. The first show was absolutely the best show of the entire weekend. With there being two shows, she shaved just a couple songs off the first set list, "That's All It Took" and "You Don't Even Know Who I Am", which slightly bummed me, but I figured it would be back by the second show.

The first show crowd was they type of crowd that loves Patty, knows the music, appreciates the efforts of EVERYONE on stage, but doesn't get carried away. Basically, the first show as the perfect crowd. Patty spotted us and announced that she had seen us the night before, and the people down the row from us told her they were there too. She giggled and asked if they followed the bus, and then told the audience that she played in Georgia the night before, and she saw us all there and she was "just talking to them about if for a minute" and hoped they didn't mind, before flashing a big smile.

She was clearly in a great mood- and well rested. Kathy and I felt that she sounded even better than she had the night before. It sounded stronger, and anything she didn't hit the night before (which wasn't much), she sure as hell hit in Newberry!

As noted, the set list was the same, which was:

Blame (again, the new intro is FANTASTIC! I just don't think I like it as the show opener)
On Down the Line
You Don't Seem to Miss Me (the audience roared when she did her intro discussing her Vocal Collaboration with George Jones)
Nothin' But the Wheel
Lovin' All Night (with an extended intro, discussing the Down from the Mountain Tour a lot!)
If My Heart Had Windows (I'll say it in every review- Marcia is fabulous with the keys!)
Why Baby Why
Crazy Arms (Pete is amaaaaaaaazing) Sleepless Nights
Color of the Blues (which she forgot the words to, but Garry remembered!)
That's All it Took (second show only)
My Old Friend the Blues
Here I Am
Halfway Down
You Don't Even Know Who I Am (second show only)
Lonely Too Long
You Can Feel Bad
Elvis
Encore: Cold, Cold Heart

She had a great time during the show, which is something I've really missed. I didn't miss anything she did in her time off- every Opry performance she did, I was there. And it fullfilled the "need" to hear her live, and was a really awesome way to hear the new stuff-- but I missed watching her interact with the band. I missed seeing her smile as she watched people singing along with every single song. She loves what she does.

When Patty did her band introductions during the first show, she bragged about the band members who left and came back. When she got to Garry, she talked about how he had went and worked for Dolly Parton. He smiled and talked about how it was an honor, but "now he was back" and Patty grinned--- and walked away to continue the show.

During Elvis, after everyone shouted their line to her--- she smiled and looked at Garry and saw "Awe, did you really mean that about Dolly??" and he said "Yeah-- but you forgot to say my name!" and she cracked up. At the end of the song, she announced "How about Garry Murray!!!"

Newberry Opera House has amazing lighting. I could just kiss their lighting director. Their fantastic lighting allowed me to use all the settings on my camera that I wanted to and not use my flash. There were some photos of Patty that I shot that are some of the best ones I've ever taken- I simply love them.

We ate in between shows and then headed back to the venue.The 2nd show crowd was good but a lot rowdier than the 1st show.

In between shows, someone had taken Patty's set list- and I don't think anyone noticed until she was already out on stage and looked down. As she was starting her speech that was supposed to be the George JOnes talk to lead into "You Don't Seem to Miss Me", she started to talk about making the new album, and her influences. The more she talked about the record, the more puzzled the band started to look. They all glanced down at their set lists, and they all started to look at eachother. As Patty walked over a little bit, she glanced down and steered her conversation into George Jones. She'd walk over and casually glance down at Deanie's set list the rest of the night. (It made me laugh, and reminded me of seeing her in Mableton in 2005 when the band launched into "On Your Way Home", and Patty sang "Here I Am" instead.)

Patty had a good time with both crowds. The people behind us were getting married (so we overheard them tell Patty after the show), and she kept pointing to them and smiling at them during "Lonely Too Long". Both crowds knew the words to more songs than I thought they would.

During the band introductions, Patty quipped to Martin about "finding his car" and then said it was a joke. We found out later that since Martin has been driving his car to the shows intead of riding the bus, the crew decided to play a joke on him, and they put his car in the trailer once all the equipment was in the venue. When Martin came outside, his car was gone, and they were all on the bus watching him look for his vehicle!

After the show, we headed back to the bus. I wanted to get a new photo that I would take myself. Patty laughed and then told me I got her red eye, as she had something wrong with her eye this weekend, and then apologized to everyone there for her eye since she knew it would show up in their photos. It was fantastic to see her, and as she gave me one last hug before hopping on the bus and said, "Take Care of Yourself!", I realized how much I've missed this the past few years.

Prestonsburg can't seem to get here quick enough!