Sellersville Theatre

Sellersville, PA

October 17, 2008

Review By: Richard


The Sellersville Theatre , near Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a renovated venue, that was built in 1894. It holds barely 200 people with 8 cabaret tables in front of the stage and 20+ rows of seats, movie house style, behind the tables. Last night, Patty and band took the stage for two shows: 6:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The first show seemed a bit rushed, given the time constraints. It seemed to me that the crowd for the second show was somewhat more energetic than the first show. Both shows appeared to be sold out.

Caroline Herring, a singer/songwriter had a brief opening set for each show. She had an excellent folky voice and sang some powerful ballads about true events. After transportation trouble nearly prevented her from getting to the venue, she made it to Sellersville for the first show with minutes to spare. As we learned the following evening, Patty had a backup plan in case the opening act did not arrive for the show.

Patty and band hit the stage and delivered powerful sets. Her voice was top notch, strong and vibrant. Again, the group seems to be gaining momentum as the tour progresses. Everyone was in fine form, sure and at ease with the music. The set list was the same for both shows, except the brevity of the first show did not allow for the Cold, Cold Heart encore. The songs were as follows:

Blame
On Down the Line
You Don't Seem to Miss Me
Nothin' But the Wheel
Lovin' All Night (with kudos to Rodney)
If My Heart Had Windows (a particularly passionate delivery)
Why Baby Why
Crazy Arms (this is quickly becoming a show highlight, as evidenced by the prolonged applause)
Sleepless Nights
That's All It Took
My Ole' Friend the Blues
Here I Am
Halfway Down (with Tom Britt's unique jazzy intro)
You Don't Even Know Who I Am
Lonely Too Long
You Can Feel Bad
Elvis
Encore: Cold, Cold Heart (second show only)

My wife, Patti and I took one of my Gram friends to the show, who had never heard PL sing live before. It was a lot of fun for us to watch him being lifted to new levels of enjoyment. It is always cool to convert a friend or acquaintance to Patty's music, but when it happens at a live show, the impact is that much more profound. Aaron raved about the purity and passion of Patty's voice and, as the shows went on, he became one of the loudest fans in the place.

He was also impressed by the talent and quality of the musicians that Patty is able to take with her on the road. It is no small feat to get high quality players to tour, but the fact that this band has obvious love and affection for one another is rare. It is testament to Patty that after a three year hiatus from the road, she was able to reassemble her core players of many years. This impression became even more clear as the tour moved to Morristown the following night. More on that soon.