Birchmere

November 1

Alexandria, VA

Review By: Cole

We left Rams Head and went straight to Birchmere to drop off Richard. It was around midnight, and we drove away, I turned around to take a picture of Richard waiting, and there he stood, big grin next to our "FIRST IN LINE" sign. The things we do for her, eh?? A couple years ago when Richard and I spent the night there, he told everyone that we would be institutionalized after the show--- I'm sure some people think we need it! It's okay, we know we're crazy. She's worth it.

Patti dropped me off at the hotel and returned to Birchmere, and then in the morning I relieved them and stayed in the line while they went to the hotel. It was unfortunately raining, so our sign that proudly boasted we were first for Patty was now running, and we couldn't really sit outside. The Honda Pilot makes for a very comfortable living area! I was joined later by Dennis, who held our place while Iwent back to the hotel to pick up Richard and Patti. Mike H & Steve both showed up not too long after, and the rain started to die down, so we were able to sit in chairs outside under an awning that wasn't soaked. We sat around, chatted about the show the night before, and listened to Patty in the damp, cool weather. The bus showed up a little bit later and I'm certain it had to be amusing to see we were already there, waiting for the show later that night. The line started to really pick up around 2:30-2:45, and before too long it was already down the side of the building. The show was sold out, so we were anticipating a pretty large crowd.

The rest of our group started to file in- Bob, Barbara & Jackie, Jess & Mike..... and we all headed inside to get our sacred first line numbers and tickets.

To show Patty our support for being at #1 on the Bluegrass Charts for 4 weeks (now 5!), I got a large group card from PLN and a bottle of her favorite wine. We passed the card around for everyone to sign, and I took it as my chance to ask for our song to be added back in the set for the night, sealed it, and had Clay deliver the goods to Patty.

Once they began calling the line numbers and we all rushed to our favorite spots (okay, some of us ran), I looked around noticed that PLN had almost all the front tables. We had all the ones she would immediately see. Richard and I sat directly in front of her--- see, the waiting IS worth it. The venue started to fill in pretty quickly, and we attempted to save spots for our last PLN'er coming, Wanda, but after a little while, they were filled. We were lucky enough to have a seat at the table directly next to us when she arrived. Mike H and Richard were both awesome and swapped seats with us so that Wanda and I could sit together. (It's not really a secret that Wanda and I are loud!) Looking around, everyone was excitedly chatting--- I think everyone enjoyed being together before and after the show as much as they enjoyed the actual show.

Patty came out to a completely packed house, that roared when she launched into "The Night's Too Long". We had an amazing Patty crowd for sure.

Patty thanked everyone for coming, and spoke of how difficult it is to try to fit in so many songs from the past 23 years into her set list. She grinned and said if there was anything that was on their head they wanted to hear..... and that was all people needed, and began shouting out music. I dont think she expects as many people to start shouting when she asks that at a show now! In our attempt to hear "Ill Never Grow Tired Of You", Richard and I both took a moment of the silence in between everyone else's requests and shouted it out. Patty looked at us and made a comment about it was coming. We both looked at eachother triumphantly, hoping it really DID make the set.

I won't detail song by song, since I pretty much covered that the night before. There was something different about Birchmere that I can't quite pinpoint. She was just ON it. Throughout the entire show, she received multiple standing ovations, which she seemed genuinely surprised about. Being ever so gracious, she nodded and thanked everyone multiple times. Her standing O on "Harlan" might have been the longest one she's ever received--- and it was clear she was very overwhelmed. She introduced the song by discussing her parents, and what wonderful parents they were and how hard her father worked in the Coal Mines for his family. During the song, you could hear a pin drop. The audience was completely captivated.

In the middle of the show, as the band tuned up, Patty took to the mic and looked down and burst into "I'll Never Grow Tired of You". We immediately began cheering for her, and as she sang the song, for the first few lines she just sang with a smile on her face, looking at me the entire time, and then looked at Richard for the chorus. I have been bragging all week to everyone about our personal serenading from Patty. Afterwards, we cheered and Patty stepped back, grinned and joked "There! Are you happy?" to Richard and I. Indeed we were. (And major props to Garry again, who immediately just began playing along once he realized what she was singing. I've noticed the entire tour, any song she starts, Garry can immediately jump into. I'm impressed, some are songs he's never had to play with her in a tour, ever, but still did a killer job on.)

Patty was really, really feisty during the Birchmere. She mentioned that Guthrie had to do his solo on "Lovin All Night" to get her in the mood--- and he did that well. After his solo, Guthrie leaned over and kissed her cheek. She accused him of making her flustered, and giggled wondering what Emory would think about that. Guthrie said he'd probably get fired, which made everyone laugh--- and Patty turned and pointed her finger and said "Hey--- I'm your boss, not him!" She interacts so wonderfully with the band, and it's clear that she was enjoying herself.

Multiple times during the show, Patty asked if were hanging in there, or would thank us for hanging in there for the full show. She has no idea how incredible this show really is. There's no "hanging in there" about it--- after 2+ hours, we'd still be begging for more if she'd do it. I don't even think we'd care what she sang. They've done a KILLER job with the set list this year, and it showed at the Birchmere. There was thunderous applause after EVERY song, people singing along to stuff like "Lonely Too Long", "Here I Am", "Trouble with the Truth". And the Mountain Soul sets are seriously in a league of it's own. It's amazing to think this wasn't even in the show last year. People crave it when they go to see her now.

As usual, when it came time for "Blame it On Your Heart", Patty instructed us all to stand up because we'd been sitting for too long. Almost the entire front row was nothing but PLN'ers--- and we pulled up a couple that weren't sitting on the main front seats to be up there with us. Bob, Richard, Patti, Steve, Wanda, Dennis and I all stood together, arms around eachother, singing along as loudly as possible. It's been a long time since we were all together like this and we obviously had a lot of fun. I think we were all relatively sober, too! Patty walked the stage during the instrumental parts, with a smile on her face seeing everyone standing, clapping. She leaned over and gave Jackie a hi-five, then walked over a little bit further and rubbed her hand on Dennis's head. When she let the crowd loose on the chorus ourselves, I think we did her proud-- we were pretty loud!

When it came towards the end of the show, Patty started to talk about Stephen Bruton's passing, and explaining what wonderful memories he left us with, and started "Too Many Memories". It proved to be the most emotional of the night, and not only were many of us in tears, but so was Patty. By far the most touching, beautiful rendition she's ever done of the song. A beautiful tribute to a wonderful songwriter, which garnered another Standing Ovation. Patty thanked all of us for the memories, and then exited the stage.

When she returned for her encores of "My Old Friend the Blues" and "Diamond in my Crown", were were still standing and I dont think any of us wanted to sit down. She spoke of always wanting to record "My Old Friend", and after so many years of being on the road, she knew a little something about it. Again, another moment where you could just hear a pin drop. This crowd was good and held onto every word that came out of her mouth.

Guthrie and Pete bid the crowd farewell, Patty thanked them, and then closed the show with "Emmylou's words"..... which brought even more tears to a lot of the audience, and received another standing ovation. I'm convinced that "Diamond in my Crown" is not only one of the best in the set list this year, but one of the best in any set list she's ever done. The band began to leave the stage and Patty stood and nodded, thanking everyone, as she slowly walked over to turn out the last lamp on stage and exit.

She graciously signed for the fans waiting outside the bus afterwards. She was clearly exhausted, and a few of the band members were ill, so they were a little leary about getting anyone else sick, or anyone else getting them sick-----yet she still sat in the bus door and signed for everyone. That's a class act.

Birchmere marked show number 207 for me, and I'm not even slightly exaggerating when I say it was by far one of the best PL shows I've ever seen. She was on it, she gave us her all, we laughed with her, we cried with her, we spent 2 hours, 18 minutes singing along with her - I don't know what more we could ask for.