The Old Town School of Folk Music

March 14, 2009

Chicago, IL

Review By: Cole

My original plan for this show was NOT to attend. I had too much going on and decided to just not fool with it. I decided to a little bit later, and then the first show sold out. I immediately got in my head "I am not traveling up there for just 2nd show!" A few weeks later, I just couldn't fathom not being at the show, so I sucked it up and bought two tickets to the 2nd show and told my sister I was going to take my niece on a Patty roadtrip.

This was my first time driving up to Chicago, so once I plugged in and saw it was about 8 1/2 hours from Nashville, I decided to pull my niece out of school early on the Friday before. (Or should I say I BEGGED my sister to let me pull her out early) I was really hoping to pull off a quicker trip than stated, but the reality of taking an 11 year old on that long of a trip set in once we took off. The DVD player could only entertain her for so long. At one point I heard:

"Aunt Nicole, how long does the GPS say we have to go?"
"3 hours and 50 minutes Paige."
......
"Now how long does it say?"
"3 hours and 45 minutes Paige."

But overall, Paige was QUITE the trooper and becoming a road warrior for Patty. We stopped at a Denny's outside of Indianapolis on the way, and Paige looked at the waitress and said "Guess what? We're going to see Patty Loveless. Do you like Patty Loveless??? She is AWESOME." That's my girl. I've created a miniature version of me. We arrived in Chicago around 8:00, got checked in and I immediately took Paige to the pool to let her work off some energy since she'd been cooped up in the car all day.

Saturday morning we spent exploring downtown Chicago and watching them dye the Chicago River green for St. Patty's Day. Quite the treat-- it's not just green, at the beginning it a VIBRANT green! We rode the "train" there and back to the hotel area just so we could say we rode it, and had fun checking out some of the gorgeous buildings downtown. The photographer in me was ecstatic at all the amazing architecture downtown. We headed back to the hotel prior to the parade so we wouldn't get caught up in the traffic for it, and so we could get ready to head over to another side of town to pick up my "2nd Parents", Richard and Patti. What was supposed to be a 20 minute trip was 45 minutes -- I just automatically learned to add 25-30 minutes or so to every trip we made to allow for traffic in Chicago! But, we picked them up and headed down to the venue to meet Mike H and explore.

The venue itself was relatively neat and had a little guitar shop / gift shop in it. We caught up briefly with Marcia and Garry in the shop and then headed over to grab some dinner. Richard and I walked back to the venue during dinner to ask if they had any first show tickets. They didn't, but the girl put my name on the waiting list in the event they had any turned in. We retreated back to the group to eat dinner (Thanks Mike!!!) and caught up with eachother in general. It'd been awhile since I'd had the chance to see some of our "family", and it was nice to have the time to catch up with each other. I know I've DEFINITELY missed my "Surrogate Parents", and was very excited about seeing them again (and still didn't get enough time in!). We returned to the venue shortly thereafter and the girl in the ticket office flagged me down to tell me she had put aside some seats at a table for me. Apparently luck was on our side in Chicago for St Patty's Day weekend!

The inside of the venue is A LOT smaller than I thought it looked on their website-- it was truly awesome. There truly aren't many bad seats in the house. My ONLY complaint with the venue is NO PHOTOGRAPHS. This is usually the type of venue I try to skip out on, as photograhy major, it doesn't allow me to have any sort of creativity behind the lens at a show. Patty is VERY inspiring to me behind the lens, and I really love being able to capture that. But, that aside, the venue was great-- so I'm glad I made the exception! Once we were inside, we had the chance to finally meet Dave off the boards, who I already felt like I knew so well since he's been a regular PLN'er for awhile now-- it was GREAT to get to put some faces with the names! I saw some old faces and ran into Molly and Steve-- and I can't remember the last time I had the chance to see them and catch up. In between shows, I also had another contributor to the site, Mike Dunleavy come by and say hello. I wouldn't really have a successful site if it weren't for so many of the great fans that visit, post, and contribute--- so I really do enjoy getting the chance to meet everyone! Patty taking a few years off threw some of us off and we didn't have the chance to meet up and visit for a little while.

The man who joined us at our table told me he had never really heard much of Patty before, but he was at the school to have a lesson and walked by the doors during soundcheck, and he decided to to see if they had a ticket just based on what he briefly heard. I quickly told him what a treat he was in for, and before the show started, ran down to the front to talk to Richard and Patti. When I came back to the table, Paige had the guy in a huge conversation about Patty. She apparently knows more about her than I though. That brainwashing I was doing when she was 2 really paid off!

Patty came out to what I thought was a VERY receptive audience. I don't really need to post the set list since Richard's done that.... but I'll add a few notes to it-- "You Can Feel Bad" was included in the set as well, and during the 2nd show, she also did "Lonely too Long". "Elvis" was listed on the set list, but she skipped that one.

I'm still getting used to "Blame" as the opener. I'm really not that crazy about her opening the show with it. I liked it at the end of the show, and letting everyone sing along. It was the one part of her show that had a slight bit of audience participation, especially in the years she cut "Elvis" out of the set. And, as far as the set list goes -- I miss Mountain Soul like crazy! I am REALLY missing hearing "Harlan" live. Not that I don't love the "Sleepless Nights" stuff in the show, because I think it's phenomenal-- "Crazy Arms" could bring anyone to tears. But there will never be anything like hearing "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" in concert--- I don't care how many times I've heard it, it gives me chills each and every time.

Getting back to the show--- Patty was in a great mood, and was quite festive--- she remembered to wear green! She sounded fantastic, but I noticed she sounded a little bit hoarse when she spoke. She introduced the fiddle player that night, Hank Singer, by saying that her normal fiddle player had been "kidnapped my leprechauns", because Deanie was playing a few gigs with the Chieftans. Patty said she was happy Deanie had the opportunity, and thanked Hank for being able to come out and play, and said he plays for George Jones. The rest of the band were the "regulars", truly amazing once again -- Marcia Ramirez, Jimmy Johnson, Martin Parker, Garry Murray, Tom Britt, and Pete Finney. Patty has a stellar band, and I'm so glad that for the most part, she has the same people with her. I said it multiple times last year, but I love having Marcia and Garry back. They just have an amazing sound with her. Jimmy and Martin I just can't even imagine shows without (though I'll admit, I have quite the soft spot in my heart for Jimmy, I just love him!) -- and NO ONE can play the steel like Pete!

The first show seemed just a little slightly rushed since they did have the 2nd show afterwards. I'd include a bunch of stuff that Patty said like I usually do, but quite honestly-- I don't really remember what all she said the first show! She was amazing and spot on, but I was also a little absorbed in watching Paige watch her. I remember being that age and watching Patty, and it was magical to me. Patty got me through my childhood, and when Paige was born, I was so excited about getting to introduce my little world of Patty. I can still describe in detail the look on Paige's face at 4 years old (which was around the age I was when I had my chance to see Patty for the first time) when she saw Patty walk on the stage. This was her first full PL show since 2002, and when Patty walked on the stage, her entire little face just lit up. I'd look over during the show and she'd be clapping and singing along and--- quite proud that she's apparently inherited her aunt's big mouth and was cheering after each song. When Patty launched into "Why Baby Why", Paige said "YES!!!" and immediately started singing along. I never explained the cd to her, just let her listen to her, so I was SO ecstatic for her to learn during the show that it was an old George Jones song -- she never knew until Patty told the story prior to starting it.

In between shows, we met everyone out in the lobby, added Dennis to our little group and chatted. It seemed like right after the first show let out, the 2nd show doors were opened. The venue is so small that the lobby gets QUITE busy. Before Patty came out for the 2nd show, Patti swapped seats with Paige so that she could sit down front in front of Patty. She was in total heaven. I was told after the shows that she was giving the band the thumbs up and mouthing 'GOOD JOB!'. She was sure to tell me afterwards that Patty smiled at her "four times" during the show.

Patty announced during the 2nd show that she had caught laryngitis--- had she not told us, we probably wouldn't have known. Her singing voice was truly not affected, she sounded amazing, as always. I'm always amazed on nights like that--- Patty on a sick night is better than most artists on their best nights, and that's the truth. She had a GREAT crowd second show--- I could see the first couple rows of the balcony during the 2nd show and there was a group of people in the first 2 rows that were just LEANING over their seats, in awe, and going nuts over some of the songs they knew. Stuff like "You Don't Even Know Who I Am" and "Here I Am", which were just AMAZING just blew them away.

She had everyone laughing during the 2nd show, and started to speak of Emory and said that "bass wasn't all he knew how to play, let me tell you!". The audience cracked up, and Patty put her hands on her hips and said "YOU ALL TOOK THAT THE WRONG WAY!" and started laughing. She tried to fix what she said and then said "He CAN play more than just ME!"-- and then forgot what she was originally talking about and said she was flustered, with a slightly red face. She may have been sick, but she truly was the same ole Patty during the show--- especially the 2nd show, she was a little bit riled up.

Patty took the opportunity to tell everyone what a Jim Lauderdale fan she was, and how she really owed him as she cut many, many of his songs. Each time she did one of his songs during the show, she was sure to announce that it was another Jim Lauderdale song. I almost thought they would do "Halfway Down" together, but no dice.

After the show, Patty was gracious enough to meet with fans waiting for her. I have to note here that in my now 20+ years in following Patty, I've never seen her be rude to a fan, ever. I've seen her not have the time to sign, or be just too tired to sign. But I think it should be noted that she truly has tried to meet with fans after almost every single show she's done in the past year-- ever since she came back from her time off. There were seriously only a few shows that she did NOT meet with fans last year. I just think it speaks volumes that after this many years, she still comes back out in the cold to spend a few minutes with fans. Paige's face lit up when she came out, and Patty motioned for her to come over and give her a hug. When I walked up, Patty said "Oh Nicole, she's getting so big!". I told her she was 11 now, and we got a photo together with Patty. After I gave Patty a hug and walked away, I noticed Paige was still standing with her talking. I had to tell her come on so everyone else could see her. She was just completely taken with Patty, and a smile never escaped from her face.

We retreated back to our hotel for 4 hours of sleep before we got up and hit the road for the long trip back to Nashville. I can't remember a weekend of being this tired after shows--- but it was well worth it. I felt like a walking zombie the following Monday, and my boss commented she had no clue why I did it when it's the same thing over and over again. Some people just really don't "get it".