Plaza Theater

September 18, 2009

Glasgow, KY

Review By: Nicole

Over two hours--- that's how long Patty's new show is. And not only is it now longer, but it is an all acoustic show, so she can now bring back the Mountain Soul set (and include some new music from Mountain Soul II). Patty is clearly listening to us.

I somehow managed once again to talk my sister into pulling my niece out of school early on Friday so I could take her to see Patty in Glasgow. Paige was over the moon excited, since Mountain Soul was the cd she learned first when she was little.

The Plaza Theater is a GORGEOUS old theater in downtown Glasgow, that's celebrating it's 75th anniversary this year. It's nestled in the middle of downtown, and we arrived quite early, so we had time to explore downtown and check out all the local shops. Patty said during the show that she did the same but no one recognized her. We actually did see her walking back over to the bus when we were walking back to our car. We don't normally bother her prior to a show, so we went about our way, but Paige was quite tickled to even spot her. The town itself is pretty small and there isn't very much to do, but it's beautiful. Paige insisted that flowers were needed this trip-- which wouldn't pull up in my GPS, so i spent forever trying to explain to a frustrated 11 year old from Nashville that this town didn't have a Florist. We did finally discover a store that had flowers, so a major meltdown was averted and Paige walked out proudly with a dozen pink roses for Patty and a single red rose for Garry, her little crush. (Which she INSISTED I not tell anyone about)

Right before heading inside for the doors to open, we were able to meet up with some fellow PLN'ers, Dennis and Mike H, and discovered our seats were all together, (This keeps happening!) down in the 2nd & 3rd row. We had quite few PLN folks at the show, and had a lot of people come by and tell me about visiting the site (thanks everyone!!!!), and it was great to also see Jess and Mike (thanks for my yummy buckeyes!!). We had a lot of people around us who were genuine PL fans, and I figured this would be a good Kentucky crowd. We walked down, and checked out the stage-- they had it set up with the Mountain Soul mic's, tables with lamps, and stools for most of the band. In the middle, right behind where Patty would be stood an antique radio.

As it got closer to showtime, the overhead music turned off and the music began playing from Patty's radio onstage, where the announcer said we were listening to PLT, and played Patsy Cline's "Walking After Midnight". As that song played, the lights dimmed slightly. Following that, a Flatt and Scruggs song was played (Yes, this is the part where I admit I don't remember the song that was played), and the lights dimmed a little more, and then went out at the end. The band (which consisted of some regulars and folks who've been in her band previously--- Deanie Richardson, Matt McKenzie, Guthrie Trapp, Garry Murray, Pete Finney, and then one new addition-- Syndi Perri.) came out, and the announcer on the radio said it was now time for Patty Loveless. This is probably the best intro I've ever seen her have, LOVE it.

Patty came out to thunderous applause, and she thanked everyone for coming and said they were going to do some new, and some old, in ways they hadn't heard before--- and launched into "The Night's Too Long"- which I haven't heard live since the mid 90's. They went from that into "Nothin' But The Wheel" and "On Down the Line". The acoustic feel to every song was just superb--- and I kept wishing she'd record some of the songs again in the same manner. "Wheel" might seem odd without the keys, but it was simply gorgeous.

Patty asked everyone who they thought she would say was her favorite male singer.....actually, she was about to say and then stopped with a grin on her face and said "Y'all know who I'm talking about?", which prompted a lot of shouting, but the one you heard most was 'Vince Gill!' Patty laughed and said she was actually talking about George Jones, which prompted a lot of applause. She told everyone her story of having the opportunity to have him come sing on a song with her that ended up winning Vocal Collaboration of The Year, and launched into "You Don't Seem to Miss Me." At the end of the song a guy in the back of the audience shouted "GEORGE JONES, THE LIVING LEGEND OF COUNTRY MUSIC!", and Patty stopped to laugh and said 'You're darn right!!!'

Paige took the quiet moment after this to run up to the stage with her flowers for Patty. She immediately commented on seeing her down there, and stopped to go over and get them from her and thank her for them, and a beaming Paige walked back to her seat. It's still incredible to me to see Paige experiencing Patty like this, I just remember being the exact same way at the same age.

Having a new set list is always fun, but there's quite the thrill with this one, because it was 100% difference and not based on a set list from the year prior, etc. We really had no clue what to expect next this time around! She dedicated the next one to the ones who'd found love, and started into a gorgeous, FLAWLESS version of "Lonely too Long", and then kicked it up a notch by asking if everyone was ready to love all night. Wasn't really expecting "Lovin' All Night" to be in the set list--- the way they changed it around some was great--- and I'd even say I liked it better than the version on OYWH. Guthrie Trapp did a really nice intro to it, which Patty apparently LOVED and had to give him a kiss for after the song. She announced that when he does that, you just can't help but kiss him, and then said that's how it is at her house, and then made sure everyone there knew that she just likes to flirt harmlessly and her husband knows it.

Patty was in a great mood, and really energetic. I think the only thing that is different this set up is not seeing her on all aspects of the stage, she's a little more confined this time. She still made her way around as much of the stage as she possibly could, and was around each musician at various times. She was genuinely having a good time--- and so was everyone else on the stage with her. For it being the beginning weekend of the tour, they were as tight as could be and sounded fantastic together. This is a really great opportunity for 16 year old Syndi Perry to be out there with Patty. She is a fantastic fiddle player, and in many of the songs, did amazing twin fiddles with Deanie. Bless her heart, she looked scared to death, but she did a great job. We had a slightly hard time hearing her on some stuff, but we couldn't figure out if that was the sound here or what. She has a nice blend with Garry--- who is again, multi-talented in the show, playing multiple instruments while providing vocals. He's amazing with Patty.

Patty also did something I'd not really seen her do before--- doing snippets of songs that were requested. Not all of them, of course--- but someone shouted out "A Thousand Times a Day", and she looked at Garry to see if he could do it. He did, and they did part of the song. (Major props to Garry since that song has NEVER been in the actual set list in any time that he has been on the road with her). Nice blast from the past, she sounded fantastic! Someone shouted out to her that they thought she could sing the phone book.

I really expected the Sleepless Nights music to get pushed back, but she managed to find a place for them in the show, and explained of going back and cutting the songs of the legends that came before her, and spoke about the ones currently that are carrying on the name of the Opry (she cited Carrie Underwood as a great one). They did "Crazy Arms", "Color of the Blues" and "Why Baby Why" for the Sleepless Nights set. As usual, Pete did a hauntingly beautiful intro to "Crazy Arms", and I swear you could hear a pin drop during the song.

And while I thought the entire show was simply INCREDIBLE---- after that what I'd been waiting for finally came, and she started explaining that Mountain Soul II was being released this month (And actually, if you see her this weekend, you can pick up a copy!), and it was totally because of the demand from fans. Last year in autograph lines, she saw a lot of Sleepless Nights, which was great--- but the one thing she just kept continuously seeing was Mountain Soul. And so, at the fans demand, Mountain Soul II came about. She began to introduce Sydni to say Syndi was on the cd with her, but Sydni was gone. Patty giggled and said she must have gone to the ladies room. Deanie replied and said "Hey! It's a long show!"... which prompted the hands on the hips and a reply of "If I can hold it, you guys can too!" from Patty, and they all started laughing.

She went from that story into a story of inducting Del McCoury into the Opry, and explaining they sang this song together at that time, and she couldnt imagine anyone else singing the song with her on the record-- and launched into "Workin' on a Building", which she nailed! And from the VERY first line, the audience went crazy. JUST like they have in the years past every time she's started the Mountain Soul sets. There's just something about it.

Her MS II set list consisted of:

Building

Handful of Dust

Prisoner's Tears

Bramble and the Rose

Busted

"Handful of Dust" was the one I probably had been waiting for the most. I've been crazy about that song ever since she recorded it, and once she did it in 02 acoustically, I've been dying for her to cut it that way. "Prisoner's Tears" and "Bramble and the Rose" were the other completely new ones to most, and she the audience was absolutely captivated. The latter is by far one of my favorites on the cd, so I was pleased to see it made the set list. I'm kind of on a roll here, I never get this many songs I want in the set list actually MAKE the set list!

She introduced "Busted" before starting it to talk about Harlan Howard writing it originally about Coal Mining, but changing it when Johnny Cash told him he knew nothing about Coal Mining, but knew about Cotton. He gave the original lyrics to Emory and Emory has held onto them ever since. She thought it fit today's world, and said it was perfect for her.. "because she knew about Coal Mining". They were a liiiiiittle bit faster on this one than the recorded version, and I loved it--- but the music was a LITTLE too loud during this one (and this was the very first part of the night that I thought "Hm. A little bit off". They were spot on, which is incredible for their first weekend). When they finished, Patty laughed and said "Whew, we were in a hurry with that one!"

She went back to her story of knowing about Coal Mining and spoke of her Dad being a Coal Miner, and how she didn't personally know what it was like to be down there but she had many, many memories of her father covered in soot. She spoke of losing her dad in 79, and her mom most recently in 06, and said she knew now without a doubt they had the best seat in the house every single night, and they were together again. And then she did what everyone had been waiting for..... "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive". This song will give you goosebumps live, it just will. She by far, received the most applause for Harlan than any other song of the night, it was incredible. To include another song from the first MS, she did "The Boys are Back in Town", which just brought the biggest grin on Paige's face. Syndi and Garry sounded really great together on this with her.

She ended the show with a few popular songs:

Here I Am

You Don't Even Know Who I Am

Trouble with the Truth

Blame it On Your Heart

It was great to see "Truth" make it back in, and this time, Syndi and Matt McKenzie provided the vocals. And, as usual, she had everyone stand and sing along to Blame with her-- and not only did everyone sound pretty good, most of them knew the words.

Afterwards, she spoke about how many people we've lost this year, but there was one musician in particular that she wanted to pay tribute to, and she was saddened to hear he lost his battle with cancel. She was talking about Stephen Bruton, and she ended the main set with "Too Many Memories", which Stephen wrote. I can't think of a better song to close the show out with. It was absolutely gorgeous.

She came back out to do two encores, and announced that the heels she wore were killing her so she was going to sit down. She told the story of wanting to cut the next song, but Emory telling her to live it first, and after all these years on the road, she has earned the right to cut it-- and added that it doesn't have to be just a song for being alone on the road, and that Emory was home alone without her that night, so she thought it could just generally relate to anyone alone, and did a beautiful rendition of "My Old Friend the Blues".

She closed the show by saying that these were the words of Emmylou....and closed with "Diamond in my Crown". Deanie and Garry did an AMAZING job with the intro to the song. I thought it might be a little bit hard to do, since the album has such an amazing opening with the Pump Organ, but they blew me away--- as did Patty. I guarantee this will give you chills or bring you to tears. I do wish that Patty had no vocals going with her live on this one, and it was just her completely.

Overall, the show was 2 hours and 6 minutes. That's amazing. I think they started this tour off strong-- the musicians all just meshed wonderfully together. I can't think of a lot of stuff to make it better--- it was absolutely perfect, and what most of us have been waiting for. Everything from the set, to the intro, to the set list--- it was absolutely well put together, and one of the best sets I've ever seen her do.

She and Emory are listening to us....