Anderson Music Hall

October 14, 2009

Hiawassee, GA

Review By: Cole

Fair's don't usually appeal to me, but the Georgia Mountain Fair is totally different than most. It really does have a theater in the middle of the fair grounds, so it's not an outdoor show. It is general admission, though. Since Patty's shows were at 2:00 and 7:00, we figured we'd need to be there the night before. Chris and I went to see Keith Urban here in Nashville that night though, so we ended up not getting on the road to Hiawassee until after 2:00 am our time. I groaned as we left, I was already at the point where I'd almost been up for 24 hours. The things we do for her..... We rolled into the hotel around 7:30am Georgia time. I set the alarm for 10:30 and we crashed for a little bit, hoping we wouldn't be walking zombies the rest of the day.

They left the Anderson Music Hall doors open all day, so when we got there at 11:30, there were some folks already in there. The fair is a relatively huge deal in Hiawassee--- people come for the full week. We grabbed a couple seats in front row, and the couple next to us chatted with us about PL. Apparently, they had no idea who she was. We were a little surprised they were not only there, but sitting around waiting for hours for her show.They asked a little bit about her music, and were elderly, so I figured they'd really enjoy the show.

Taking a look around right before 2:00, we saw that Patty filled the venue. Definitely not what we were expecting for a 2:00 Wednesday show. Much of the audience were elderly, and I told Chris I felt like we were the only ones under the age of 125. A lady that was in her 40's came and sat right next to me before show time, and talked my head off- loudly. (Yes, she re-appears in the review later. *sighs*)

Patty's opening act was a band by the name of Tree's Leave- very different. They got a great reception, and did a good job warming the crowd up for Patty.

First show, Patty came out after her radio introduction to a warm reception. Not over the top crazy, but warm. I DID say it was an audience of a lot of ederly folks!

She cut back the set list, obviously, since she had two shows to do. However, she played longer than she planned to. The first show set list was:

Night's Too Long
Nothin' But the Wheel
On Down the Line
You Don't Seem to Miss Me
Lovin' All Night
Crazy Arms
Why Baby Why
Workin' on a Building
Handful of Dust
Bramble and the Rose
Busted
Harlan
Boys are Back in Town
Here I Am
Blame it On Your Heart

"You Don't Even Know Who I Am" was in the set list first show, but she didn't do it. The second show she did the same, but DID do "You Don't Even Know"--- as well as "Prisoner's Tears" and her encore of "Diamond in my Crown".

During the first show, the requests from the audience once again started to pop up -- but this time, three elderly ladies came down to the front of the stage, almost all at the same time, with little notes for her. The first one made Patty giggle and she said 'BLUEGRASS AND WHITE SNOW??? Halloween is next!!!", and put the note down. Bless Garry for starting the music-- because once he started it, Patty started singing it. They launched back into the show, but a little later on, Patty said that one of the requests she'd gotten she wanted to do a bit of (and then told the band not to worry about it, she would do it acapella), because she'd lost her Mom a couple years ago-- and then she did a little bit of "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye", beautifully. I'm VERY impressed with her taking the time to even entertain the thought of requests. She's done it randomly in the past, but it was ALWAYS something that had been in the set list recently or something of the nature--- that the band new. Some of the songs that are being requested in this years set are songs some of the band members now have never done before. Major props to Garry this year, even Patty has been surprised this year at the songs he's piped up and said "I know it!".

I say it in every review, but she sounded fantastic. When does she not? You can tell she loves the acoustic set-- but I think she DOES miss being on sides of the stage at times. She made a point to walk the entire stage this time around, and spend a little time on each side of the stage away from her mic when Guthrie had a solo. She had a lot of energy--- and was trying to get Syndi to dance with her. After "Lovin' All Night", she came up and said she WAS going to teach Syndi how to dance!

During the first show, the woman who kept talking to me loudly proceeded to open her wallet and pull out a card for some clothing store and say, 'HEY! When you talk to Patty next, will you tell her about this place? Here just enter the information in your phone!' I was so annoyed. Before the show, I could just TELL she was going to be one that thought the conversation continued during the show, but....come on! A little bit later she leaned over "IS SHE GOING TO SING THAT HARLAN SONG?? IT'S MY FAVORITE!!!' I clenched my teeth and just held hope she wouldn't be there for the 2nd show.

She closed the first show with "Blame", saying that she was being told they had gone over on their time frame-- which is why they cut "You Don't Even Know"... out of the set for the first show. The crowd participation for "Blame" was really fantastic both shows, I thought. One of the guys near us had to be at least 70, and tried his hardest to sing along and get the words right!

After the first show, they didn't make anyone clear out, so Chris and I moved a couple seats over and remained in the front row. It was worth hanging out all day for. He took a break to get us food, and I took a break to go shoot some photos outside since it was gorgeous. Before we knew it, it was time for the show to start. Looking around, there wasn't nearly as many people there as there had been for the first show. Patty noticed, and during the show made the comment "The crowd was much bigger the first show, which was surprising!!! But, I think you guys can take them!". She welcomed everyone to the show--- and then said "Or should I say WELCOME BACK to some of you!", and then explained how she wanted everyone to feel like they were in her living room, and it was a lot like her living room, but missing one thing. No, it wasn't her husband she said--- it was her two German Shepards. Garry decided to take her up on her invitation to be in the living room, and took his boots off. We all started laughing, and Patty didn't quite know waht we were laughing about and just looked at us---- before finally looking over and seeing Garry's socks and laughing, making a comment about needing something for the odor on stage now.

The 2nd show wasn't as large, but Patty was right, they could take the first crowd. They were a little more into it. A little 8 year old kept coming in front of us, dressed in a plaid shirt, overalls, and a cowboy hat with his little camera to take photos of her. He was cute as could be, and Patty noticed him the 2nd time he came down. She got the biggest grin on her face and said "He just stole my heart!". He turned around with a big smile, blushing. When he came back the 3rd time, Patty knelt down to pose for a picture for him--- and after he took it, he put his hand on his mouth and smacked a huge kiss to her. She got the biggest kick out of it. We saw him outside after the show, and he was SO excited about how much attention she'd given him during the show. His mother couldn't stop gushing about how impressed she was with Patty, and how nice it was of her to give him attention during her show.

The MS I & II stuff were again the big hits. "Working on a Building" seems to blow everyone away at every single show I've seen so far. I LOVE that it gives Matt McKenzie a chance to shine and sing along, he's a great talent and was always one of my faves from the band back in the day. It's great to have him back, and I love him getting to step up during the show and have some time to sing. "Busted" was quite the hit the 2nd show, which she explained the story of Harlan giving Emory the lyrics, and proudly proclamining she's the only female to do the song.

We only had to sacrifice "Prisoner's Tears" from the MS stuff during the first show, and got it back 2nd show--- which she naturally nailed, and afterwards I heard a guy behind me ask the girl he was with if that was on the cd they just bought.

Patty and the band left the stage after "Blame" during the 2nd show, and then came back out to do an encore.... She said they'd played a lot longer than they had anticipated, but she really wanted to be able to do this song, and then said she wanted to send it out to her daughter, Katie, because she loved it so much. Everyone was still standing from 'Blame"--- and they stayed that way for "Diamond in my Crown"-- it was captivating.

We didn't wait around long after the show, since it was beginning to rain slightly, and we were running on 2 hours of sleep. I'm sure Patty was exhausted after two amazing performances anyway! The shows were fantastic, the band was top notch--- the only bummer I had was not seeing Emory, since he does do a lot of her Georgia gigs that are that close to their area.

I'm pretty sure my boss had a heart attack when she saw I took time off every single week in October for Patty- up next for us is hitting the road Friday for Knoxville.