Belterra Casino

Florence, IN

February 27, 2010

Review By: Steve Zender

We had a great time at Patty's first concert of the year. Although our seats were not the best, we personally liked the Belterra venue in Florence, Ind., and thought the sound was great. Patty was her typical self: phenomenal. Make that beautiful and phenomenal.

And get this, Nicole: They allowed pictures! Lots and lots of pictures.

I've got to disagree with a couple of the other posts about the crowd, however. Although the place was sold out (we actually saw people outside the door trying to buy tickets), our group thought the crowd reaction was disappointing. Patty even said about midway through the show, "Y'all get quiet in a hurry, don't you?" I wrote down a few notes and at song number 16 I scrawled, "This crowd sucks." But that doesn't mean Patty wasn't great!

I must admit there were some good crowd moments, two of them thanks to the guy sitting a couple of people way from me. Patty was in a playful, ornery mood, and once when she asked, "Do you remember the first time?" this guy yelled out at the top of his lungs, "YES I DO!" That got a good laugh from everyone, including Patty and the band. At another point Patty was praising Saguaro Road Records for allowing her to do her own thing. She said something like, "It always feels good to do what you want to." The same guy yelled, "I want to!" That got some more laughs and more comments from Patty.

The guy doing the yelling and his wife were celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary. They were very knowledgeable fans but were seeing Patty for the first time. We loved it when the man's wife hurried down front near the end of the show, followed Patty the length of the stage and got a handshake from her hero.

It was a great show, especially considering it was the first time out for this band. Also, Deanie was missing and there were new guys on drums and fiddle. Deanie will be back soon, Patty noted. She's touring with the Chieftains, as she was doing last year when we saw Patty in Chicago.

Garry was his usual fantastic self, both singing and playing a variety of instruments. Guthrie, sporting a baseball cap, was, again, sensational. Patty featured Guthrie several times, including an impressive intro to "Halfway Down." She also brought him down front, with her arm around his shoulders, and told the crowd he was a great, great guitar player. Sydni is back on fiddle and vocal harmony and participated in a fun extended double fiddle intro to "The Boys are Back in Town."

Pete was "Mr. Natural," as usual, but Patty announced that he was leaving the band to tour with Joe Nichols. Bummer! She kidded about being mad at him. Then she pointed out that the two of them had played with each other for a long time (adding, "not in the physical sense" – I told you see was in an ornery mood). She dedicated "Bramble and the Rose" to Pete.

As for Patty's wardrobe: Since my fashion terminology is lacking, I asked Sue and Molly for the proper description and they said I would be correct in saying Patty wore "skinny black jeans, a white ruffled top and boots." I'll try to send pictures so you can see for yourself.

Here, if I have followed my "handwriting in the dark" correctly, is the 20-song set list:

The Night's too Long.
Nothin' but the Wheel.
On Down the Line.
You Don't Seem to Miss Me.
You Can Feel Bad.
Lovin' All Night. ("Done that yet?" Patty asked.)
Crazy Arms.
Color of the Blues.
Why Baby Why. (This is where Patty noted, "Ya'll get quiet really fast, don't you?")
Prisoner's Tears.
Bramble and the Rose.
Busted.
You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive. (Our small group gave a standing O after this one. Alas, most crowd members remained stuck to their seats, but this was an emotional effort on Patty's part.)
The Boys are Back in Town.
Here I Am.
Halfway Down. (This is where I made my observation about the crowd after they didn't seem to get as excited as they should have been about Guthrie's talent.)
You Don't Even Know Who I Am.
Trouble with the Truth.
Blame it on Your Heart.
Encore: My Old Friend the Blues.

As you can see from the set list, there is an obvious effort to give fans a taste of the more commercial side of Patty while also featuring that mountain soul of hers. I think the combination is about as perfect as you're going to get, unless, of course, you expand her show to three or four hours, which would be just fine with me and, I assume, most of you.

I have never been ready for a Patty show to end (this show was just under an hour and 50 minutes) and I certainly wasn't ready for it to be over last Saturday. Her beautiful voice keeps getting better each year and how that is possible is beyond my imagination.

We were lucky enough to get to talk to Patty after the show and get a few pictures, so our trip was very close to being perfect!