Review: John Prine

"I must think in three chords," John Prine joked, one of a few wisecracks he'd deliver about his talents on the guitar.

Maybe he does, although is picking and strumming seem to suit his country/folk stylings just fine. But John Prine worrying about his guitar playing would be like Robert Frost worrying about his penmanship. Prine is a man of many words, an eminent and precise lyricist who can touch points all along our emotional spectrum: anger, sadness, humor, melancholy, disappointment, fear, regret.

Saturday night, he drew a near sell-out crowd (about 2,300 people) to the Midland by AMC, and, as he always does, he treated them graciously to a stellar reprisal of his life's best work. And he played them all the way everyone remembers them.

The show lasted a hair under two hours and comprised 21 songs and his rapt audience was at least vaguely familiar with all of them, including the latter-day material, like "Long Monday."

The audience was also schooled in how to watch and listen to a show like this. During some of the quieter numbers, the room was completely hushed. Even during Prine's solo moment, when his accomplices, Dave Jacques and Jason Wilber, took a powder for a few songs, you could hear with clarity his picking, his fingers sliding along his guitar strings, his breathing. (The sound was great all night, but this was a show this theater was designed for.)

The entire show was a highlight: no lulls, no unfamiliar songs, lots of funny stories and one-liners. Those of us who have seen him before recognized some of those jokes, but they're still amusing. It helps that he's so humble and self-deprecating, in spite of his reputation and legend.

But some moments stood out: "Angel From Montgomery," which never gets old; "All the Best," one of the saddest songs ever written for a wedding; "Souvenirs"; "Lake Marie," which erupted into a stormy instrumental jam at the end; the spine-tingling rendition of "Sam Stone," one of a few songs that ignited some singing. He turned the last chorus of "Illegal Smile" over to the crowd, too, and they served it back at him, loudly.

The audience this evening comprised mostly people who were at least in grade school when he wrote that song and "Angel" and "Paradise," another highlight. But there were also plenty of fans 30-something and younger in the room, and a lot of them were as familiar and enraptured with his music as everyone else.

For his encore, he brought out Rodriguez and her sidekick, Hanz Holzen. She sang the Iris DeMent part in "In Spite of Ourselves" and got a few whoops for the line about sniffing undies. They stayed around for "Paradise," a song about a town and all its memories killed by profiteers: "Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken / Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man ..."

More simple truths and deep sentiments from a guy who thinks in poetry.

Carrie Rodriguez: She opened the show with a 30-minute set that included "I Don't Wanna Play House Anymore," "Seven Angels on a Bicycle," and Towns Van Zandt's "Rex's Blues," which, she told the crowd, will be on an album of cover songs she's working on. It seemed like a majority of the crowd on Saturday was seeing her for the first time; she won them all over. (The line to her merch table was dozens long for nearly 30 minutes after her set). She can sing, write music and play a instruments (fiddle, guitar, mandolin). And it doesn't hurt that she's so nice looking. It's hard to figure out why she's not as well-known as Allison Krauss. Maybe this tour will lead her that way. 

John Prine setlist: Spanish Pipedream, Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, Souvenirs, Please Don't Bury Me, Fish and Whistle, Glory of True Love, Crazy As A Loon, All the Best, Angel From Montgomery, Long Monday, Christmas in Prison, Bruised Orange, Living in th Future, Illegal Smile, Sam Stone, Bear Creek Blues, Crooked Piece of Time, Hello in There, Lake Marie. Encore: In Spite of Ourselves, Paradise.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[kcmom]

Another great review, Tim...sounds like a sweet show.

[onthemark]

Nice review Tim. Good show, very enjoyable. Heads up: I talked to Carrie, she said she was gonna try and get back to Knuckleheads in October or November.

[JJ]

Blow Up Your TV is actually titled "Spanish Pipedream." Great review Tim.

[Ima Prinefan]

Jason Wilber - the awesome lead guitar player for Prine is Jason Wilber as in jasonwilber.net

[Geordan]

Carrie Rodriguez back at Knuckleheads?? I am THERE! I missed her last time and although I'm a fan of hers, I never really cared for John Prine (sorry), so I skipped the Midland show. Hope she does make it back to KC this year........

[John Porter]

Tim,

Thanks for the kind words on Carrie. Hopefully I will confirm & lock in the mentioned Knuckleheads show this week. Workin' on that whole trying to get her more well known thing...

John
mood indigo ent.

[Rebecca Regan]

The concert was great but for the few idiots who shouted out requests, whooped and whistled during songs and the incredibly obnoxious woman who kept screaming, "I love you, John!" and nearly ruined "Hello in There" by shouting during the last stanza. And yes, we know you know all the words to John Prine's songs but we don't pay to hear you sing them.

[hehehehehe]

Awesome review, Tim. Probably the best of all the times I've seen John.

I feel really bad for the people who sat around me who felt like they had to use their cell phones to take pictures and videos during the first half of the show and then share them with anyone around them who would look at them - they missed at least half of a great show. I know it's standard procedure now, but it's distracting. Funny, you pay $10 to see a movie and people respect each other's space with regard to electronics, spend $60 on a concert ticket for a show like this and the same people act like they are in their living room recording cute crap their kid does.

[JKinKC]

A great show all-around with quality sound in our new favorite venue. This was our second time seeing John and my wife and I agreed on the drive home that we'd see him again! Carrie Rodriguez was a very pleasant surprise, and reminded me of Allison Krauss as well.

As for Tim's comment, "The audience was also schooled in how to watch and listen to a show like this" - I have to disagree somewhat. I got a little tired of a few overly rambunctious (or drunk) fans constantly yelling out requests and hooting every time there was a quiet point in a song.

Otherwise, this was a great show and we hope John will be back in KC soon!