This show was like any other Merle Haggard show but for the VooDoo Lounge security guards with the metal-detection wands who were checking patrons for, I don't know, weapons I guess. Except for digital and cell-phone cameras, no one was packing anything at this show. Not even Merle.
Haggard's live shows are an easy routine. His band hits the stage precisely at the prescribed time and plays a few songs. Then the Hag takes the stage, getting the kind of warm, folksy response a family gives its patriarch at his retirement party. Then he starts letting the songs fly. All the while, the sound guy sits back like he's working in a toll booth, waiting for a car to come by.
The crowd of about 600 people wasn't completely attentive all night, especially in the bar areas, where the conversations got pretty loud. But they bothered to stop and cheer and/or jump in and sing when Haggard played something familiar, like "Big City," "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down," and "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink."
Haggard, who turned 70 in April, still draws plenty of long-time fans -- people his age and older. But he has plenty of young ones, too. Many looked just old enough to stand there and drink legally.
The kettle boiled hard only a few times during Haggard's 60-minute set: When he picked up his fiddle and played "Take Me Back to Tulsa" (he's still a deft and lively fiddle player); when his (fifth) wife and background singer, Theresa, stepped up and joined him for a crackling version of "Jackson"; and during his final song, "Okie From Muskogee," which launched a hail of whooops, yee-haws and hollers.
Then the lights went up, his emcee announced Haggard's departure (and encouraged everyone to go buy some merchandise) and the routine was over. It was only 9:15 p.m., but the look on Haggard's face said it was getting late, and plenty of others in the room looked like they agreed with him.
| Timothy Finn, The Star
Set list: Big City, Silver Wings, Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down, It's Been a Great Afternoon, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star, I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink, Way I Am, Mama Tried, Take Me Back to Tulsa, The Farmer's Daughter, San Antonio Rose, Jackson, If We Make It Through December, Branded Man, My Favorite Memory, Heaven Was a Drink of Wine, Okie From Muskogee.
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