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ACL: Lucinda Williams
A late-afternoon start with a big yellow sun still beating down couldn’t have put Lucinda Williams in a kinder, gentler, happier mood. But that she was, as she’s publicly declared more than once while her new album “West” slides into the sunset.
So she chose to play mostly songs off a previous effort — the superb “Essence.” No greatest hits, no temper tantrums.
Proof that she is more satisfied with self (and presumably with her fiance) came with a song yet to be recorded. After a jangley opening, “Honeybee” offered an almost childlike, giggling refrain of “Oh, my little honeybee, I’ve got your sweetness all up in my hair … We make quite a pair.”
This is not the love-starved, joyless Lucinda of old, though she still knows how to pull the greasy blues out of nearly every number with strong sides of slide and steel guitars. After a couple of classics (“Riders on the Storm” and “I Live My Life,” the latter from an upcoming Fats Domino tribute), she took the crowd to ever higher ground.
“Get Right with God,” which she introduced as inspired by Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” was followed by a pleading, prayerful take on her “Unsuffer Me.” As a punctuation note to her John Lennon-era anti-war shirt, Lucinda raised her hands to the sky and made it clear that it is the current president’s war that simply must end now.
(Photo by Brian K. Diggs AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: ACL Festival
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By tracy
September 17, 2007 1:37 PM | Link to this
Maybe I just don’t get it - maybe I’m not drinking the Lucinda koolaid. But she seemed tired, stoned and unaware of her surroundings. Kinda Britney Spears’ish. Is that classic Lucinda, or did she just have a bad day? By your report above, I’m guessing this is typical? Kinda made me sad for her. Dancing like Bill Cosby, reading her lyrics from a notebook. When she turned and her drummer (unaware he was on camera?) mouthed to her in a concered way “are you ok?” it made me presume all that weird stuff wasn’t normal.
By Robert
September 17, 2007 4:47 PM | Link to this
I have never seen a musician singing from a book. It was like a Karaoke Show with a stand in who did not know the words. She is a great musicain but has a really poor stage presence. She spent more time talking to her band than looking or talking to the audience. My girlfriend summed her up “It’s like an old Fat Elvis”
By Ang
September 18, 2007 7:33 AM | Link to this
I waited a long time to catch Lucinda and I was very disappointed. Maybe she over indulged in Austin’s weird offerings. I agree she seemed disconnected and rambled like a preachy stoned Willie wanna be. I will try another show or two. If it’s not better then I’ll just stick to her cds.
Peace