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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Review: Lyle Lovett at the Long Center
The last time Lyle Lovett played the Long Center, in March, it was as one element in a grand-opening gala that included Willie Nelson and Asleep At the Wheel. The last time he played Austin, in May, it was as part of a songwriters’ circle that included John Hiatt, Joe Ely and Guy Clark.
Tuesday night, however, Lovett was back in town in the incarnation that fans know best: the wry, deadpan ringleader of the aptly named Large Band.
It’s possible to argue that the 15-piece aggregation (augmented on this night by a nine-piece gospel choir from San Antonio) offers the only forum large enough to encompass Lovett’s eclectic takes on folk, bluegrass, gospel, big band ensemble work, R&B, jazz and country. But it’s equally possible to make the observation that Lovett set out to create the musical sandbox of his dreams, and invited all the neighborhood kids to come play.
Over and over on Tuesday, Lovett stepped out of the spotlight, figuratively speaking, and became just another fan as one or another of his musicians strutted his stuff. The Large Band cast was augmented on this night by mandolin maestro Sam Bush (sitting in on the second of eight dates) and longtime sideman vocalist Arnold McCuller, fresh off James Taylor’s summer tour.
This year’s edition of the Large Band was typically top-heavy with talented veterans, boasting as it did A-list session drummer Russ Kunkel, the float-and-sting guitars of Ray Herndon and Austin’s Mitch Watkins, fiddler Gene Elders (usually on the road with George Strait) and guitarist/vocalist Keith Sewell. Cellist John Hagen, a perennial crowd favorite, stole the show with his Charlie Watts-style poker-face asides, which managed to out-laconic even his boss.
After an instrumental fanfare, “Opening Credits,” Lovett meandered on stage and set out on a roundabout, two-and-a-half hour tour of his 20-year catalog. Members of the band ebbed and flowed on and off the stage, depending on whether Lovett wanted the full gospel fanfare for “Church” and “I Will Rise Up/Ain’t No More Cane,” the small bluegrass ensemble that delivered “Keep It In Your Pantry,” the jazz combo that rendered “(I Could Have Been Your) Best Friend” in muted colors, or the grinding R&B outfit that romped through “My Baby Don’t Tolerate.”
It’s a funny thing; Lovett’s songs are finely wrought, small-scale cameos of human caprice, but he presents them on the biggest, Frederic Remington-size canvas he can get his hands on. It’s an ongoing contradiction, and one that neither he nor his audience seemingly have any interest in reconciling. In the meantime everyone, band and audience alike, went home happy.
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Live Chat With Brothers and Sisters at 2 p.m. Thursday!
Statesman pop music critic Joe Gross welcomes Will Courtney and Ricky Ray Jackson of the Austin band Brothers and Sisters to the weekly live chat about music (Austin music, Texas music and more) at 2p.m. Thursday.
Get your Brothers and Sisters questions ready!
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ACL aftershows!
The Austin City Limits Music Festival is Sept. 26-28 at Zilker Park. And, as always, plenty of the acts will play after-shows (or in the cases of Manu Chao and David Byrne, before-shows). Here’s the list (tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday through C3 Presents at Frontgate Tickets):
Stubb’s BBQ (801 Red River St.):
Sept. 25
Manu Chao
Doors 7p.m., show 8 p.m.
$35
Sept. 26
Gnarls Barkley and CSS
Doors 8 p.m., show 9 p.m.
$27 adv/ $30 dos
Sept. 27
Mike Farris gospel brunch
Doors at 11 a.m., Brunch at 11:30 a.m.
Call 512-480-8341 to make reservations and purchase tickets.
$30, $40
Sept. 27 (outdoors)
Butthole Surfers w/ The Kills
Doors 7 p.m., Show 8 p.m.
$30 adv/ $33 dos
Sept. 27 (indoors)
Mugison
Doors 11:30pm, show midnight
$15
Sept. 28
The Black Keys w/ The Black Angels & Jessica Lea Mayfield
Doors at 7 p.m., Show at 7:30 p.m.
$25 adv/ $25 dos
La Zona Rosa (612 West Fourth St.)
Sept. 26
G. Love & Special Sauce
Doors at 10 p.m., Show at 11 p.m.
$25 adv/ $27 dos
Sept. 28
Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis and M. Ward
Doors at 9 p.m., Show at 10 p.m.
$30
The Parish (214 E. Sixth St.)
Sept. 26
Jamie Lidell w/ Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears
Doors at 10 p.m., show at 11 p.m.
$20
The Paramount Theatre (713 Congress Ave.)
Sept. 25
David Byrne - Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno
Doors at 7:30 p.m., Show 8:30 p.m.
$50, $55
Sept. 27
The Swell Season w/ Bill Callahan
Doors at 7:30 p.m., Show at 8:30 p.m.
$35, $42.50
Emo’s (603 Red River St.)
Sept. 26 (outdoors)
Drive By Truckers w/ Shooter Jennings
Doors at 10 p.m., Show at 10:30 p.m.
$20 adv/ $22 dos
Sept. 26 (indoors)
Heartless Bastards w/ Dead Confederate & Wax Fang
Doors at 10 p.m., Show at 10:30 p.m.
$15 adv/ $17 dos
Sept. 26, 27 (Emos Lounge)
Car Stereo Wars
Doors at 10 p.m., show 11 p.m.
$8 adv/ $10 dos
Sept. 27 (outdoors)
Okkervil River w/ Man Man & Crooked Fingers
Doors at 10 p.m., show 10:30 p.m.
$15 adv/ $17 dos
Sept. 27 (indoors)
Jose Gonzalez w/ Neva Dinova & McCarthy Trenching
Doors at 10 p.m., show 10:30 p.m.
$18 adv/ $20 dos
Antone’s (213 West 5th St.)
Sept. 27
Jakob Dylan and The Gold Mountain Rebels w/ Back Door Slam
Doors at 10 p.m., Show at 10:30 p.m.
$23 adv, $25 dos
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