The Road to Austin Concert

Rollicking Road a treat for one and all

Show rejuvenates bandleader fighting cancer

By Michael Corcoran
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, May 20, 2007

The promoters worried, for once, that too many people would show up for a free show starring a mix of national and local acts.

But those in line, which stretched all the way to South Lamar Boulevard, at 5 p.m. were all inside Auditorium Shores by 6 p.m. The madhouse never materialized, and attendance was a respectable, comfortable 7,000 for much of the Road to Austin concert Saturday night.

The headliners, such as Bonnie Raitt and Delbert McClinton, came out early in the show to back such Austin acts as Ian McLagan and Carolyn Wonderland, and then reappeared doing their own hits. And it was all free.

The show was like none other ever hosted in Austin. It was a big, expensive thank-you note to the Austin music community, sponsored by Freescale Semiconductor Inc., the third-largest chip maker in the United States. But it was also a celebratory blowout for the company that, just six months ago, had been acquired for $16.7 billion by a private equity consortium.

"Where the music matters" is a popular Austin slogan, but at a concert where money wasn't an object, it rang especially true.

That the 30-foot-by-50-foot video screen was blank didn't dampen the enthusiasm of a crowd that got all the special effects it needed when Eric Johnson and David Grissom, two of Austin's greatest electric guitarists, dived into a delicious guitar duel on "Layla," while new Austinite Bobby Whitlock, who co-wrote the song, sang it and played organ.

Backstage, such disparate acts as Kris Kristofferson, McLagan and Malford Milligan hung out together. When an act would come backstage, the other musicians would clap and cheer.

"This is just the greatest feeling of camaraderie," said Milligan. "This night makes you proud to be an Austin musician."

Raitt and Kristofferson were especially encouraging.

"You were amazing!" Raitt said to the gospel singers who backed Ruthie Foster on "Heal Yourself."

Kristofferson was there to greet James Hand, the true reincarnation of Hank Williams, with a big hug after the honky-tonker sang "When You Stopped Lovin' Me (So Did I)."

The big undercurrent of emotion was stirred by the recent cancer diagnosis of bandleader Stephen Bruton. Though successfully completing chemotherapy and radiation treatment April 17, Bruton seemed tired before the show. But by the time his former employee Raitt came out to sing "Hold Me," a new McLagan song, early in the show, Bruton seemed magically re-energized.

Considering the long line to get in, some fans were amazed that they were able to get so close to the stage.

"Some people were wondering if we would get in at all," said Oscar Roman of Austin, who arrived with friend Paul Buchberg about 5:30, when the line stretched to South Lamar. "But I've never seen a line move so fast."

Most of those attending carried sheets of paper with the ticket printed at the top, which those at the gate merely tossed into trash boxes without examining.

When lines stacked up before the scheduled 5:30 opening, organizers opened gates half an hour early, which food vendors appreciated.

"That's a half-hour more business," said Kathy Pate, who sold steak sandwiches from the Hoffbrau booth.

"This show reminds me of the old days," said Grissom, who also rejoined former boss Joe Ely. "As soon as Bonnie came onstage, I thought, 'Man, this is like the old T-Bird Riverfest days,' " in reference to the yearly roots fest concerts on Auditorium Shores that were the biggest things in Austin before South by Southwest and the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

mcorcoran@statesman.com; 445-3652

Additional material from staff writer Patrick George.