Thank you, thank you to www.brooklynvegan.com for sharing pictures from the show last night at Radio Music City Hall. Norah Jones made a surprise guest appearance with Willie.
“Willie played for almost 2 hours, must have been 20 – 25 songs total….all the classics, some covers, a special guest (Norah Jones). Really was very good and definitely special.” Jakob Dylan opened the show. “
Jesse Jarnow, www.blogs.villagevoice wrote:
Willie Nelson For President
Radio City Music Hall
September 25thWilliemania is awesome. At a sold-out Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, Willie Nelson—two years older and way cooler than John McCain—delivered a show that was equally bro-down, girls night, hippie boogie, and straight-up joy for music heads. Willie entertains them all.
The girls are the loudest. One woman (who kissed Willie at the Bottom Line in ’75, she says) stands and shimmies as a Texas flag unfurls behind the band during the opening “Whiskey River” until she is yelled down by the people a few rows back. “WE LOVE YOU WILLIE!” others shriek between (and sometimes) during songs, often unprovoked.
The band is barely there. One drummer brushes a lone snare, a percussionist taps mildly on some bongoes (and, on “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” turns over a freaking rainstick). As a result, it really is all about Willie. No guitarist (or distortion pedal) covers for him; no vocalist reinforces his voice on choruses. It’s kinda ballsy. Stumbling elegantly between rhythm and lead, his jazzy phrasings are crisp coming off of his obliterated nylon-string acoustic; he even manages a Django Reinhardt number. Norah Jones comes out for a minute, too, after “Crazy.”
“This is the greatest concert experience of our lives, dude,” one guy in a suit, tie loosened, says to his more casually attired buddy, throwing an arm over his shoulder. And he’s totally right.
photo from www.brooklynvegan.comAnd more from www.peopletalkingstrange.blogspot.com:
A night of amazing music happened at Radio City Music Hall this evening.
What a gorgeous hall!! What a history! Love the deco decor.
Jakob Dylan opened the show. With a voice obvious of his father, and song writing that is also hard not to compare, it is still fresh and dynamic in a modern way. Not an overall exciting performer but a very good chill out vibe to him.
When Willie came on to Whiskey River, I knew then what I was in for. Norah Jones joined him for a bit and added her lovely touch to some classics. Willie and the family are like watching a jazz group, because they are in the moment following where the other person takes them musically.
The crowd was hot _ more midtown than what I imagined Willie’s usual fan base to be. There were a few of Willie’s die hard fans who looked like they rode their Harley’s into town.
I knew sooner or later someone was going to smoke out. It didn’t take long for it to happen because someone lit up the third song of Willie’s set.
Willie was doing a Hank Williams medley of Jambalaya, Hey Good Lookin’, and Move Over Little Dog, and some New Yorkers recognized ’em and were singing along. At the end of his set, he sang some of the old southern gospel standards, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, I Saw The Light, and I’ll Fly Away. Half of the audience were trying to be New York cool sitting with their hands crossed, while the other half was getting into it by hooping and hollering.I say when it comes to Willie and the family, let it all go.
