Concert memories (3)
Feb. 18th, 2002 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gerbieJohn Hiatt - Oosterpoort Groningen, January 2002
I had seen Hiatt before, but it had been quite a while. And as Gerda was breaking her pretty little head over what to buy me for my birthday, she came up with the brilliant idea of two tickets for this concert. I had to think a bit whom to take, just joking, we went together. I went to pick her up, together we went to Groningen.
The Oosterpoort is a good place for concerts, Groningen is a nice city. I had seen Mano Negra and Luka Bloom there, over a decade ago, whereas the last time I saw Hiatt must have been at least that long as well. Hiatt might not be a familiar name for many of you, but in the Netherlands he is big. So is he among fellow artists. Just a few names of people who have covered him: Bob Dylan, Jeff Healy, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton & BB King amongst others. It just goes to show that his music is timeless. It showed during the show. Hiatt and his band the Goners jump back and forth through his nearly endless repertoire, as if time didn't exist.
Having followed Hiatt since the mid-eighties, I knew most of his songs until the mid-nineties, got the back catalogue, but sort of lost touch when I started travelling about 8 years ago. I bought his last CD as a preparation for this night. I wasn't entirely convinced that I would like it as much as the first time I saw him in Enschede, but a good night at with the girl you're in love with, music must be pretty bad to spoil that.
It wasn't. I had a great night. The tape I prepared for her with her last CD and some greatest hits helped her to recognise plenty of the songs, looking around us, it made us feel young again, a funny feeling at a concert nowadays. Hiatt is a brilliant entertainer. According to Gerda he looked a bit like Jack Nicholson. I guess it has to be a low-weight version of him, but I could see why she saw the similarities. His face is always moving. At first it seems exaggerated, but if you follow him for a bit, you just know it is him. He communicates through facial expressions. Given the fact that he's always on stage, mostly for thousands of people, it is logical that he does it this way.
His songs always fit in well, he doesn't have to do the obligatory new song part and the long-waited-for greatest hits set, like the Stones, Floyd and other mega-acts do on their tours. He just plays whatever he feels like. His band is there to support him. They're good, but there is no doubt in who's the boss. The only band member that gets a bit of limelight is Sonny Landreth. The slide-guitarplayer was with him on his successful albums in the beginning of the nineties, went solo for a bit, but rejoined with Hiatt recently. A good move, both seem to enjoy playing together. Landreth is one of the few I would recognise immediately by the way he plays guitar, a feat only achieved by a few on this earth.
We had a great evening together, Hiatt entertains in-between the songs, where he tells the stories that belong to the songs, or he makes them up, equally funny. It's not just your average rock and roll show. His music has a tendency towards country (coming from Tennessee not a miracle), but his slow songs stand up acoustic, as he proves when he sends the Goners on a break and plays a song on the piano. His first encore was his most famous song "Have a little faith in me", immediately chosen by Gerda as 'our' song from now on. He did four encores, kept the Tiki bar open and finally retreated well after two hours of play. I'd go to see him again anyday.
I had seen Hiatt before, but it had been quite a while. And as Gerda was breaking her pretty little head over what to buy me for my birthday, she came up with the brilliant idea of two tickets for this concert. I had to think a bit whom to take, just joking, we went together. I went to pick her up, together we went to Groningen.
The Oosterpoort is a good place for concerts, Groningen is a nice city. I had seen Mano Negra and Luka Bloom there, over a decade ago, whereas the last time I saw Hiatt must have been at least that long as well. Hiatt might not be a familiar name for many of you, but in the Netherlands he is big. So is he among fellow artists. Just a few names of people who have covered him: Bob Dylan, Jeff Healy, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton & BB King amongst others. It just goes to show that his music is timeless. It showed during the show. Hiatt and his band the Goners jump back and forth through his nearly endless repertoire, as if time didn't exist.
Having followed Hiatt since the mid-eighties, I knew most of his songs until the mid-nineties, got the back catalogue, but sort of lost touch when I started travelling about 8 years ago. I bought his last CD as a preparation for this night. I wasn't entirely convinced that I would like it as much as the first time I saw him in Enschede, but a good night at with the girl you're in love with, music must be pretty bad to spoil that.
It wasn't. I had a great night. The tape I prepared for her with her last CD and some greatest hits helped her to recognise plenty of the songs, looking around us, it made us feel young again, a funny feeling at a concert nowadays. Hiatt is a brilliant entertainer. According to Gerda he looked a bit like Jack Nicholson. I guess it has to be a low-weight version of him, but I could see why she saw the similarities. His face is always moving. At first it seems exaggerated, but if you follow him for a bit, you just know it is him. He communicates through facial expressions. Given the fact that he's always on stage, mostly for thousands of people, it is logical that he does it this way.
His songs always fit in well, he doesn't have to do the obligatory new song part and the long-waited-for greatest hits set, like the Stones, Floyd and other mega-acts do on their tours. He just plays whatever he feels like. His band is there to support him. They're good, but there is no doubt in who's the boss. The only band member that gets a bit of limelight is Sonny Landreth. The slide-guitarplayer was with him on his successful albums in the beginning of the nineties, went solo for a bit, but rejoined with Hiatt recently. A good move, both seem to enjoy playing together. Landreth is one of the few I would recognise immediately by the way he plays guitar, a feat only achieved by a few on this earth.
We had a great evening together, Hiatt entertains in-between the songs, where he tells the stories that belong to the songs, or he makes them up, equally funny. It's not just your average rock and roll show. His music has a tendency towards country (coming from Tennessee not a miracle), but his slow songs stand up acoustic, as he proves when he sends the Goners on a break and plays a song on the piano. His first encore was his most famous song "Have a little faith in me", immediately chosen by Gerda as 'our' song from now on. He did four encores, kept the Tiki bar open and finally retreated well after two hours of play. I'd go to see him again anyday.
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no subject
Date: 2002-02-18 01:20 pm (UTC)~lgf
Re:
Date: 2002-02-18 01:30 pm (UTC)Had to wait a bit before I could write it down as a concert memory, didn't want this series to become chronological, would be too predictable, too boring.
no subject
Date: 2002-02-18 01:20 pm (UTC)