Post by erik on Jan 25, 2012 21:52:42 GMT -5
Another one of those I-gotta-ask-you-this questions from me:
What are your memories of seeing Linda in concert?
I've had three of these, all of them at the Universal Amphitheatre here in Los Angeles, where Linda holds the record for greatest number of sell-out performances (14 straight in late 1977).
May 19: 1995: This was on her abbreviated tour for Feels Like Home, where she did a lot of the material from that album and from Winter Light, before focusing in on all that other good stuff she did between 1975 and 1983, and from 1989's Cry Like A Rainstorm. She had a lot of her veteran road gang with her, including Valerie Carter, drummer Russ Kunkel, Andrew Gold, and Dan Dugmore. She still looked really great, and sounded even better (or does the latter go without saying?). The highlights of this concert are too many to name, but among my favorites were: "Walk On" (her down-home C&W/rock throwdown); "A River For Him"; "It's Too Soon To Know" (with "Dangerous Dan" supplying a pedal steel solo in lieu of the sax on the studio version); and a typically savage version of "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me" (prefaced by band intros, one of which, for Andrew, being that he was "the kind of guy you couldn't help but like even if he strangled your pet cat" [YIPE!!!]). She was on for an hour and 40 minutes, which was quite long but never dull.
July 20, 2004: This one occurred just three days after her, how shall we say, Dust-Up In The Desert. On this occasion, with her jazz/pop album Hummin' To Myself still four months from release, she devoted the first half to the Great American Songbook, then the second half to the Great Ronstadt Songbook. But she prefaced the whole thing by asking the audience, "So...seen any movies lately?", which largely emitted laughs from the L.A. audience (though there were a few hecklers there, probably bused in from uber-conservative Orange County). The only two songs she did from Hummin' were "Get Out Of Town" and, if I remember right, "Never Will I Marry"; the rest was from her trilogy of mid-1980s albums with Nelson Riddle, and then a lot of her hits. She came back out for an encore, "Desperado", complete with flowers given to her by Mr. Moore. The concert ran the now-standard 75 minutes, but she didn't waste a single nanosecond.
July 7, 2006: Though there were minor references to the then-recently departed Ken Lay and the shallowness of Paris Hilton, this concert largely continued what I heard in '04 minus the politics. And there was no preview of Adieu False Heart, which came out a couple of weeks later. Still, Linda was in fine vocal form, making all 75 minutes of her show count. And this time, she did two encores: "Quiereme Mucho" (from Frenesi), and the obligatory "Blue Bayou", with the last verse in Spanish, and then she said a heartfelt goodbye in both English and Spanish to the crowd. She may not live in L.A. anymore, but she clearly knew how important the fans here were to her.
What are your memories of seeing Linda in concert?
I've had three of these, all of them at the Universal Amphitheatre here in Los Angeles, where Linda holds the record for greatest number of sell-out performances (14 straight in late 1977).
May 19: 1995: This was on her abbreviated tour for Feels Like Home, where she did a lot of the material from that album and from Winter Light, before focusing in on all that other good stuff she did between 1975 and 1983, and from 1989's Cry Like A Rainstorm. She had a lot of her veteran road gang with her, including Valerie Carter, drummer Russ Kunkel, Andrew Gold, and Dan Dugmore. She still looked really great, and sounded even better (or does the latter go without saying?). The highlights of this concert are too many to name, but among my favorites were: "Walk On" (her down-home C&W/rock throwdown); "A River For Him"; "It's Too Soon To Know" (with "Dangerous Dan" supplying a pedal steel solo in lieu of the sax on the studio version); and a typically savage version of "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me" (prefaced by band intros, one of which, for Andrew, being that he was "the kind of guy you couldn't help but like even if he strangled your pet cat" [YIPE!!!]). She was on for an hour and 40 minutes, which was quite long but never dull.
July 20, 2004: This one occurred just three days after her, how shall we say, Dust-Up In The Desert. On this occasion, with her jazz/pop album Hummin' To Myself still four months from release, she devoted the first half to the Great American Songbook, then the second half to the Great Ronstadt Songbook. But she prefaced the whole thing by asking the audience, "So...seen any movies lately?", which largely emitted laughs from the L.A. audience (though there were a few hecklers there, probably bused in from uber-conservative Orange County). The only two songs she did from Hummin' were "Get Out Of Town" and, if I remember right, "Never Will I Marry"; the rest was from her trilogy of mid-1980s albums with Nelson Riddle, and then a lot of her hits. She came back out for an encore, "Desperado", complete with flowers given to her by Mr. Moore. The concert ran the now-standard 75 minutes, but she didn't waste a single nanosecond.
July 7, 2006: Though there were minor references to the then-recently departed Ken Lay and the shallowness of Paris Hilton, this concert largely continued what I heard in '04 minus the politics. And there was no preview of Adieu False Heart, which came out a couple of weeks later. Still, Linda was in fine vocal form, making all 75 minutes of her show count. And this time, she did two encores: "Quiereme Mucho" (from Frenesi), and the obligatory "Blue Bayou", with the last verse in Spanish, and then she said a heartfelt goodbye in both English and Spanish to the crowd. She may not live in L.A. anymore, but she clearly knew how important the fans here were to her.