John Prine performed a few solo songs mid-set at his sold-out show at The State Wednesday. Photo by Ed Dittenhoefer / Free Air Photo for The Ithaca Post
By Dan Aloi, Post Music Critic
Ever since Roger Ebert gave him his first review (at an open mic), former Chicago mailman John Prine has been called a master storyteller. It was true then, and it’s still true. The lines of his songs are resonant universal truths and memorable images of human foolishness and misadventure, and he makes his appealing, feel-good, homespun-philosopher stage presence and the winning results of his craft look all too easy.
Beginning his latest 15-city, cross-country tour at the State Theatre on Wednesday night with talented backup musicians Dave Jacques and Jason Wilber and opening act Sara Watkins, Prine gave the sold-out State audience his standard crowd-pleasing good humor, delivered both inside and between his well-loved songs.
Watkins, known to local fans as a third of the young folk/bluegrass phenoms Nickel Creek, performed a 35-minute solo set on violin, guitar and ukulele. She stomped to fiddle tunes, sang original songs and lent her sweet, breathy voice to cover selections ranging from David Garza to Tom Waits. Highlights: Inviting the audience to whistle accompaniment at one point, and her renditions of two bittersweet modern standards: Michael Nesmith’s “Different Drum” and Robert Earl Keen’s “Feeling Good Again,” and her closing number, Waits’ ballad “Pony,” from her eponymous solo debut CD.
Opening for John Prine, Sara Watkins performed a 35-minute solo set on violin, guitar and ukulele. Watkins later returned to accompany Prine's trio for an encore. Photo by Ed Dittenhoefer / Free Air Photo
Prine is a country/folk elder statesman by now; a mentor and label boss to Todd Snider, who’s Prine’s logical heir in many ways; and revered by the likes of Hayes Carll and Josh Ritter, bands as diverse as The Gourds, Cowboy Junkies, Alabama 3 and My Morning Jacket; and of course, many an Ithaca-area musician who helped fill the hall Wednesday.
He came out strumming his J-200 like Johnny Cash and never took a break, starting (like the pro he is) on time at 9 o’clock and taking a lengthy solo turn in the middle of the two-hour-long set.
Opening with “Spanish Pipedream,” he did several other well-loved songs from his 1971 debut album, including “Angel from Montgomery” – itself a standard – and the post-Vietnam tragedy “Sam Stone.”
“I don’t know why, but on the first couple of albums, I always insisted on killing off the main characters,” Prine said after playing “Six O’Clock News.”
Prine gave a mention to his songwriting collaborators including the late Steve Goodman, and elucidated the truth behind the lighter material such as “Dear Abby” and “Fish and Whistle” – for which Prine recalled an early producer telling him: “You need one more song …” and him answering “No I don’t!! .., So I went off and wrote the worst song I could think of … and after a couple of years playing it, I got to like it.”
Jason Wilbur, left, joined John Prine on guitar, mandolin, backing vocals and harmonica. Photo by Ed Dittenhoefer / Free Air Photo
Takeaway: Prine was in excellent form and was treated like the revered cult figure he is. He essayed most of his “A” material and also included what seemed like – to me and to a couple of previously anointed live fans I talked to – small surprises on the tour’s opening night: “The Sins of Memphisto” (a comic gem from “The Missing Years”) and the relatively downbeat “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow).” See the setlist below for the full show.
Nearly 64, he puts on a great show – we still need him and feed him, as he remarked that he missed the road after two months, and that he enjoyed playing for us more than he enjoyed being in a recording studio.
I should qualify that the audience was MOSTLY reverent, and perhaps overly so. There were talkers; there always are, no doubt they paid the ticket price like the rest of us but they – you, if you’re guilty, and reading this – are usually annoying, especially at quieter shows. I will say, for the majority who go to hear the performers – it’s a concert, not a bar; we’re there to share the magic on stage and want to give it full attention because it’ll be over soon. Please, I silently beseech you, STFU.
Then there was this: A vocal altercation at the rear of the orchestra section during Watkins’ set – between rude talkers and increasingly louder (and ruder) shuusssh-ers –jarred the well-mannered, nice people on stage and in the crowd. The incident was so surreal (to those of us who merely heard it) and inappropriate, I half-expect to see ‘Respect the performers and fellow concertgoers’ signs at the next show; this being Ithaca.
Another thing – clapping mid-song seems to be the province of older audiences; but applauding a folk musician’s brief acoustic guitar lick is just silly. Reserve appreciative interjections for Any Average Jazz Band or, say, the Glenn Miller Orchestra. They love that stuff.
Promoter Dan Smalls noted that Prine topped many local music fans’ wish lists for an Ithaca show, and by my reckoning did so for the past couple of years. So glad to see the wishes fulfilled. Sort of a no-brainer for an (if possible) annual visit, a tradition Avett Brothers fans now enjoy.
Sara Watkins joined John Prine for a three-song encore that included "In Spite of Ourselves," originally recorded with Iris DeMent.
Set list: John Prine, State Theatre, Ithaca, 2.17.10:
Spanish Pipedream
Picture Show
Six O’Clock News
Souvenirs
Grandpa was a Carpenter
Storm Windows
Fish and Whistle
Glory of True Love
Angel from Montgomery
—- (band exits stage; Prine solo:) —-
The Sins of Memphisto
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
Please Don’t Bury Me
That’s the Way That the World Goes ‘Round
Dear Abby
Sam Stone
—- (band rejoins Prine onstage) —
Bear Creek Blues
Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody
Hello in There
Lake Marie
Encore (with Sara Watkins on fiddle and duet vocals)
In Spite of Ourselves
The Late John Garfield Blues
Paradise
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John Prine is a master story teller. And because of that we and others around us in the balcony should have been able to hear his stories! Sadly, we (and several others) were disturbed by people standing in the second floor lobby drinking and laughing loudly in large groups during the concert. The 2 volunteer ushers couldn’t handle the noise, and they couldn’t help the angry patrons who couldn’t hear Sara or John Prine. (We even asked the ushers to get help, and they told us to go “look for Caroline”, the head volunteer, ourselves.) We were even privy to a dispute on the second floor later in the show, and the gentleman involved was “parked” in the lobby for the rest of John’s concert and he sang all the words out loud, off key, along with John for two hours. No one in authority ever asked him to move or shut up. He should have been removed from the venue in light of his constant talking and singing, at the base of the stairs.
There is no door on the balcony stairs, and anyone sitting in the rows near there is disturbed by any noise on the stairs, but to allow people to party there in the lobby was a very bad experience for all who sat in the first two rows. We are from out of town, we spent money on dinner and a hotel in Ithaca-so it was quite a let down for this to happen when it all could have been avoided.
The 2 volunteer ushers were unable to quiet the crowd, and they themselves were disturbing-seating people during the music, disturbing seated patrons with their constant talking and whispering. Escort people to their seats after a song, but not during! What’s wrong with signs gently suggesting that patrons be quiet during a performance, in the lobby of the balcony? Or velvet ropes keeping people from the stairs during a song in a performance? I was embarrassed for the performers, and I hope that if they ever do come to Ithaca again, it’s at another venue.