[ Note: this is an old post being readded for the archive. ]
May 8, 2003
On Tuesday, May 6, the day before the taping, the call came out over the
radio: tickets to see Rosanne Cash would be available at the UT communications building. Steve, a coworker, and I ran over there and grabbed four tickets from the two volunteers passing them out, and the stage was set (so to speak.) Only two
tickets per person allowed. A woman around the corner asked each passerby for a ticket, hoping to get a few extra.
The ticket was for Wednesday night. Doors open at 7pm, show starts at 8pm. I met my friends a little after 6pm to stand in line. We stood in line, and a volunteer came by to give us our order numbers — we would go in exactly in this order .We were not to move. Her authoritarian style earned her the name Number Nazi. I was number 77. About 7:40, people were allowed in, and we found some great seats — the front row on the left-hand side of the stage (looking from the stage out.)
Cameras and backpacks weren’t allowed, otherwise, I would have plenty of pictures for you. In return for this small inconvenience, free beer from the sponsor Ziegen Bock was given. Schlotsky’s, which is also a sponsor, did not provide any food. (The volunteers were fed on Mangia pizza.) While I don’t blame Schlotsky’s, they could win some bigs points from me by sending me some coupons for free sandwiches.
The stage is smaller than it looks on the show, and they use plenty of mist to give special lighting effects. There was a brief introduction apologizing that one of the elevators was out, thanking the sponsors and volunteers, and telling us not to get up to pee in the middle of a song. It looks bad, and they have to digitally edit you out, possibly from your very existence.
Rosanne Cash came out with her band. Everyone was in fine form, although there were several stops and starts. One of the advantages of not doing the show live is that they can stop and restart to get it exactly right. One of the band, Teddy Thompson, is Richard Thompson’s son. Her husband, John Leventhal, was the lead guitarist. There was a great drummer, a fine keyboardist, a bassist and a backup singer, too, but I don’t know there names. They’ll forgive me in heaven, perhaps, but if you must have
the names, watch the show when it’s on your local PBS station.
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She played my favorite song of hers, “What We Really Want”. Mostly, though,
she played songs off her new album,
Rules of Travel, which sounds pretty good. She played a song for her father, (that would be Johnny Cash for those who missed the connection), “Tennessee Flat-Top Box”, and a strange, country-fied version of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” from My Fair Lady. |
The show ended around 9:45, and we went home satisfied. Beer and great live music. What more could you want for free?
Look for me in the show. I don’t know if you’ll see me, but I’m behind the keyboardist. And mostly, I’m smiling and clapping.
LINKS:
Austin City Limits
The Genuine Official Rosanne Cash Web Site
