Evidence we were there:
I'd pay for tickets to go again tomorrow to listen to Willie wail. I know the guy is 74 years old, but he's still got it goin' on. (Ok, I sort of have a penchant for old guys with levis, Godin guitars and braids.) Most of the show was played on Trigger, the famous Martin, but he opened with a couple of numbers on the Godin.
The show was fantastic with the exception of the two wasted women sitting 2 rows behind us. It's one thing to hoot and holler and whistle between songs, but they carried on in shrill voices during the entire first half of Willie's performance. It wasn't even like they were cheering, they would talk about the neighbour they went to school with and then in mid sentence scream out a cheer. Crack? Acid? Vodka? Who knows, but our section was soon 1/2 empty as concert goers around them scrambled to find other seats elsewhere in the building.
I made a conscious decision that I was gonna enjoy the show despite them, and did my best to tune them out. About half way through Willie's set they staggered off to the bathroom. The collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout the venue. I distinctly remember thinking in my sick and twisted mind, "I hope they fall down the stairs and need to be rushed off to the hospital." But no, they returned. Thankfully whatever they inhaled, injected or ingested while they were gone for 15 minutes seemed to calm them down and the rest of the show was significantly more enjoyable. Ok, I will not dedicate any more of my energy to them.
Being in the crowd was as good as holding up a neon sign saying "I'm over 40" and I have to say that I was shocked, shocked I say, at the number of mullet hair-dos in this city. Where did they all come from? Of course there were a number of heads donning bandannas and cowboys hats, as if Willie was going to be able to see out into the darkened crowd and be impressed with the fashion of PG. Those who dug out their cowboy boots were probably disappointed to find that Willie wears running shoes.
From the comments I heard around me, I assume the rest of the crowd didn't enjoy the first opening act, 40pts - which includes Willie Nelson's sons Micah and Lucas, as much as I did. I kinda like them. Lucas' voice was sort of a cross between John Lennon and Willie Nelson inhaling helium. It was kind of funky in a "glad it wasn't longer than an hour" sort of way.
The second opener, Shay (Shae?) hails from the tropical island of Newfoundland, and they managed to impress the crowd. Their Gaelic influenced music was entertaining and they had a good stage presence. But we were there to see Willie. And we were not disappointed. Except that I waited all night to hear "The red headed stranger from Blue Rock Montana rode into town one day...."
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