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JOHN PRINE MISSOURI CONCERT REVIEWS 2009


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September 12, 2009 John Prine at the Midland AMC Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri - Special Guest: Carrie Rodriguez. Back Up Musicians: Jason Wilber & Dave Jacques

By: James Lewis - fan since the beginning

I liked his opening act Carrie Rodriguez and she had a fantastic back up guy Hanz Halzer or Holzen or something like that. They were great and she is the perfect duet partner for John Prine! John came on stage with his band after a long break and sang all of my favorites. The wife and I shared tears of joy and sorrow throughout the playlist. It was like we were seeing him for the first time. The audience was on their feet after every song, everyone appreciates a great timeless song and nearly all of Mr Prines song are timeless! He took us to so many places during those 90 minutes that I will never forget. We drove in from just outside of Des Moines and even with a little car trouble, I would do it again! He even sang an old song for our webmistress, one I was glad to see him bring back to the light - Jumpin Jehosaphat! Living in the future - I think that that was probably the highlight for me and my woman, other than the beginning, middle, end and Illegal Smile and the duets . I could go on and on but just wanted to thank you John Prine for doing what you do best and thank you jpshrine for the updates and emails. Great show, don't ever miss John Prine and his great band of extraordinary musicians if EVER they get close to your town.

By: J.R. Nolan
Me my wife,sister and bro in law flew in from chicago to see John in a great venue. Reminded me of the great older theaters of Chicago and burbs. Used to see him in local coffee houses w/Steve Goodman and others in early seventies. Have loved his music for years. Thanks for a great weekend John

By: onepunchpeg
The crowd was excited and up on their feet when John hit the stage. It was a great show. John playing all the favorite songs. Played at least 90 minutes without a break, then came back for an encore. Sound was good although I thought the bass was alittle loud at the end. Kinda over powering the guitars. I also wanted to thank Mr. Prine for being so nice to stop and take the time to sign my shirt back stage. I am a rural mail carrier as well. I will never wear the shirt it is going in a glass front box.

By: PMSred

Great photos of John Prine in KCMO http://www.jpshrine.org/picshow/pictureshow.htm?usernum=1723923561#bn-photocenter-1-1-1723923561/53711/1/138475/ 2 videos of John Prine in Kansas City are posted too http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=85584811B0167523 Or just go to the photos section of the shrine and the links for the Photo album and the youtube videos are in that section

By: Brian McTavish

full review here
Prine Still in His Prime at Midland
   On the surface, John Prine on Saturday night at the Midland by AMC might have passed for any older man in a black suit with a guitar around his neck singing a little hoarser and talking a little wiser than he used to.
   You might expect that from any serious veteran of words and music. But you might not expect songs so sad they’re sweet and so sweet they’re sad without a still-evolving genius being involved.
   As the years have turned into decades, it has become a greater temptation to just be done with it and put a tag on Prine’s sleeve right next to the heart he wears there that reads: “America’s Greatest Living Singer-Songwriter.” Of course, he would fight it. He’s too humble for that.
   But even when Prine, 62, pretends to be shallow – like when he makes fun of his own guitar playing or talks about how he once tried to write a bad song but somehow or another it still turned out good – he is unavoidably deep.
   For almost two hours before a rightfully reverential and thrilled near-capacity crowd of 2,200, Prine shared his profound gift for getting to the point without rushing, for taking care with his message without coddling and for transporting other humans to places where they may think they have never been yet have already visited.
   Prine received several standing ovations, beginning with his entrance. He bowed at the waist, said “hello,” and began strumming his acoustic. Out came the jaunty “Spanish Pipedream” and its unlikely pairing of two people – “She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol and I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal” – who spark a romance and find happiness by blowing up their TV and going to the country.
   It quickly became apparent that Prine was stirring the crowd’s emotions with two extremely capable sidemen: Jason Wilber on electric guitar and mandolin and Dave Jacques on stand-up and electric bass. Their accompaniment was fascinatingly subtle while still offering chosen moments of brilliance, especially Wilber, whose exquisite picking and slide work could make you drop your jaw and forget to close it. Heck, mine may still be open.
   As the applause faded after the first number, Prine asked, “How ya doin’?”
  “Alright!” the fans called back as one.
  “I’m feelin’ just about the same way,” he said. * True enough for Prine the person, yet Prine the artist next offered the heart-aching “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” (“What in the world’s come over you and what in heaven’s name have you done… you’re out there runnin’ just to be on the run”).
   Like so many of his songs, it sought to understand a peculiar course of events while also communicating hard-earned knowledge, which was also true in the gentle mull of “Souvenirs”:
  “Memories, they can’t be boughten
   They can’t be won at carnivals for free
   Well it took me years to get those souvenirs
   And I don’t know how they slipped away from me”
   Prine ended the song by dedicating it to his late friend and fellow songwriter, Steve Goodman. The applause that followed brought chills.
   A breezier stretch followed with the funny but hardly frivolous message of both physical and spiritual donation of body parts and other post-mortem giveaways in “Please Don’t Bury Me” (“down in the cold, cold ground, no, I’d rather have ’em cut me up and pass me all around):
  “Venus de Milo can have my arms
   Look out! I’ve got your nose
   Sell my heart to the junkman
   And give my love to Rose”
   Those lyrics brought smiles, and the singer’s between-song patter got laughs.
  “I’m endin’ up taller than my microphone tonight,” Prine said, looking down at his stand-up mic. “Somebody must have put somethin’ in my shoes.”
   He introduced “Fish and Whistle” by explaining that it was a song he tried to write badly enough so that a bossy record producer would let him stop working on an album. But it didn’t turn out the way that Prine planned.
  “After I sang it a couple hundred times,” he said, “I started likin’ it.”
  So did the audience at the Midland, which undoubtedly appreciated the lively ditty’s Huck Finnish take on life and religion. * “Father forgive us for what we must do
   You forgive us, we’ll forgive you
   We’ll forgive each other till we both turn blue
   Then we’ll whistle and go fishin’ in heaven”
   Prine kept the good feelings going with “Glory of True Love,” which he wrote with “an old buddy of mine from Bristol, England, named Roger Cook,” he said. “When we were in the middle of writing this song, I kind of had my mind on my wife. And I was hoping   he didn’t.”
   The lyrics told why:
  “You can climb the highest mountain
   Touch the moon and stars above
   But Old Faithful’s just a fountain * Compared to the glory of true love”
   The grandeur of this show included many shout-outs and hoots of approval from audience members. Prine offered his own call of the wild in “Crazy as a Loon” – both his own sardonic falsetto impression of the bird as well as the song’s titular metaphor of a fellow who feels like he’s going nuts from trouble following him, when, of course, it’s really him who’s following trouble. Still, the self-delusion was eloquent:
  “I headed down to Nashville
  To become a country star
   Every night you’d find me hangin’
   At every honky-tonk and bar
   Pretty soon I met a woman
   Pretty soon she done me wrong
   Pretty soon my life got sadder
   Than any country song” * Nearly every selection had a story behind it that Prine charismatically shared, but none was more amusingly uncomfortable than the one that went with “I Wish you Love and Happiness.”
  “This song is for you, if your ex has ever called up and invited you to her wedding,” Prine said, eliciting compassionate laughter from the crowd. “And then she asks you to get up and sing one for her. I figure always be prepared.”
  The tune was suitably pretty and gave a nod to being a good sport (“I got no hate and I got no pride”). But Prine got in the last shot with the lyric: “I wish you don’t do like ‘I Do’ and ever fall in love with someone like you.” * After cutting to the bone with the classic ballad, “Angel From Montgomery” (“To believe in this living is just a hard way to go”), Prine undertook a meaningful solo set that included “Christmas in Prison (“The searchlight in the big yard swings round with the gun and spotlights the snowflakes like the dust in the sun”) and the doomed Vietnam vet junkie elegy, “Sam Stone” (“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes, Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose”). * But the highlight of Prine by his lonesome onstage was his 1971 comical anti-establishment ode to organic self-help, ‘Illegal Smile.” The crowd loudly joined in on the defiantly laid-back chorus: * “And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile * It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while * Won’t you please tell the Man I didn’t kill anyone
   No, I’m just tryin’ to have me some fun” * The final time that the chorus came around, a beaming Prine said, “It’s your turn to sing,” and let the audience handle it. After receiving another standing ovation, he said: “Aw, you just like to hear yourself sing.”
   That we did. I dare say it was a moment that anyone lucky enough to be there will never forget. * When Prine was rejoined by his bassist and guitarist, he shared the tragic and tender balladry of “Hello in There,” movingly addressing the plight of the lonesome elderly; and “Lake Marie,” a marathon combination of spoken words, a wistful chorus and a climactic instrumental finish that inventively interwove American Indian history, the story of a man trying to save his marriage and the promise of “peaceful waters.”
   Prine left the stage to yet another standing ovation, but soon returned for an encore with his two sidemen as well as opening singer Carrie Rodriguez, who proved a worthy duet partner in the upbeat romantic send-up, “In Spite of Ourselves.”
   The wonderful show concluded with “Paradise,” whose ear-pleasing traditional twang seemingly contradicted the song’s sorry tale of a coal mining company destroying a beautiful passel of land.
  But that’s Prine for you, mixing up his poetry so it feels as complicated as real life.

By: Sydvicious Dear Fellow Prine shriners, The Kansas City show was MAGICAL! The beautiful & majestic Midland Theatre, John's humble & humorous chat, a perfect song list...of all the times I have been priviledged to experience Mr. Prine's shows (9 or 10) I have never been disappointed. Last nights show just stands out in my mind, as exceptional. Thank you John

from here
   "I must think in three chords," John Prine joked, one of a few wisecracks he'd deliver about his talents on the guitar. Maybe he does, although is picking and strumming seem to suit his country/folk stylings just fine. But John Prine worrying about his guitar playing would be like Robert Frost worrying about his penmanship. Prine is a man of many words, an eminent and precise lyricist who can touch points all along our emotional spectrum: anger, sadness, humor, melencholy, disappointment, fear, regret. Saturday night, he drew a near sell-out crowd (about 2,300 people) to the Midland by AMC, and, as he always does, he treated them graciously to a stellar reprisal of his life's best work. And he played them all the way everyone remembers them. The show lasted a hair under two hours and comprised 21 songs and his rapt audience was at least vaguely familiar with all of them, including the latter-day material, like "Long Monday." The audience was also schooled in how to watch and listen to a show like this. During some of the quieter numbers, the room was completely hushed. Even during Prine's solo moment, when his accomplices, Dave Jacques and John Wilber, took a powder for a few songs, you could hear with clarity his picking, his fingers sliding along his guitar strings, his breathing. (The sound was great all night, but this was a show this theater was designed for.) The entire show was a highlight: no lulls, no unfamiliar songs, lots of funny stories and one-liners. Those of us who have seen him before recognized some of those jokes, but they're still amusing. It helps that he's so humble and self-deprecating, in spite of his reputation and legend. But some moments stood out: "Angel From Montgomery," which never gets old; "All the Best," one of the saddest songs ever written for a wedding; "Souvenirs"; "Lake Marie," which erupted into a stormy instrumental jam at the end; the spine-tingling rendition of "Sam Stone," one of a few songs that ignited some singing. He turned the last chorus of "Illegal Smile" over to the crowd, too, and they served it back at him, loudly. The audience this evening comprised mostly people who were at least in grade school when he wrote that song and "Angel" and "Paradise," another highlight. But there were also plenty of fans 30-something and younger in the room, and a lot of them were as familiar and enraptured with his music as everyone else. For his encore, he brought out Rodriguez and her sidekick, Hanz Holzen. She sang the Iris DeMent part in "In Spite of Ourselves" and got a few whoops for the line about sniffing undies. They stayed around for "Paradise," a song about a town and all its memories killed by profiteers: "Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken / Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man ..." More simple truths and deep sentiments from a guy who thinks in poetry. Carrie Rodriguez: She opened the show with a 30-minute set that included "I Don't Wanna Play House Anymore," "Seven Angels on a Bicycle," and Towns Van Zandt's "Rex's Blues," which, she told the crowd, will be on an album of cover songs she's working on. It seemed like a majority of the crowd on Saturday was seeing her for the first time; she won them all over. (The line to her merch table was dozens long for nearly 30 minutes after her set). She can sing, write music and play a instruments (fiddle, guitar, mandolin). And it doesn't hurt that she's so nice looking. It's hard to figure out why she's not as well-known as Alison Krauss. Maybe this tour will lead her that way.
*****John Prine setlist: Spanish Pipedream, Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, Souvenirs, Please Don't Bury Me, Fish and Whistle, Glory of True Love, Crazy As A Loon, All the Best, Angel From Montgomery, Long Monday, Christmas in Prison, Bruised Orange, Living in th Future, Illegal Smile, Sam Stone, Bear Creek Blues, Crooked Piece of Time, Hello in There, Lake Marie. Encore: In Spite of Ourselves, Paradise.


September 11, 2009 John Prine at the Gillioz Theatre, Springfield, Missouri - Special Guest: Carrie Rodriguez. Back Up Musicians: Jason Wilber & Dave Jacques

By: brady doty
amazing show - a makeup for a snowed out show in february.. just a terrific time - every song is as fresh as the day he wrote it.. Carrie Rodriguez is perfect for this bill.. and Jason Wilber has an amazing throwback, open sound - perfect.. this set list is spot on (took notes on my ipod)

Spanish Pipedream (Blow up your TV)

Picture Show

Flag Decal

Six O'clock News

Souvenirs

Grandpa Was a Carpenter

Far from Me

Fish and Whistle

Glory of True Love

Angel from Montgomery

solo -

Long Monday

Christmas in Prison

Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)

Please Don't Bury Me

That's the Way That the World Goes 'Round

Sam Stone - (bass/guitar back in for last verse)

Bear Creek Blues

Crooked Piece of Time

She is My Everything

Ain't Hurtin' Nobody

Hello in There

Lake Marie (with Carrie Rodriguez)

In Spite of Ourselves

Unwed Fathers

Paradise


By: Carmen Limbaugh

Terrific show. Took me back 35 years to songs i haven't listened to since then. No turntable! I just wish he had played a duet he once did with Bonnie Raitt he had to have written called, "Barbara Lewis" which always makes me laugh. Many times I strummed that one myself and it lifted me up considerably. (Usually after Souvenirs which can be an existential bummer though I love it too.) But he played 2 hours 20 minutes which took the sting out of the ticket price. Wish I knew the play list as there were songs done I don't know titles of and would love to own them. PS My late Dad's birthday is Monday. He would have been 74. One of the too few memories I have is listening to John Prine's songs with him. He would pause, ponder, and maybe sing along. John asked us to think about things differently through irreverence, irony, and the poignant. Bless you.

 


February 28, 2009 John Prine at the Gillioz Theatre, Springfield, Missouri - Special Guest: Carrie Rodriguez. Back Up Musicians: Jason Wilber & Dave Jacques

Trouble On The Road To Springfield
March 3, 2009 by jasonwilber
Sounds like a U.S. Civil War story doesn’t it? “It was the winter of ‘65. I remember it well…”

But as you may know, if you were headed to the John Prine Concert in Springfield, Missouri this past Saturday, I’m not talking about a Civil War battle. There was no snow in St Louis, and very little snow in Springfield this past weekend. But halfway between them there was huge blizzard! I-70 and I-44 were both shut down in several places, and sadly there were lots of accidents. Our equipment truck got held up on the highway for most of the day, and although the concert promoter eventually made it to Springfield that evening about 2 hours before the show was scheduled to begin (he usually arrives about 6 hours before the show), the rest of us never did make it. Fortunately, none of us were involved in any accidents.

If you had tickets to the show, please check with the venue regarding what to do now. I hope they’ll reschedule the show and we’ll get to come play for you some other time soon.

On the flip side, we had a great concert in St. Louis on Friday night. John sang The Torch Singer, which was a surprise, since he’d never called that one in a show before that I could remember. After we played it, he told the audience he hadn’t sang it in 25 years. Our friend Carrie Rodriguez opened the show and then came out and sang and played fiddle with us on the encore.
read more from Jason Wilber at your nearest WilberNews stand here ...


By: comeonalong
So very disappointed that the concert was canceled! WEather in MO this time of year can be a bummer! Hope you come this way again some time!


By: NateDog
Showed up tonight to find out it was canceled :(


February 27, 2009 - John Prine at the Blanche M. Touhill Auditorium at the University of Missouri St Louis, Special Guest: Carrie Rodriguez. Back Up Musicians: Jason Wilber & Dave Jacques

 

 

By: Tom Finkel - Monday, Mar. 2 2009 @ 7:00AM
Review + MP3s: John Prine at the Touhill, Friday, February 27
full review and MORE here
   "Hello," John Prine said when he walked onstage at UMSL Friday night and picked up a guitar. Then he reeled off seven songs from his prodigious back catalogue before delving into his most recent collection, 2005's Fair & Square.
   That was just dandy with the audience at the sold-out Touhill Performing Arts Center. Including the drunk fella sitting right behind me, in the very last row of the orchestra section, alternately hollering encouragement and singing along.
   It was an interesting opening salvo. I'd half-expected Prine to introduce himself via "Some Humans Ain't Human," a topical song on Fair & Square that skewers the recently departed White House occupant with this spoken passage near the end:
   Have you ever noticed When you're feelin' really good
John Prine duets with Carrie Rodriguez in St Louis Feb 27, 21009 - photo courtesy of Reeda Buresh   There's always a pigeon That'll come shit on your hood
   Or you're feelin' your freedom And the world's off your back
   Some cowboy from Texas Starts his own war in Iraq
   But Prine's never really been about the easy laugh. In fact, he didn't play that song at all on Friday night. Instead, after the iconically nutty old chestnut "Spanish Pipedream" (Blow up your TV, throw away your paper/Move to the country, build you a home/Plant a little garden, eat a lotta peaches/Try and find Jesus on your own), we got the barstool's-eye view of "The Torch Singer" (Whiskey and pain both taste the same/During the time they go down). Said Prine after that one: "I ain't sang that in about 25 years." And then, out of the blue, "Six O'Clock News," a real day-brightener about an out-of-wedlock offspring who kills himself after learning that truth via an old diary (The whole town saw Jimmy on the six o'clock news/His brains were on the sidewalk, and blood was on his shoes).
   Which is not to imply the evening was a down one. Far from it. Just a little...unpredictable.
   Seeing Prine at sixty-plus was a little jarring, initially. I tend to visualize him the way he looked on the cover of his third album, 1973's Sweet Revenge --
   -- whose characterization in the original Rolling Stone Record Guide I still recall nearly thirty years after first reading it: "...[H]e sprawled unshaven in the front seat of a convertible, pointy-toed cowboy boots thrust out and a hungover f*ck-you expression beneath his shades."
   But if surgery for neck cancer a few years back has left Prine with a rounder-than-before body and the posture of someone who seems always to be saying not "F*ck you" but something more along the lines of, "So whaddaya think about that?" -- well, things could be a lot worse. The three-piece band -- Prine, dressed all in black, bassist Dave Jacques and lead guitarist Jason Wilber -- came up just shy of two dozen songs, playing nonstop for nearly two and a half hours. After the seven opening oldies, Prine played three songs in a row from Fair & Square. Then the supporting cast made for the wings, leaving the main man to his own devices for crowd favorite "Angel From Montgomery" and a few other similarly seasoned songs.
   Prine mostly stuck to business, though he engaged the audience with an introductory anecdote now and again. About "Souvenirs," he said, "I wrote this song while I was still delivering mail in Chicago. People used to ask me what it was like, delivering mail. I told 'em it drove me to songwriting." The night's best quip, deadpanned in response to a volley of shouted requests: "I know 'em all."
   And he does. The set traversed a wide swath of Prine's four-decade songwriting career, with an ample supply of popular favorites ("Please Don't Bury Me," "Fish and Whistle," "Hello in There," "Sam Stone") punctuated often by obscure-ish choices ("Storm Windows," "Unwed Fathers," "That's Alright By Me" -- that last is one of four bonus cuts from the vinyl edition of F&S that only recently were made available on a CD EP).
   Prine was joined onstage for the three-song encore set by opening act Carrie Rodriguez, who dueted on "Unwed Fathers" and "In Spite of Ourselves." The Austin-based fiddler had been up to the task of warming up the crowd for a legend despite the fact that the airline had lost her tenor guitar when she flew into town earlier in the day. (She gave a grateful shout-out to the local shop Killer Vintage for coming through with a loaner of the hard-to-find instrument.)
   Cancer and its consequences dropped Prine's voice a key or two -- that and the countless cigarettes that led up to the health scare -- and at times he drove that voice like a valet who just got tossed the keys to a '59 Porsche. But the old guy behind me at the Touhill sure as hell didn't mind, and neither did the rest of us.
   Setlist and mp3s - full review here

By: Joe Holleman

JOHN PRINE IN GREAT FORM AT THE TOUHILL
full review here
02/28/2009
   Folksinger-songwriter John Prine has never flowed in the mainstream of pop music. But his fans -- like the sold-out crowd Friday night at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center -- have faithfully traveled with him since he began his career as "the next Dylan" in the early 1970s.
   The affable Prine delivered a satisfying two-hour performance that included most of his classics and some newer selections, including several from "Fair & Square," which won the 2006 Grammy Award for best contemporary folk album.
   Prine, with only a lead guitar and bass to accompany his rhythm guitar, opened with "Spanish Pipedream," which encourages everyone to "blow up your TV" and "eat a lot of peaches." Other highlights of the opening set were "Please Don't Bury Me"; "Souvenirs," which he always dedicates to his late friend, Steve Goodman; the touching love song "Long Monday"; "Angel From Montgomery," which has become a signature song for Bonnie Raitt; and the joyous "Fish and Whistle," with fans helping out loudly on the chorus: "Father forgive us for what we must do; you forgive us and we'll forgive you; we'll forgive each other 'til we both turn blue; then we'll whistle and go fishin' in heaven."
   Prine sent his band off for a short break and performed solo on "Dear Abby," the sad and beautiful "One Red Rose" and "Big Old Goofy World."
   Then he sang what many consider to be his finest song, "Sam Stone," the story of a Vietnam vet who returns home and dies of a drug overdose. The chorus begins with the line, "There's a hole in daddy's arm, where all the money goes ..." It is a simple phrase, but also one of the most eloquent, powerful lines ever written in popular music. Hearing the audience quietly sing it along with Prine made it all that more haunting and dramatic.
   The band returned midway through "Sam Stone" and helped Prine finish off with an energized set highlighted by "Bear Creek Blues" and "Lake Marie." For an encore, Prine brought out opening-act singer Carrie Rodriguez, who sang with him on "Unwed Fathers" and provided the perfect bluegrass fiddle accompaniment to the show-closing "Paradise."
   One can only guess how many new fans Prine picks ups these days with his concerts. But rest assured, he certainly isn't losing any existing ones.
   SET LIST: 1. Spanish Pipedream (Blow Up Your TV) 2. The Torch Singer 3. Six O'Clock News 4. Please Don't Bury Me 5. Souvenirs 6. Storm Windows 7. Fish and Whistle 8. The Glory of True Love 9. Long Monday 10. Crazy as a Loon 11. Angel From Montgomery - (Solo) - 12. Dear Abby 13. One Red Rose 14. Big Old Goofy World 15. Sam Stone (Band returns) 16. Bear Creek Blues 17. That's Alright By Me 18. Great Rain 19. Hello In There 20. Lake Marie ---- (Encore, with Carrie Rodriguez) 21. Unwed Fathers 22. In Spite of Ourselves 23. Paradise

By: J. W. Ruch

http://jwruch.blogspot.com/2009/03/concert-update-john-prine.html
Last Friday evening I had the privilege and pleasure of seeing John Prine. Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has a lengthy discography and won Artist of the Year in 2005. He is hailed as one of the great singer-songwriters in American music history and is known for his humor and great story telling, particularly through song. The evening began with some BBQ at Bandana's, which was awesome. We then went down to the TouHill Performing Arts Center located on the University of Missouri Saint Louis campus. The opening act was a very talented girl named Carrie Rodriguez. She had a beautiful, yet edgy voice and was unique in that she played the tenor guitar (4 strings) as well as the fiddle. I had never seen an artist who sang and played fiddle at the same time with the fiddle being the main instrument. It was pretty awesome. She got a nice ovation at the end of her 30 minutes set. After a fairly long intermission, the energy began to escalate as the crowd of about 2500 anxiously awaited the legend. Finally, Prine and his two backup musicians (upright base and guitar/mandolin/harmonica) entered stage left to a very warm standing ovation. They then launched into a wonderful set of songs that lasted nearly two hours. I was really happy that Prine played my favorite song of his, Long Monday. It isn't one of his more popular tunes and it is pretty much 50/50 chance of him playing it live. After about nine songs, his accompanying musicians exited the stage and John played about 4 or 5 songs by himself. He was rejoined by his band mates to close out the evening with a couple more songs. There was of course an encore, during which Carrie Rodriguez was brought out to join the band. They closed with the wonderful piece Paradise which sounded awesome with the three part harmony and fiddle. This was one of my all time favorite concerts. One left this concert feeling as though they had seen a close friend performing some good music. The atmosphere was so intimate and pleasant. I highly recommend seeing John Prine whether you know his music or not. You will not be disappointed.

PREVIEW

By: Steve Whitworth
full preview here: http://www.thetelegraph.com/entertainment/prine_23969___article.html/album_touhill.html
John Prine brings folksy repertoire to Touhill PAC
ST. LOUIS - Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter John Prine is a true American original.
   Prine returns Friday night to the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri at St. Louis, where he performed a sold-out show in 2006.
   Prine has been dazzling critics and audiences since his self-titled debut album in 1971, which introduced his insightful and thought-provoking songwriting to a national audience. Many of the songs from that album remain among his fans' favorites to this day, including "Sam Stone," "Illegal Smile" and "Paradise."
   Before that, Prine was part of the so-called Chicago Folk Revival of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a movement that brought him and his good friend, the late Steve Goodman, into the national spotlight. Goodman is best remembered for writing "Angel From Montgomery," which Prine covered on his debut album, and "City of New Orleans," a huge hit for Arlo Guthrie.
   In the nearly four decades since, Prine has released some 20 albums, including greatest hits collections and anthologies. His distinctive gravelly voice and his delicate work on vintage Guild and Martin guitars both pay homage to and reinvent the American folk and country traditions.
   Among the numerous awards Prine has won throughout his extensive musical career, he was named the Artist Of The Year at the 2005 Americana Music Awards, and most recently, he took home the Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Contemporary Folk Album for "Fair & Square."
   In 2003, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting by the UK's BBC Radio 2 and that same year was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
   Prine most recently has released "Standard Songs For Average People," a cover album of duets with the equally legendary Mac Wiseman.
   Friday's show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $56.50 and $46.50 with applicable fees, and all seats are reserved. For ticket information, call the Touhill PAC Ticket Office at (314) 516-4949, or toll-free at (866) 516-4949, or visit www.touhill.org.


 

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