|
This was merely my second time seeing Elvis, the other being in 2005 with Emmylou and Larry Campbell, so I was not expecting a short opening set to compare, but he was still good. As if he wouldn't be, right?
The setlist is correct, "Red Shoes" was the opener and he took being solo as an opportunity to play around with his singing a bit. Always nice to hear things changed a bit to keep it interesting. I didn't expect "Either Side Of The Same Town" and he did it nicely, with the clean sound of his acoustic guitar barely audible over the sound of some overdrive and tremolo, laid on another channel I speculate, fully simulating having any regular electric guitar.
During "Radio Sweetheart" when he tells the story of thinking that by this point in his career he'd have some lovely ladies in outlandish dress "shaking their tail feathers" and, without saying the exact words, inviting the audience to sing back at him "Play one more for my radio sweetheart," I was the only one singing (that I heard anyway, and it was pretty quiet too), and then my friend joined in for the second one. In fact, even "Alison" didn't get the crowd singing. Evidently a Dylan crowd.
Strangely enough, "The River In Reverse" seemed to get some singing back and it's not near as inviting as those two. I guess they weren't bored enough not to care at that point, not that they didn't clap heartily enough at the end of each song.
"In Another Room" was a very pleasant surprise. I always liked the song a good deal, enough to put up a transcription of the chords here, and I never expected to hear it live. It's great how Elvis always pulls out surprises like that.
I was also surprised that the set was about 50/50 fast/slow songs. The opener normally gets the crowd pumped and won't do too many slow ones; Amos Lee did only two out of about 10. That may have contributed to the lack of enthusiasm for "Radio Sweetheart," but I also wondered if anyone got the jokes like the "Mack The Knife" reference (which I'd just happened to be singing before we got to the concert), but they seemingly did enjoy his slamming Schwarzenegger and Bush.
Columbus actually tends to be a pretty conservative place, and when you think of it, Elvis must have some guts to say such things everywhere he goes. Even if most agree some people get pretty passionate when somebody says something they disagree with. But he's been brave musically, it only makes sense he'd be brave in other places.
| 
