Bob Dylan / Leon Russell

[Karen]

I have two tickets for Bob Dylan with Leon Russell tomorrow night. This would be my third late weeknight concert in fourteen days and I'm tired, so I'm considering making this the second installment of my "Wasted Tickets Summer Series." (First was The Robert Cray Band.)

I saw Bob Dylan last year. (http://4kiki.posterous.com/32915362)

Any thoughts on Leon Russell?

[Karen]

.
A few faces of Leon:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUc9W7K-mi0&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37dw2r45Xzg&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT5aYRgmgyM

[HeathO96001]

Great videos Karen! Here's Leon Russell at the Concert For Bangladesh :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZIi188Cakk

[toofarnorth]

Any thoughts on Leon Russell?

You watched the Hall of Fame video so you know what Elton John thinks of Leon Russell.

A Superstar Puts One of His Early Influences Back in the Spotlight (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/arts/music/19leon.html)
Not only is it a heart warming story, "The Union" is a really good album. . . Leon wrote the last track as a thank you to Elton



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfdPFubCJPY


I respect Dylan for all the usual, and valid, reasons, but I've never cared about seeing him live.

I would love to see Leon Russell.
To my mind he is another Billy Preston - a musician's musician - one of those talented people who never really gets the attention from the public that they deserve. I literally 'cried for happy' when he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this past March.

[Karen]

Thanks Heath and tfn. I've got some other stuff pulling at me today, but this is what I decided to do: go to the "Leon Russell concert," and leave during the break (sorry Bob). Looking at Leon's set lists, I see that he generally sings 12 songs - that's a concert. It's raining now and will likely be raining then, but how cozy it would be under the shell (http://www.cmacevents.com/AboutCMAC.aspx) with the sound and smell of rain.

I read that Leon sometimes covers Ivory Joe Hunter. There's a particular song I would like in that case, but didn't see it on the setlists. Luckily, however, B.B. King often covers that song - he's up next, with Buddy Guy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvFF1bQNu8

[toofarnorth]

. . . this is what I decided to do: go to the "Leon Russell concert," and leave during the break (sorry Bob).
And :confused:

[Karen]

I was hoping to see a setlist by now – seats were in the venue’s twilight zone where some of the songs have lyrics and some have gibberish. I figured these out by my sketchy jottings and prior setlists:

A Song for You
Hummingbird
I’ve Just Seen a Face (Beatles)
Paint it Black sample [tease] into Kansas City Woman (Rolling Stones/Ivory Joe Hunter)
Papa Was a Rolling Stone
Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) – Chris Simmons did Berry’s duck walk across the stage
? Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms (Buck Owens)
Sweet Little Angel (B.B. King)
Wild Horses (Rolling Stones)
Walking Blues (Robert Johnson) – Chris Simmons solo - couldn’t decipher a single word of it, but liked his voice



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaVdQDw7LQc


The concert came nowhere near a sell-out. I got there at 7 pm and they had started filling up the second parking lot before the first was half filled in order to let everyone get closer to the venue. Still, my car was way to the end of the second lot – not where I wanted to be when walking out alone in the dark later.

My seats were 210 and 211. When I got to them, an older couple was sitting in 212 and 213. The husband had his jacket bunched up on his lap, so I took 210 and told him to go ahead and put his jacket on the extra seat since I had the ticket for it and was putting my stuff there too - an expensive shelf. We had a nice conversation where I learned that he was a big Dylan fan and didn’t know anything about Leon Russell. He was into folk music back in the day and remembered when Dylan switched to the electric guitar.

Some women took their seats behind us. One was very loud and a bit annoying. Leon’s set began with the band walking quickly onto the stage - Leon to the piano, which he started to play immediately. Everyone stood up, yells screams and whistles, and loud woman let out a shriek that would scare a banshee. My neighbors winced. Everyone sat right down again - except me because I was trying to get a decent picture from my cell phone. Then this shrieking woman poked me in the back and told me to sit down. I was dumbfounded. I probably would never do that, but if I was of a mind to I’d wait a bit first - and tap, not poke. So I showed her that I was taking a picture and she said something incomprehensible and again told me “sit down.” I moved to the side a little and got my picture first. This is the stellar view I was blocking (I'm thinking I need to read my cell phone manual).


http://www.gracepotter.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=338&d=1313088440


The set was just under an hour – one song rolling right into another. What fun! I had checked out videos where Leon’s voice seemed to be incapable of producing a melody, but his range here was surprisingly good.

I was tempted to stay for Bob Dylan, but didn’t want to be out that late. Gave the extra ticket to my row-mate so he wouldn’t have to let anyone move down to that seat and crowd him, and he could leave his jacket there. The guards at the gate told me they were surprised that quite a few people who left before me said they had only come for Leon Russell. And they were incorrect when they told me there would be guards where my car was parked. It was dark, spooky and guardless.

I'd definitely go see Leon Russell again - with better seats.

[toofarnorth]

I'd definitely go see Leon Russell again - with better seats.

Thank you for the recap. I'm so glad you enjoyed Leon . . and I love that he is drawing his own crowd.