Friday, July 23, 2010

John Hiatt put on one helluva show

Last night we saw and heard one of America's songwriting treasures, John Hiatt. He performed with is new band, billed as John Hiatt & The Combo, and they were truly fantastic as Hiatt plowed through one classic after another. Starting with "Slow Turnin'" Hiatt had everyone into it from the start. "Cry Love" was next. Two songs and two classics...and they'd barely warmed up. He launched into some of the new songs then and, if memory serves, performed the first cut off of the new LP, "The Open Road", this song being the title cut, followed by "Homeland".

Then, for this blues enthusiast, things got REALLY good. The band followed up with "Like A Freight Train" which reminds me of a Muddy Waters number and "My Baby", a new classic if there is such a thing.

We heard many of the favorites including "Tennessee Plates", "Your Dad Did", and "Have A Little Faith In Me". The crowd loved it and the band clearly enjoyed the crowd's enthusiasm.

The band came out for an encore and performed two songs, one being "Riding With The King", a song BB King and Eric Clapton covered a few years back and one of the best songs of the last 30 years in this blues enthusiast's estimation. In fact, it occurred to me that this was one of those rare shows where I could identify each and every song the band played with the moment in my life when I'd first heard it. It was a truly special night.

I'm writing this as a "flow of consciousness" thing before I lose certain details, so I'll add additional details as I recall it. One thing is for sure, I will never feel more at home than I felt last night listening to the soundtrack to my life.

Go see John Hiatt if you have not already. It's quite a feeling. The new album is called "The Open Road". Go buy it.

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