Kerouac
weird musical dildo
Last night was Jason Isbell's opening night of a sold out three night residency at the Ryman Auditorium, and Shawn (@jaxn slim) and I were lucky enough to find some tickets on CL. We sat with a couple that were supposed to go with friends, but decided to see the Saturday show instead. To our great fortune they were only charging face value instead of the inflated prices that "scalped" tickets often go for. Seats were in the last section of Row 12 (which is the one of the upper balcony center sections) right by the lighting and sound booth, but there isn't a bad seat at the Ryman at all; we had a great view of the entire stage and you're still close enough to not wish you had a screen or projection to watch instead.
Jason's wife - Amanda Shires - opened up the show with an acapella number. She then brought out her band, which featured upright bass, a strange cocktail drum kit with a traditional kick and floor tom added as well, and electric guitar. Her guitarist was playing a small red amp that looked similar to a Fender Champ and a white Jazzmaster. He played well enough, but since I already saw Jazzmaster... master... Nels Cline there a few nights back, it fell a bit flat. He was also having a lot of sound issues and didn't seem to be in the PA at all for most of the set. Shires and the bassist sang some wonderful harmonies and more or less anchored the entire set. Shires of course played fiddle, but she also played some sort of almost gothic looking blacked out tenor guitar and a ukulele. For her last song she brought Jason out to play with her and it seemed like the crowd's enthusiasm tripled.
Short intermission and then Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, with Amanda Shires came out! Jason spoke briefly about the album and how much he loved the Ryman, then told us that for the first time ever they were going to play the entire album Southeastern straight through. This was really cool as there were several songs that he hasn't played live at ALL since the album came out, such as my favourite track, "Yvette." As I've come to expect, the show was tight and everything sounded amazing. When he sings "Cover Me Up" I dare you to listen and not get goosebumps, especially when you hear his voice project through the acoustical wonder that is the Ryman...
His guitarist, Sadler Vaden, has great tone and handled the majority of the slide work for the evening. His rig mainly consisted of a Gibson SG, a '72 Thinline, and an ES335 w/Bigsby through a 3rd Dream amp. Jason played a split of acoustic and electric, with his sole acoustic being a Martin Custom D-35; his electrics were a Deusenberg in black and gold, as well as a a Cherry SG with vibrola. His rig consisted of some sort of Fender Blackface (I think a Deluxe Reverb) and a Sommatone Roaring 40 head/2x12. Bassist Jimbo Hart primarily played a P-Bass and a Telecaster bass, through what appeared to be al Ampeg.
After finishing Southeastrn, Isbell told us there would be a ten minute intermission and then they'd come back to play some "rock 'n roll." When they returned they launched right into "Decoration Day," immediately followed by "Outfit."' "Go It Alone" (another one of my favourites) came next and then the 400 Unit left the stage, leaving Isbell and Shires alone to perform Warren Zevon's "Mutineer" as a very intimate duet.
With that the show was sadly over. :( As our forum's resident Isbell fanboy, I could have happily watch them play late into the evening, but it was a great show. I didn't take any pics last night, but Shawn brought his camera and managed to shoot a few that he'll hopefully upload later. For now here's an excellent one he posted to Instagram last night:
Jason's wife - Amanda Shires - opened up the show with an acapella number. She then brought out her band, which featured upright bass, a strange cocktail drum kit with a traditional kick and floor tom added as well, and electric guitar. Her guitarist was playing a small red amp that looked similar to a Fender Champ and a white Jazzmaster. He played well enough, but since I already saw Jazzmaster... master... Nels Cline there a few nights back, it fell a bit flat. He was also having a lot of sound issues and didn't seem to be in the PA at all for most of the set. Shires and the bassist sang some wonderful harmonies and more or less anchored the entire set. Shires of course played fiddle, but she also played some sort of almost gothic looking blacked out tenor guitar and a ukulele. For her last song she brought Jason out to play with her and it seemed like the crowd's enthusiasm tripled.
Short intermission and then Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, with Amanda Shires came out! Jason spoke briefly about the album and how much he loved the Ryman, then told us that for the first time ever they were going to play the entire album Southeastern straight through. This was really cool as there were several songs that he hasn't played live at ALL since the album came out, such as my favourite track, "Yvette." As I've come to expect, the show was tight and everything sounded amazing. When he sings "Cover Me Up" I dare you to listen and not get goosebumps, especially when you hear his voice project through the acoustical wonder that is the Ryman...
His guitarist, Sadler Vaden, has great tone and handled the majority of the slide work for the evening. His rig mainly consisted of a Gibson SG, a '72 Thinline, and an ES335 w/Bigsby through a 3rd Dream amp. Jason played a split of acoustic and electric, with his sole acoustic being a Martin Custom D-35; his electrics were a Deusenberg in black and gold, as well as a a Cherry SG with vibrola. His rig consisted of some sort of Fender Blackface (I think a Deluxe Reverb) and a Sommatone Roaring 40 head/2x12. Bassist Jimbo Hart primarily played a P-Bass and a Telecaster bass, through what appeared to be al Ampeg.After finishing Southeastrn, Isbell told us there would be a ten minute intermission and then they'd come back to play some "rock 'n roll." When they returned they launched right into "Decoration Day," immediately followed by "Outfit."' "Go It Alone" (another one of my favourites) came next and then the 400 Unit left the stage, leaving Isbell and Shires alone to perform Warren Zevon's "Mutineer" as a very intimate duet.
With that the show was sadly over. :( As our forum's resident Isbell fanboy, I could have happily watch them play late into the evening, but it was a great show. I didn't take any pics last night, but Shawn brought his camera and managed to shoot a few that he'll hopefully upload later. For now here's an excellent one he posted to Instagram last night:
