April 4, 2000--Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma: Back with the E Street Band after a decade long layoff, their chemistry resoundingly endured. Nils Lofgren's guitar solo on "Youngstown" was ridiculously great, I loved the full-on rock arrangement of "Atlantic City," while Bruce singing with wife Patti was of special note. Our really cool seats--behind the stage--let us view something crazy: drummer Max Weinberg's last cymbal crash on "Because the Night" was so explosive that he started to fall backward off his drum stool before managing to upright himself.
August 17, 2000--Jackson Browne, Washington Center for the Performing Arts, Olympia: See, the biggies do come to the capital city! Browne's intimate, solo acoustic show was the summit of three times I'd seen him, affecting whether he played one of the many guitars he brought or piano. Audience members sincerely asked how he was doing and what he was listening to; he mentioned Randy Newman's 1999 album Bad Love. Someone inquired if he'd read that Time magazine called Olympia the hippest small town in the U.S.; another requested his 1989 cover of Tomas Borge's "My Personal Revenge," but he didn't think he could play it. Of course, the egotist in me thought the song was brought up because I had aired it on my radio show not far back (laugh out proud). I'm not disappointed if my favorites aren't played at concerts--I think a performer shouldn't be bound to a song he or she is tired of--but I was positively jolted to hear these: "For a Dancer," "Fountain of Sorrow" and "In the Shape of a Heart." Among the most inspired Jackson Browne pieces, they sounded utterly magnificent.
Fall 2000--Regina Carter, Washington Center for the Performing Arts: An accomplished violinist, Carter ripped through jazz classics and more in a joyful, stellar performance. We brought my stepdaughter Ina, a budding musician who played violin but would soon switch to drums and percussion in the remarkable SOGO (Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia) program. Regina Carter is not only an ace musician--she is a role model for young women. And a Detroiter to boot.
December 21, 2001--David Lanz, Washington Center for the Performing Arts: My first "new age" concert in eleven years and so appropriate to have it on the Winter Solstice, as everyone was still healing from the horrors of the 9/11 attacks. Pianist-composer David Lanz isn't a new age sap, anyway; he played in Seattle rock bands and in the '80s cut a version of "A Whiter Shade of Pale," inviting original Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher to join him. Lanz was also wickedly funny, telling the crowd that he took his son to a music biz party once and Elton John was there. So Lanz is looking at EJ and thinking of his extraordinary songs, like "Burn Down the Mission." But his son was in a different reality, saying, "Dad, that's the guy who wrote the music for The Lion King!" Near the end, Lanz played the bastard child of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," B. Bumble & the Stingers' "Nutrocker" (covered by Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the '70s). It was a crazed, roaring finish from an artist who basks in a complete stage show.
2002--John Trudell & Bad Dog, Capitol Theater, Olympia: My second Trudell concert and a KAOS/Olympia benefit (the station's G.W. Galbreath of the no-nonsense Indigenous program "View from the Shore" was on the bill). Trudell's poetry and hard-hitting songs were backed by his fabulous band Bad Dog, including sizzling guitarist Mark Shark handling the singing parts; percussionist Rick Eckstein was amazing. Much of the material encompassed Trudell's recent, excellent release Bone Days.
August 21, 2002--Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma:
Built around The Rising, the moving album that addressed 9/11, Bruce sang with loads of skill, whether the song was despairing ("You're Missing") or more upbeat ("Lonesome Day," pushed by Soozie Tyrell's violin work). Frustratingly, two idiots behind us wouldn't stop talking during the show, so Gina and I turned around and told them we wanted to hear Bruce and not their jabber; we paid $75 for each seat and we were pissed. How about this situation? The woman said, "I love this song!" and then proceeded to talk to her male partner all the way through it. Those two turds put a damper on our evening.
October 19, 2002--Paul McCartney, Tacoma Dome: Electrifying--a stone killer night. The best sound quality ever in the lowly Tacoma Dome (Sir Paul can afford it). It's tempting to count this in my top five shows but I'm aware of the element of nostalgia and for that reason, I'd say it was just a notch below a 1970s Springsteen performance. The thing is, McCartney hasn't lost his absurd enthusiasm (Greil Marcus' words about the early Beatles via Gary U.S. Bonds) and the inter-generational love being bounced around the arena was extraordinary. Together for a year now after the NYC 9/11 concert, McCartney's superb band (including keyboardist Wix Wickens, a Macca mainstay since 1989) faithfully recaptured every detail of what made those songs so overwhelming, from "Can't Buy Me Love" to "Let Me Roll It" to the guitar tradeoffs that finish Abbey Road. Age 60 now, Paul's voice had a "droop" and yet his phrasing of lyrics and melodies was still ear-opening. His ukulele version of George Harrison's "Something" was full of heart, and I looked at Gina when "She's Leaving Home" began. Tears were streaming down her face.
November 16, 2002--Dave Edmunds, Marshall Crenshaw, Washington Center, Olympia: Two roots rock heroes who mix '50s and '60s with a pop sheen--I believe they would have been successful even in that era, distinguishing themselves among the incredible breadth of early rock artists from a different part of history. These were performances I'll always remember. Wales' Dave Edmunds talked about his days with Rockpile (who only made one album but backed Edmunds' and Nick Lowe's records and tours for years), saying it was "good fun" and proceeded to run through his catalog with singing and playing strengths intact, although his biggest U.S. hit, "I Hear You Knockin'," sounded perfunctory. He didn't seem overly disappointed that it wasn't a full house but noted the line going around the block at the nearby Capitol Theater, where Indigenous author-speaker Sherman Alexie was appearing; "maybe you should have gone to that show," he laughed. Since he played solo, I couldn't blame Edmunds for hauling out a boom box to accompany him on a ravishing, rocked up version of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance," eleven minutes of mayhem in the 1968 version DE recorded with his band Love Sculpture. He was a more than nimble player then and still is now.
Marshall Crenshaw opened and his guitar mastery showed up, too; Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown" was the first song. Continuing to be a captivating vocalist, Crenshaw played some of his most inspired material from both his Warner Brothers and Razor & Tie Records eras, climaxing with "Cynical Girl" and "Someday Someway" from his extraordinary 1982 debut, Marshall Crenshaw. "People tell me that it doesn't seem like twenty years since my first album," he noted. "Yes, it does seem like twenty years."
February 15, 2003--Various Artists, KAOS-FM's 30th Anniversary Concert, Capitol Theater: It was a beautiful night to celebrate our remarkable free form radio station KAOS, which hit the airwaves on January 1st, 1973--the call letters allude to the evil organization from the '60s TV series "Get Smart." Among the performers: Baby Gramps, who sings American roots music in the manner of Popeye the Sailor Man while playing gutbucket guitar; Lois Maffeo, one of the best early artists at Olympia's K Records; and current hipsters and funky folks C.O.C.O. (Chris and Olivia from the City of Olympia).
See also: 1972-1974, 1975-1979, 1980-1981, 1982-1983, 1984-1987, 1988-1990, 1991-1995, 1996-1999