I haven't seen Vince play in a while so I was so excited today. My tummy was giving me fits so I had to take some immodium. No lie, I get that way when I get happy or excited.
The show started with One More Last Chance and it ended with What You Give Away. Sandwiched (mmm a Vince sandwich!) between those 2 songs was a fantastic, superbly played show. We counted 15 musicians. They had a big tight sound and the Paramount's acoustics must have helped bacause it's the best sounding show I've ever heard.
He talked about the first time he ever played the Paramount, which was when he was 19. At the time he said he was playing with Brian Berline, opening for John Prine. He said it was one of the first times he played in such a nice place and that Seattle reminds him of the early times. After that anecdote, he launched into Some Things Never Get Old where John Prine is mentioned by name.
He also talked about staying in a swanky hotel the previous night. He was given a robe to wear with leopard print on it. He said his belly only stuck out of it a little bit, and he had to call the front desk to order an extension belt for it. Ha ha. Then he said he thought about stealing it for Amy so she could have it for her birthday. Then he decided to buy it and he couldn't wait to wear it on the bus. He said he also thought about wearing it onstage as a smoking jacket. He mentioned the smoking jacket thing again right before he started to sing the Diana Krall song, Faint of Heart. He said if any one of his songs deserves a smoking jacket, it's that one.
He played a lot of songs from the new cds. It was great to hear them live. I loved how he talked about some of them, like Molly Brown and The Rhythm of the Pouring Rain(it's about SEX he said). I loved the bluegrass/acoustic thing in the middle of the show. It rocked my socks off. It reminded me of what Patty Loveless and her band did a few years back. Pure, soul, guts and sweet, rich harmonies. It was worth the price of admission just for that.
I'm sure the Pete Wasner/VG song writing session has been written about before but it was so funny how he explained that. He talked about how they were watching golf with the sound off, trying to write a song about anything. Vince noticed that a ton of the commercials during the golf game were for a form of male dysfunction. There is even a girl in the song called Levitra. Ha ha ha. He had to call it Cowboy UP. Lol...
I had such a grea time. I hope it's not a whole five years before I see him again.
