Saw Willie Nelson last night!

[OriginalGeek]

He was in fine form. No opening act and the show was just a little over an hour and ten minutes and I still thought it was worth every penny. His voice sounded great when he sang but he seemed to talk a lot of the verses - which oddly also sounded great as he has an very soothing speaking voice. I guess he is in his mid 80s so I am glad I got to see him at all. His younger sister was on piano but son Lukas was not in the band last night - I think he might be prepping for a Promise of the Real tour so that would be understandable. I'll go see them if they come around here anywhere close.

The venue was Orlando's new performing arts center and it was magnificent. around 2500 seats I think and every one of them would be fine to watch any show from. Except mine last night - we had good seats but I seem to have got stuck behind the tallest guy in Orlando. The one tall guy in the whole theater. I could see Willie or the harmonica player but not both at the same time lol.

I couldn't have been more impressed with the sound. When Willie spoke (and he chatted some between shows - Willie's a funny guy on top of all his other talent) it was like he was sitting next to me. We are thinking about becoming members so we can get advance ticket sales because I want to go to this place a lot. The do orchestras, pop and rock shows, Broadway musicals and all kinds of things I'd be interested in. It's a beautiful venue. Our granddaughters love Hamilton and it's coming next season so we want in on that.

Here's a few pics:

[cilla4progress]

1. Saw his son this summer

Fantastic! Seems to be a family affair!

[SHRED]

2. Willie!

[underpants]

3. 70 minutes?

I'm torn here. I've seen James Taylor and Pearl Jam who do 3 hour shows. I'm short attention theater but I loved both shows.

Had a coworker who paid good money to see Spiro Gyro at a restaurant. They did like 8 songs and were done. He was pissed.

My mom saw Willie a few years ago and said he was fantastic.

[mitch96]

5. 70 minutes? How about 45 minutes

My girlfriend at the time LOVED Cher.. So it got tickets down here in Miami at an expensive venue.
She comes out with these outragious outfits, sings a few songs and that was it.. DONE. When the house lights came up people were pissed when they realized it was only a 45 min show..
What a rip off.

m

[underpants]

7. I would be too

I'm reminded of a story about "Wayne's World" ( not it's really on par with the performers we're talking about here). Myers showed it to the studio and they said, "It's funny but where's the rest of it?". It was only about 45 minutes long. They can't sell half a movie ticket. Myers went back and had to come up with 45 minutes of more movie. Basically 1/2 the movie is filler.

[BluesRunTheGame]

6. I can top that.

Years ago I saw Wynton Marsalis at the Bluenote in Boulder, CO. He played three tunes. They were kind of long but the set was still probably less than 40 minutes.

[OriginalGeek]

8. ha, don't tell him I saw Spyro Gyra for free

and wasn't even that big a deal to me as I was a kid and didn't know who they were and didn't really appreciate that kind of music back then. They played at 6-Flags over Texas when I was a teen and worked there.

[OriginalGeek]

10. I should add

he got a LOT of songs in there. Everything I wanted to hear plus quite a few I didn't realize I wanted to hear until I heard them. He covered Tom T. Hall and Hank Williams Sr. in addition to his own stuff.

Ordinarily, with anyone else, I probably woulda been upset a bit for a 70 minutes show as much as I paid for those tickets (about 100 each). But it was a terrific venue, I didn't have to sit through an opening act I wasn't interested in (happens more than you'd think lol), he sang everything I could have hoped for and I don't even feel a little cheated. Even the slow songs were more up-tempo than I'm used to hearing and I felt like it was an honor just to be in the same room with him.


I wish my dad could have been with me. He loved Willie.

[ghostsinthemachine]

4. I saw Lukas twice last Sunday

At Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in SF then at Slims. Some old dude jammed with him (,Bob Weir). Walked out to the smell of fire. He did Tom Petty's "American Girl" at both shows and "Breakdown" at Slim's. My 20th show. I'm a "Realer".

I've seen Willie a bunch too. Love how he sing/talks behind the meter. His harmonica player, Mickey Raphael, is my harmonica hero. Love the way he plays, like I play. A good friend of mine is Homer Wills, and he played harp, along with Mickey, in Willies band." If Bob Wills can have two steel guitars, I can have two harmonicas"...

Around 79 or so, Willie was playing at Spartan Stadium in San Jose. I went to the show, had a great time, and was outside selling photos after the show. I hear a voice, a Texas drawl, say "those are nice photos". I look up and its Willie! No manager, entourage, no nobody, just Willie. I had shots of Willie, Jerry, Dylan, etc laying out. I am thinking " oh great another rock star going to sue me over making a buck. Instead he asks how much, I tell him and add "for you Willie they're free".. He asked me to sell him three, himself, SRV, and Garcia. He also signed a couple too. (Long time lost).
Was the coolest encounter.

I love Willies new stuff. Just Breathe with Lukas is my favorite all time video. Roll me up and smoke me, my rallying cry.

[OriginalGeek]

9. that's great!

Yeah Willie strikes me as an all-around upstanding guy. I bought a metal "Whiskey River" sign to put up in my bar. Whenever I build one. This was my first time seeing him though I've been a fan since I was young and my dad would play Red-Headed Stranger on the phonograph machine all the time. Willie and Bob Dylan were his two favorites so I got to hear a lot of them growing up.

I don't know when but I will get to see PotR some day and I can't hardly wait. Talent and awesomeness abound in the Nelson family.

Willie signed stuff for folks for a while after the show but you could see his age when he walked off the stage. He stood for the whole thing though which is more than I did lol. Somebody had a nice skateboard deck with a portrait of Willie on it and he signed it and held it up for all to see. He seemed particularly amused by that lol.

[ghostsinthemachine]

13. He and the rest of the family, all sign

Until nobody's left.

[Initech]

11. How much weed was being passed around?

[OriginalGeek]

12. Ha not in this place

maybe in the parking areas around downtown but inside the theater they were on you in an instant if you started video-recording with your phone. I got my pics in right at the beginning before the hammer came down. Ushers were climbing over feet and chairs to get to people who lingered more than a picture worth once the show really got started.

I tried to drive around back of the place to see if there was anything to see but traffic was too choked up there as it is right in the middle of the two main downtown streets - one north and one south. I was hoping to at least glimpse a cloud lol.

Of course, I couldn't see backstage either. I imagine they waited until they got back on the bus.

[logosoco]

14. We saw him in 2005.

He was touring minor league baseball stadiums with Bob Dylan, so it was outside in JULY! He was amazing! I remember him introducing his son Lukas and I have been enjoying his music since then as well.

We took two of our kids, since it was advertised as "family friendly" and it was! We did get a whiff of pot and my kids looked at me and I said "I didn't bring any!" We did leave before Dylan finished his set (we are of that let's just say we saw enough and beat the traffic age!). My daughter said he sounded like a duck. In her history book the following year there was a photo of Dylan. I think she gets now what legendary performers she saw that evening.

My son has since taken part of the Whiskey River shirt we bought him that night and has it as a patch on his guitar case!

Willie is an amazing person!!!!