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John Prine

Wow, what can I say? The Tivoli Theater in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee is a beautiful place. It's one of many theaters that are becoming the norm for a Tennessee John Prine show. Joel, my wife, and myself travelled south for what will be my final concert experience of the 2006 season (baby on the way!). We'd preordered tickets a long time ago and didn't know what to expect, but our seats were fantastic, a little left of stage two rows back!. The first thing I noticed was a wild wooly mane of red hair in the front row, so I thought it was the mistress of the Prine shrine, Reeda. So what do I do? I'm wearing my 1997 Wogstock shirt which she had made, so I walk along in front of her nice and slow to judge the reaction, cause I'm not sure it's her yet. I walk past and pretend to study the guitars lined up on the stage, then I turn and slowly walk back toward her. She's looking at me funny, so I'm sure it's her, so I stop and say "Anyone here named Reeda?" And everyone on the front row shakes their heads no. Oh well, made a fool of myself again, and Reeda, if that really was you up there I'm gonna come and get ya! I haven't seen her in ten years, so when I got home I pulled out an old picture, and I'm still not sure it wasn't her.... Anyway, I digress, on to the music..... No opening act was listed, so Pat Mclaughlin opened up for him. I wrote down what I assumed to be the names of Pat's songs. I wasn't all that familiar with Pat's solo works until this show, but you can be sure that I'll be ordering one of Pat's CD's soon. Here's his set list: God and Everybody Cry to Me It's Alright to be a Redneck Little Grass Shack Julia Little Child The Longer The Waiting Wichita Lineman (with Jason Wilbur) After a brief intermission, the band took the stage. We'd already seen Pat and Jason Wilbur, and I knew that David Jacques was there because of the big old stand up bass leaning on the stage. When John came out he got a huge round of applause and standing ovation without striking a chord. Here's the setlist beginning with the always opener Spanish Pipedream: Spanish Pipedream Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore 6 O'Clock News Souvenirs (for Steve Goodman) Far From Me Fish and Whistle Glory of True Love Crazy as a Loon Taking a Walk Angel From Montgomery (for Bonnie Raitt) band exits stage Long Monday Donald and Lydia Dear Abby That's the Way That The World Goes Round (Happy Enchilada) One Red Rose (from request yelled out) Oldest Baby in the World Talk Dirty in Hawaiian Sam Stone (band returns one at a time) Bear Creek Blues You Are My Everything Ain't Hurtin Nobody Some Humans Ain't Human Hello In There (for his mother) Lake Marie (last song thanks everyone for coming) Thunderous applause, whistles, yells, whoops, hollers and a very long standing ovation later, the band returns for the encore: Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone Illegal Smile Daddy's Little Pumpkin (by request) Pat sang one verse Paradise (John's very tall brother, Billy Prine, played guitar and sang one verse) This show was as great as any I've ever seen. The best being at the Ryman Auditorium on the Lost Dogs tour with Phil Parlapiano, this one had to be number two. The crowd was really into it, yelling requests almost between every song. John would just smile and say things like "I'm making a list", or "I know em all". John looked and sounded great. He told one funny story about when he was getting out of his car at the Theater. He said two guys came running toward him and yelled "John Prine!". He said "if you two guys are here I'm sorry I didn't talk to you, you scared the shit out of me." Beautiful theater, beautiful music, great experience. If given the chance, you can be sure that I'll visit the Tivoli again to see my favorite folkie on the road, and to the guy and girl from Knoxville that sat in front of us (Rachel and Bill), just wanted to give a big yell out and say I hope you enjoyed the show. Thanks for taking the time to read this, hope you set list collectors are sated for a while. If you were at the show and have a review you'd like posted here, Email it to me and I'll be glad to post it. Until next time...... Monkey Out Back to the Prine Page Email the Monkey Visit Shane-Pack.com to check out some of my original music and maybe...uh...order a CD or something .