Glass Harp at the Exit/In, Nashville, TN
June 23, 2004

Wendsday I drove a total of 450 miles, and spent 14 hours away from home to see Glass Harp. Was it worth it? Absolutly. I was in the very front, center stage. Great spot. My head was even with John's bass drum. The guys were right there... The music was everything and more that I had hoped it would be. They looked like they were having great fun, which I suspect they were. It's something special they've got...to really love what you do and present that to people. It's great to see musicians that are beaming smiles as they play. It didn't matter that there were mistakes, they know how to put on a great show, and had fun doing it. Most importantly, they are all just really nice, down to earth guys. I felt bad disturbing them as they were packing and leaving, but they all took time out from talking to friends to say hi and sign a tour poster for me (a complete stranger). So I guess that's it really...I arived back at my apartment at about five the next morning...then made it to class at ten! A great, wonderful night overall.

Glass Harp was great, even if there were a few issues. I was right up against the stage, right in the center. John's bass drum was about even with my head, and about six feet away, as were most of the stage amps. This is a cool spot to be, because you can hear the stage sound. Not that it really matters in most rock concerts, but it was still kinda neat. The other nice thing about being so close is being able to actually see the emotions and such on the players faces. I could see Daniel wince when he bummed a note...I could see John mouth at me "Is it too loud?" when I closed off my ears for a second...I could see Phil beaming, thinking of what he was going to do next...

The musicians in the band are all wonderful, of course Phil stole the show, but John is a monster drummer (have to see him live to believe it!). Don't know why he isn't known with the Bonhams, Bakers, and Moons of the world. He plays a smaller kit, and he has all those guys licks. And they're cleaner. And he writes great songs. Daniel seemed to be having an off night, but he was still pretty grooving. I don't know if he just couldn't hear himself or what, but I felt like there were some tuning and timing issues in the bass register.

Other players that night were Chris Queen and Phil Madera on keys. Phil is a big session guy in town who happened to be in the audience (he's played with Phil K. for a long time) and came up to play on John the Revelator. Chris is a great keyboard player, though he was mixed really low. Could have used more of him the whole night. Phil M. is an interesting character...when he sat down at the organ, it was like an old friend was there, and it didn't matter that they were onstage, they were going to have fun. I don't know if they planned that or not (I'm guessing not)...as Phil M. was leaving the stage, I could hear him ask Phil K. and John how they were doing, and that he hadn't heard from them in awhile or something like that!

Lots of jamming, the songs tended to run together. Which is a good thing in my book. Several new songs (or a few from Hourglass, maybe one new song), all pretty grooving...they opened the set with Can You See Me, which I thought was a little different, those opening guitar chords certianly set a different mood...but that song like many others that night seemed to last for hours (in a good way). They just kinda slipped into Look in the Sky after that opening jam. I can't remember everything they did, lots of stuff off Strings Attached...a Blind Faith cover...a few of Phil's songs from his solo CDs...pretty mixed bag of songs.

Guess thats all I can come up with...it was a great second Phil Keaggy experiance, and an absoultly amazing first Glass Harp experiance.

-- Lee Watford

[ Photos by Randi Anglin ] [ Review by Lee Watford ] [ Setlist ]