From:

Venue was the auditorium of Wallkill, NY H.S. but the concert was to benefit a local Christian school.

Only my second time to see the Musician who plays for the Master. He was in good voice & laid back mood. Very funny & friendly. He performed well and I was excited but unfortunately I think the travel sapped a lot of his energy.

During Paka, he had several false starts and he shook his left hand a few times. Probably a little tired & stiff. I'm not being critical, just reporting my observations. I really enjoyed myself though.

Here's the set list with comments...

1) Metamorphosis (excellent)
2) Sign Came Thru A Window (Jam Man extraordinaire)
3) Carry Me Back
4) Shades of Green
5) Love Divine (excellent- I'm used to hearing the recording. This was upbeat yet laid back with just Phil's voice & his Olson)
6) You Have My Heart
7) A song he co-wrote with Aaron Miller (son of Norman from the PK album). First ever performance- he actually was reading the lyrics as he was singing. My guess is that the song title was "I Want To Fly" or "Lifting Their Hands"... nice tune
8) Phil quotes Ringo's self intro from the 1965 Ed Sullivan Show "All nervous & outta tune, Ringo!"...and he sings one line from "Honey Don't."
9) Here Comes The Sun- a tribute to George, very well played on the Olson with excellent use of effects, almost exact guitar sound as the Abbey Road recording.Phil almost forgot the second verse. He paused a beat or two then picked up correctly. Very nice & well received.
10) Fools Wisdom- a cover of a song from another Christian contemp artist that I wasn't familiar with.
11) Your Love Broke Thru- Phil called up a friend named Bill from his church back in Nashville. Bill sang the song at church a few weeks back & Phil enjoyed it. Bill & family & friends traveled to see the show & Phil called him up. Bill sang 2nd verse & they harmonized very nicely on the chorus.
12) True Believers- very similar to the version on Strings Attached. Blows away the studio recording, IMHO.

---intermission---

13) Salvation Army Band- see above comments- excellent
14) I Will Be There
15) Maker Of The Universe
16) It Could Have Been Me- very good- from his comments, I got the impression that he doesn't do this one often.
17) Hold Me Jesus- Rich Mullin song
18) Paka- took him three tries to get past the first few bars but then played it flawlessly
19) Survivor
20) One of the instrumentals from Acoustic Sketches (sorry not sure which one, maybe Jam In The Pocket) evolved into a Jam man exploration & improv- near the end he played the opening guitar riff to Day Tripper and then an intricate rhythm piece similar to Pinball Wizard but it wasn't quite the same.
21) Let Everything Else Go- very nice- one of my fave PK songs. This also segued into a baroque sounding piece (Nellie's Tune?).

---end of set---

22) Penny Lane- someone in the audience must have shouted this one out. Phil responded by saying, "Yeah, I love that one...I could do that if you want me too..." Of course, the answer was yes! He very nicely reproducted the fire engine bell from the second verse by tapping on the neck. He filled in the trumpet parts by vocally pushing out the notes with closed lips (like we all try to emulate trumpets). He even added the rare trumpet trill at the end.

23) Nothing But The Blood segued into When Will I Learn To Live In God which segued into the chorus from Strong Tower & he finished up with the spirited guitar riff from Strong Tower.

I would have loved to have heard a full version of Strong Tower.

There were a few times where he kinda went way out there with the Jam Man. He's a pro at it and uses it well in this setting but sometimes kinda went on too long with it. Could be that he was stretching out a few songs to rest his voice since he performed in Butler the night before.

Ok, so there you are. Sorry I couldn't be more detailed (for those who wanted more. Sorry if I was too detailed but I guess that's just me. This is kinda what I would want to hear from shows I couldn't get to.

Dirk

Page Last Updated: May 09, 2003