Hi Fellow Listers,

I thought I'd log on quick and send out the semi-obligatory concert reivew from this evening. Thanks to all that noise and lightshow our Father was making last night I didn't get much sleep so I'm tired and can barely read my scribblings, so bear with me here. Sorry if it's a bit dry.

The concert was held at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center which probably held about a thousand or so. The auditorium was about 3/4 full with many seats left open. It doesn't surprise me because the event wasn't advertised very well. The room was well lit with chairs scattered around - it reminded me of my high school luch room without the tables.

Phil came out a little after 7pm in a quiet but jovial mood. He started out with A SIGN CAME THROUGH THE WINDOW adding a bit of Elvis and some "mouthpiece" work near the end. He then pulled an oldie but a goodie out of his hat with THINGS I WILL DO. He even remembered all the words! SALVATION ARMY BAND was up next and, as usual, was different than any of the other times I've heard it. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.

LET EVERYTHING ELSE GO was next. The intro went well until he started to sing. He couldn't! He had a frog in his throat. He commented that since he was so near the beginning he didn't feel guilty about starting over again. Next was ABOVE ALL THINGS with the typical description of John Crystoston and how he wrote it for a friends' wedding.

Following that was LEGACY. This is one of my all-time favorites and every time I hear it, I'm amazed. WHAT A DAY came next and as he introduced it, he told how he played it at his dad's Homecoming. It took me awhile, but I realized he meant funeral. Good description. He did some extended jams with WAD adding some more mouthpiece work to the end. He seems to enjoy this.

PAKA was up and he told us more about his dad and how hard he worked. Cool. He continued with UNDER THE GRACE and then began making stuff up, playing some backwards loops and talking about putting subliminal messages in there. Some Jerry Lewis and more improv and backwards looping followd. These are some of my favorite parts of the show.

Then, he cranked (and I do mean cranked) out JOHN THE REVELATOR. I think I look the acoustic version better than the ones on CD. He then asked for a request and several songs were yelled out. Someone yelled "TIME" and he said "you want me to go back that far?" He starts to fiddle with his guitar and begins to talk to it, scolding it, I think, though I'm not sure why.

Instead of doing TIME, he starts SON OF MAN, but keeps forgetting the words and several people helped him. He never did get the third verse (Robin, what happened to that lyric book you were making for him?). Everyone started laughing and he said that it wasn't a comedy and was supposed to be a serious song. After pushing his way through SOM, he went into EVERYWHERE I LOOK and then finally into a rockin' version of TIME. After that was an istrumental that I couldn't pick out, something from MASTER AND THE MUSICIAN, maybe PILGRIMS FLIGHT, but I don't know for sure.

Last, and certainly not least, was a great version of TRUE BELIEVERS. I was getting a bit worried that he might not do this one, but fortunatly I was wrong. Like LEGACY, no matter how many times I see/hear this version, I'm always amazed.

As usual, I had my binoculars with me, but I didn't get to see much. And when I did, I felt like a complete idiot! At least in a dark auditorium fewer people can see me. The thought occured to me to ask Phil if he would play for me when we get Home so I could actually see him for real once, but then I came to my senses.

After the concert, it was announced that Phil would be hanging around for photos and autographs so we talked to friends for a while and checked out the CD table (PREMIUM JAMS was sold out so I wasn't able to get it - the PKC will be getting a phone call from me on Monday when I actually get some money!)

We stood in line (if you want to call it that) for a few minutes to talk with Phil, but he sudenly left with a bunch of us still in line. I was a bit bummed - I wanted him to autograph a CD I'm sending to a PK fan in Latvia as a surprise gift. Bummer, man.

All in all, a fun evening. I wouldn't have missed it. I know there's probably some stuff I'm forgetting, but oh, well. We still haven't gotten any more rain yet, the river is supposed to crest tomarrow (Thurs.) afternoon so we'll see what happens. Well, it's been a long week so far and I've still got alot to do before I move (again) on Saturday, so I'll bid you all a tired, but satisfied, good night.

-- by Stephanie Bargenquast

Page Last Updated: September 28, 2001