Sunday, March 1, 2009

Robert Earl Keen @ Terminal 5 2/28/09 (Setlist & Pictures)


In celebration of Texas' Independence Day Trev and I made our way to Terminal 5 to see Charlie Robison, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and headliner Robert Earl Keen. We got a bit of a slow start after Trev first forgot his ticket and then couldn't find it. We missed Ray Wylie Hubbard but got more than our share of Texas tunage.

We arrived in the middle of Charlie Robison's set and got to hear him play his crowd favorite, "My Hometown" after it was requested at every break and he had to repeatedly remind the crowd that he would play it. We heard a few of his other tunes and I would say that he is one that I will have to check out further.
After his performance it was Cross Canadian Ragweed to take the stage. I'd seen them open before for Robert Earl Keen. They're a solid band but something seems to be lacking...and as Trev pointed out, their lead singer looks a little too much like Scott Stapp from Creed to take seriously. They were OK.
At about 10:30 REK took the stage. As a crowd we were treated to some old favorites, a Townes Van Zandt cover, kick ass guitar from Rich Brotherton and Marty Muse, and the presence of the man...Mr. Robert Keen. It was a very solid show highlighted by a variation on my personal favorite Corpus Christi Bay (they seemed to play it a little faster than recorded) and the cover of TVZ's "Flying Shoes". They capped it all off by bringing out Cross Canadian Ragweed for the encore performance of "The Road Goes On Forever".
It was a good show, but I have to say this was the first time that I really noticed how bad the sound can be at Terminal 5. I'm not sure if it was just how close I was to the stage, but the sound quality was subpar. This combined with the fact that the crowd in our vicinity was a weird mix of over 50 swinger types and doofus Texas frat boys made for a less than awesome overall experience. At one point I thought Trev was going to speedbag the drunk d-bag that was bumping into him. This was only bested when the guy standing near me who was 50+ and grinding all over his lady friend took off his shirt for the encore. I don't need to see this guy's hairy back ever, least of all in close quarters at a concert. I guess that comes with the Texas Independence Day celebration theme.

Charlie Robison

Cross Canadian Ragweed

Robert Earl Keen







Robert Earl Keen Setlist

10,000 Chinese
Rose Hotel
New Life in Old Mexico
Corpus Christi Bay
Flying Shoes (Townes Van Zandt cover)
Broken End of Love
Shades of Gray/Amarillo Highway
That Buckin' Song
Wild Wind
Dreadful Selfish Crime
The Coming Home of Son and Brother
Feelin' Good Again
-------------
Encore:
The Road Goes On Forever

I feel like "I'm Coming Home" and "For Love" were in there too, but it is what it is. Anybody else remember?

No comments:

Post a Comment