And the detailed review...
The goods first:
http://www.archive.org/details/bt2006-07-28.km201.flac16
http://www.archive.org/details/bt2006-07-29.km201.flac16
A month or two back when I told a friend of mine we had a baby on the way, I asked him if he had any advice, since he'd recently become a father himself. Expecting some wisdom about parenting or some other pithy counsel, he instead passed along these two tidbits:
1) Becoming a parent is like going from being a rockstar (doing whatever you want, staying out late, partying) to bieng a roadie for a rockstar (having to answer ridiculous demands and be ready for anything).
2) Do yourself a favor and go on one last road trip.
So with that in mind, and the schedule in front of me, Vicksburg looked like the target - small venue, two shows, somewhere I'd never been before...groovy.
I posted to the mailing list, the message board and a taper's board seeing if anyone else was going, and got an answer from a taper who had decided to pass on Panic in Memphis because he'd just gotten a new job and couldn't afford the road trip. However, his parents lived in Vicksburg and could offer a free place to crash in exchange for my help getting in. And so it began.
I ended up flying into New Orleans because it was about $200 cheaper, rented a car (PT Cruiser!) and trucked on up to Vicksburg, about a 220 mile drive. Pulled in late afternoon, checked in with Colin at the venue, and we were good to go. Killed 90 minutes with a spin around the Vicksburg National Military Park (impressively immense), then headed back down to the casino.
The Bottleneck Blues Bar seats about 300 according to the web site, though that's with actual seats. Five or six rows of seats on the lower floor level, then three steps up (past a video poker bar), a row of stools at the bar, and five or six more rows. That's it. A big bar at the back (which was closed - oddly, they give you two drinks at the beginning of the night with your ticket, and that's all you get), and from there the exit out to the casino. My cohort Kevin and I snagged seats at the back row of the lower floor, and began setting up our gear when the guy behind us growled "Hey, don't do me any favors". A bit self-conscious, we ran as low as possible - basically head-height - but were alternately pleased and disappointed to see that nobody was allowed to get up and dance during the show. A few folks tried, but security asked them to sit down until Colin finally came out and laid down the law - and from that point on, about half of the crowd was up and grooving. Well, half of the crowd that was left - apparently around 30-40% of the lower floor tickets were comped for 'high rollers', many of whom ended up being of the...older, female persuasion. They defected about four songs in, which gave us a bit more room to move around and get out from underneath our mics (which were right between our heads).
The first night was John's setlist, and it looked it - the split Devil was a tipoff. Brother John was good as an opener, and the Shout tease got people going. By the time they hit Devil it was seeming like a more radio-friendly set, but then they hit a streak of Slow Change>Optimistic Thought>Mulling It Over>Can't Win True Love>But Anyway that brought the old-school. Then in true southern blues tribute style, they launched into Make My Way - a treat since I was regretting missing Red Rocks this year. The rest of the set was up and down - Imagine>Psycho Joe was odd, though the electric/acoustic changeover from You Lost Me There>She Isn't Mine was fun to watch. Ending with Hook, then a Run>Devil encore was definitely a crowd-pleaser.
Kevin and his girlfriend got after-show passes so we got to hang out after the show for a bit; he recommended a local barbecue place (the guys were sick to death of dinner buffets) as well as a local blues bar (well, *the* local bar - Vicksburg is pretty dead at night other than the casinos). They sounded interested but didn't show. Worth a shot. Brendan asked if I wanted a request, so I went with Mountain Cry - a rarity this year with only 4 plays (only 2 last year, and 1 the year before that). That prompted "Ooh,
Mountain Cry". Brendan said he was also toying with the idea of playing Price to Pay, but the request was already in. Chan jokingly said "How about Suite? Nah, casino crowd, don't want to blow 20 minutes on that." I wouldn't have complained...
After transferring Kevin's copy of the previous night's show, we took a trip around Vicksburg in the daylight to see some of the bed & breakfasts, converted from antebellum houses, and the old town hall which, despite its prominence, never took a cannonball during the Civil War. Turns out it's too far up the hill from the river where the gunboats went. Vicksburg is a very hilly town, and on the rare occasions when it does get cold enough for ice to form, there are accidents all over the place because the roads are so steep. We took a mid-afternoon break at a local bar to people-watch and cool off (and get stared at by some guy who'd obviously had WAY too much of something), and then after a home-cooked dinner of crawfish etouffee (sort of a gumbo, but thicker, made in a roux with crawfish instead of shrimp, and
served on a bed of rice - delicious) it was back to the Bottleneck.
Night 2 had far fewer grandma-types (down front, anyway) and a more active crowd. People were up and dancing for most of the night, and we set up in front of a woman who, as it turns out, is on the message board! She was all too happy to let us run our mic stand way up out of harm's way, and we chitchatted for a good hour before the show started. Halfway through she'd abandoned her seat completely to go stand at the front of the stage, and by the time I ran into her after the show, she'd gotten a harp, had the band
sign her road-trip map (she'd driven down from Little Rock) and she even got a few pictures with John and Brendan.
As for the setlist, much better than the night before. The Believe Me>GBU>Love & Greed segue was especially nice, as was Defense & Desire>Bagheera. And the new keys-drum-bass bridge in the middle of the solo area was a big surprise - sounded amazing. They switched up the setlist a bit toward the end - Rubberneck was supposed to be Can't See Why, and the encore was supposed to be just Mountain Cry, but they stuck in You Can't Stop beforehand. More songs, what's to complain about? They blew a good
15-20 minutes past curfew both nights but by the time the last notes of Mountain Cry came out, everyone was on their feet and applauding. Always good to see.
After the show we headed out to a local bar to see some more music, before finally turning in around 2am. Up early the next morning for a southern breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and grits (not nearly as bad as I was expecting) which was just enough to power me back to New Orleans for the flight home.
So...first show of 2006 comes three months later than expected (had to miss Toad's Place in April for a work trip to Mexico) but well worth it. Here's hoping they blanket the northeast even more for fall tour...
