Greg Brown -- April 19, 1997

• Commentary
• Song List

Commentary:

greg played last night at the new moon coffeehouse, haverhill, ma. it was held in the sanctuary of the unitarian church, a big lovely old place, complete with pipe organ, stained glass etc. and packed to the rafters with people.

opening for greg was dean stevens. apparently he opened for greg a year ago at the same gig. dean is a really big guy with a really big heart who sings songs about life and gardening and guitars and his now 14 trips to el salvador. endearing and enjoyable.

an unexpected treat was greg's friend rad playing with him on keyboard. the man, who did not utter a word the entire night, plays simultaneously like an angel and a man possessed. he really is amazing, and i swear could play any song in the universe as if he'd heard it a thousand times. greg said we had to be especially nice to the piano player as he had played last night with greg in shirley, ma, driven all night through a snow storm to a gig in upstate new york, played his gig at noon, then turned around and driven back in time to play with greg. wouldn't know it by me.

they had trouble getting the monitor situation right...well, they first had to get them even turned on. greg said that was ok, he'd heard all these songs before anyhow. greg played standing up btw.

ok, the set list, with fashion report to follow:

Song List:

1. driftless
2. one wrong turn
3. lord i have made you a place
4. two little feet
5. you gave me flowers
6. speaking in tongues
   -intermission-
7. just by myself - with a really funny spoken part in the middle of conversations he'd have with himself, one being asking himself if he really hated the movie 'the english patient' - "yeah, i really thought it was dumb'...
8. you drive me crazy - prefaced, as it was last week, with the scenario of he (with rad this time) rolling into town in a rather nice, rather beat up purple cadillac, pulling up to smitty's or whatever and doing their little lounge act...
9. china
10. if i had known
11. his new 'spring song' - name?
12. loneliness house
13. joint's a dump
14. ella mae - not sure of his grandmother's name, but wow what a song for her
15. think about you
16. i'm this blue
17. encore: (brought dean stevens out) they did a william blake song, don't know the name, about a young boy tom, chimney sweeper etc. like a mini dickens saga.
18. i shall not be moved
19. you gotta move - greg doing robert johnson. my life is complete.

the crowd was frenzied at this point, and making enough sustained noisy racket for a second encore, but the new moon folks brought up the lights, and that was that. i waited for a short bit to say hello to greg, but no sign of him or rad. i had two hours to travel home, so he may've come out later, i had to hit the road.

fashion report: greg resplendant in tuxedo jacket with wide velvet lapel and bright red satin lining (over his sleeveless t-shirt), matching trousers, and socks with teva sandals. our rainy weather wrecking havoc with his curly mop. same red sunglass as last weekend...my kingdom for a glimpse at his eyes...what color ARE they?

guess he's on the road today on this beautiful sunny sunday to play this evening in white river junction, VT.

saw a couple faces from the bruce cockburn concert in portsmouth, nh last monday. gotta love the crowd that loves greg.

alora