Cains Ballroom ... Oct.12... thee end all be all

[theeradicaleclectic]

This show was a decisive turn in the North American tour.... Absolutely unbelievably all out greatness... Buzzards played again and killed it with bits of Jazz and Grand Old Opry

the poster will break your heart to see and the people were the best.... more later... something for everyone and Jack was the happiest he has been since Memphis

if you were there then you know what i am saying... killed it dead... all the way... boom... amen

[Moller72]

Agreed completely all of them were so happy they played the encore for one hour.

[carlbelvin]

Fully agree one of the best shows I've seen in a while.

[maxman142001]

Poster pics please...

[bkramer10]

poster is in the poster thread. Anyone got a set list?

[Stay Gold]

Damn I'm jealous. I really wish I could catch a show in the south west or mid west rather than a typical LA show. Saw a photo of Pokey and Lilly Mae join the buzzards, that must have been great.

[dunedin]

Setlist is here http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jack-whit ... d1445.html

That's a hell of an encore.

[Moller72]

Setlist is here http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jack-whit ... d1445.html

That's a hell of an encore.

Yeah and the last 5 songs had pokey lafarge and his band and Lilly may.

[maxman142001]

Wow! 2 amazing shows for the price of 1...score

[Aquamarine]

Jack was the happiest he has been since Memphis

You couldn't have been at Ryman I, then.

Very happy for everyone that it was such a great show. That I missed.

[shaneoftheroad]

Jack was the happiest he has been since Memphis

You couldn't have been at Ryman I, then.

Very happy for everyone that it was such a great show. That I missed.

Yeah, I was at Memphis and Ryman I. Ryman I stands as the greatest live show I've ever seen.

[CainsBallroomErupts]

I was at both Cain's shows this year- the first one back in March was the best show I'd ever seen at Cain's- and the new record hadn't been released at the time. I didn't know half the songs played. I was also at the Ryman at a Dylan show when Jack came out and played cup of coffee and outlaw blues...the place was in a frenzy.

Last night, Cain's Ballroom hosted not only the best show I've ever seen at Cain's, but quite possibly the best show I've ever seen, period. Jack loves Cain's, but I had no idea it ran that deep. It isn't just about the setlist. I've been to several Pearl Jam shows that had 3 encores- shows in my native Seattle- where they played for 2.5 hours and 30 songs. And I loved PJ to the bone at the time. And it wasn't necessarily the crowd- although the crowd was fantastic. It was the band, and Jack. I've never seen a performance like I saw last night. It blew away the show in March. I can't imagine a better show; aside from coming out and playing Seven Nation Army in a 2nd encore. The show at Cain's last night was a perfect storm of perfection. It was stupid good; they played like it was the last show they'd ever play. I'll never forget it.

[theeradicaleclectic]

Jack was the happiest he has been since Memphis

You couldn't have been at Ryman I, then.

Very happy for everyone that it was such a great show. That I missed.

Yeah, I was at Memphis and Ryman I. Ryman I stands as the greatest live show I've ever seen.

this is becoming cliche... maybe someone who attended both of them can explain the difference... Ufbelievable might

let me say that jack seemed to be operating from an entirely new level of orchestration with confidence last night enough to cover for any and every sort of variable... bringing Lillie Mae up to be his back up singer and keeping Pokey and the guys on the stage for i dont know how many songs while also pulling Fats down to play piano ... it was like a huge love fest that even the audience was in on and was called upon to play their part in Jack's Orchestration repeatedly...

i cannot tell you how many times he was overwhelmed with joy at our singing along and at the possibility of trying out yet another song with more people ... he literally was going off and on stage pulling more people out and calling for more and more solos from his fellow artists including the traditional bluegrass line up where all the musicians are garrison style pickin and soloing .... it really was Cain's Old Opry going on there last night which was evidenced by his playing 2 full hours

also... let me just compliment the number of fans who resisted 'the capture' and cell phone ridiculousness... nearly none

[Aquamarine]

It's not a contest--a good show is a good show, a great show is a great show, etc., so no reason for unnecessary comparisons. My point was simply that there have been high points since Memphis, possibly higher than Memphis (I don't know as I wasn't there). Omaha was way up there, too.

Edit: Not directed at you, CainsBallroomErupts. Good review!

[Kali Durga]

My notes probably repeat things from the original post in this thread, but I can't see what's in it so oh well... And it's a repeat of what I posted in the LR with slight editing. So sue me. I'm using airplane wi-fi and am tired, to boot. But also very, very happy

The day in Tulsa started mid-morning when we joined the half-dozen people who'd gotten in line before us. Another dozen or so joined us before noon, then arrivals slacked off until later in the afternoon. The highlight of the day's long wait was a Craiglist ad ISO Jack tickets that the guy ahead of us found while surfing the web. Possibly NSFW, depending on where you work, but take note, boys-- this is the way to trade: http://tulsa.craigslist.org/tix/3331723439.html

Cain's Ballroom looks just as you might imagine a ballroom in a place like Tulsa would look-- Cavernous, with an exposed, arched wooden plank ceiling and huge portraits of old Oklahoman country’n’western stars lining the walls. In the center of the ceiling is a red neon six-pointed star and glittering disco ball. The stage is tiny, with a curved back wall and an arched proscenium that echoes the shape of the ceiling. Below the proscenium is a section of steel support beams, presumably added in later years as the building aged, low enough that I wondered briefly whether Jack could hit his head on it. No space for his towering III banners, and barely enough room to squeeze in all the lighting rigs on the edge of the front portion of the stage. But his crew made brilliant use of the space, anyway.

Around 8:30pm, Pokey and the South City Three came out moments after we in the front began a chant of "Pokey, Pokey, Pokey" that was picked up by most of the crowd and accompanied by clapping and stomping, and played the best opening set I've seen them play yet. Less new tunes than the other three times I've seen them open for Jack, Pokey stuck to their most well-known songs and threw in a rousing rendition of Take Me Back to Tulsa. The boys were in terrific form, really enjoying the crowd response.

During the set change, the first thing Jack's crew did that impressed me was pulling down three long, vertical projection screens along the curved back wall of the stage. Voila! Instant miniature III banners! Things got a bit quiet between acts, but amped right back up again when the lights dropped and I'm Shakin' began over the sound system. Jack surprised me by shaking up the bands' alternating schedule and bringing out the Buzzards! Presumably because the Peahens played Tulsa back in March, but whatever the reason I was ecstatic. Jack came out in pinstriped trousers and suspenders over a bright blue shirt that he said he'd bought just that day in Tulsa. He was obviously in a terrific mood, smiling from the get-go.

Overall, the setlist felt short, even though it was apparently at least 22 songs, depending on how you count teases/snippets/unknown/covers. But the show felt very long (as it was) because almost every full song was extended with either noodling around on the guitar, or a ripping solo, or spotlighting one or more of the Buzzards. Highlights--

- Jack sang Love Interruption solo, but had Fats on fiddle and Corey on mandolin come forward to play with him, and gave them each time to shine during the song. Created the absolute best version of that song that I've seen or heard yet.

- The final verse of Top Yourself included solos by Ikey and Fats, and a duet of bass & drums that was a nice treat—Very cool for Jack to spotlight Dominic and Daru together in that way.

- Cannon into When I Hear My Name was brain-melting (I think I say that about every Cannon combo).

- He only played a tease of Ball'n'Biscuit and I almost didn't recognize it at first because the lead-in to it was so slow and drawn out. Would've liked to have heard the whole song in that vein, but the tease was pretty delicious.

- He played a couple of covers/unknown things that I wasn't able to recognize because the vocals were a bit muddy.

- The second way that his crew impressed me was the way in which they utilized the lights on the arched upper section of the curved back wall, projecting patterns of blue light to really gorgeous effect.

- Two verses of You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket. I almost peed my pants over that.

- NITRO!! Hot damn, I love seeing Jack play surf tunes. He and Daru just feed off of each other like crazy, and watching his hands rip through this style on the guitar is freaking fantastic. I think it was after this song that Daru got off the drum kit and walked back towards Dominic, perhaps to catch his breath, and Jack walked over with his arm extended and gave Daru a great big handshake, both of them grinning like little kids.

- Can’t remember the song—Buffalo, perhaps?—but Jack was at the back mic getting ready to sing with Corey. Ikey, though, was on a roll and didn’t stop when Jack was ready to sing. Jack just sort of looked at him, he stopped, and Jack kind of laughed a bit and said “Go ahead, do what you want to do”. So Ikey kept going a few more bars, then Jack and the rest of the guys jumped in and continued the song. This is the sort of thing I love about the Buzzards—The Peahens seem to only follow Jack’s direction, but the guys seem to be ready to improvise almost as much as Jack does. This isn’t the first time it’s seemed to me that one of them has gone off on a tangent and Jack’s been the one to follow along, and I get the impression that he gets a real kick out of that.

- The encore (really more of a second set) was what elevated this show so far above any other Jack show I've experienced yet. He slammed into Sexteen Salteens, then into Steady As She Goes, and then, just as he had us hyperventilating, he brought out Pokey and the boys, along with Lillie Mae on fiddle, for FOUR SONGS that turned into an absolutely joyous jamboree of music. They started off with what was expected-- I Guess I Should Go To Sleep, with Adam playing Jack's Gibson Army-Navy and Pokey playing the GBMS-era Gibson L1. Then Jack left the piano, took the Army-Navy, Adam took the L1, and they launched into You Know That I Know. That was followed up with a version of We Are Going To Be Friends that you might think would have been completely overdone with all those performers on-stage, but was instead so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. And then straight into Goodnight Irene, with Lillie Mae again accompanying Jack on vocals for the chorus. I'm choking up right now, sitting here in the airport, remembering it as I type. It was so obvious that every one of the musicians on that stage were getting so much pleasure out of performing with each other. At one point, can't remember during which song, Jack walked to the front of the stage pointing at the smile on his face with both hands, as if saying to everyone in the crowd "Look at how much I'm enjoying this, c'mon, smile with me!". I'd like to think that even he would admit that what was happening up there was just plain tremendous fun. His thank you before the group bow was so heartfelt and sweet that there's no doubt the "campfire in the desert of his mind" must've been burning bright.

Very simply-- Thank you, Jack. This show surpassed every one of my overblown expectations. I will move heaven and earth to try to be there every single time you play Tulsa from now on.