Are the Good times really over? (Merle Haggard at the Glenn 10/25)
Merle Haggard came to the music capital of the world, and I for one was totally excited. He's one of the few true country music legends that I've never seen in concert.
I never got a chance to see The Man in Black, or Waylon, or Townes Van Zandt before they passed away, but i've seen Willie, and George Jones, and Billy Joe Shaver, and a bunch of others. Most of the great country singers that I've loved I've gotten to see.
Even though I'm on a strict budget these days, I knew that I had to see The Hag. There was no doubt about it. Tickets were less than $30 too which was a plus.
My buddy G had seen him recently and was a little disappointed because he had payed almost $50, and he said that Hag didn't play very long, but was impressed with his song selection.
That didn't discourage me.
I had to do it.
I figured if he just played me a couple of those classics, that'd be it. I'd be set. That'd make it worth it.
The concert was outside and holy crap, it was cold.
A cold front had blown in, and it was in the 50s by the time the show started. That's cold for Texas.
The concert was at the Glenn at the Backyard in Austin, a pretty new, pretty cool little spot.
The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash opened the show.
I wasn't too impressed with them, but the sound was awful, so perhaps that had something to do with.
Then, unannounced, Freddy Powers played next. That was actually really cool. Freddy is an Austinite, and lives apparently just down the street. He wrote a bunch of songs for Merle and others, so Merle apparently invited him to come play a couple. He played "Natural High", which was really cool, and "A friend in California". He played a couple other Hag songs as well. I had no idea he wrote so many classic Hag songs. (You can see a partial list of songs he wrote here: http://www.freddypowers.com/discography.htm).
I really enjoyed Freddy's set, despite the fact that the sound was still a bit muddled.
I hoped they would get it fixed for Hag.
Hag finally took the stage after Freddy, and I've got to say, he sounded great. I just sat back and basked in the classic California country sound of the Hag. He played "The Way I Am" quite early, and even though I was freezing, I was loving it. I was thinking about the review I would write, and how I would probably say something about how great he still sounded, and how he could still really belt out a song, and how, unlike Willie (one of his few contemporaries out there), Merle was really singing and not just going thru the motions.
(Don't get me wrong--I love Willie. Willie is great. Willie still puts on great shows. But Willie has been doing it for a long long time. That last couple of times I've seen him he doesn't so much "sing" the songs, he basically "talks" them).
And as my brain was wandering around, Merle suddenly started playing some songs that were newer and that I didn't know..
And then Merle played "Natural High", which Freddy had already played.
And then Merle was done.
1 hour and 5 minutes.
No encore, no nothing.
The Road Manager came out and said Merle wouldn't be back for an encore. He said that they had a long way to travel and thanked us for coming out and urged us to buy some Haggard merchandise that i'm sure was over priced.
Umm...no.
I know he's old and a "legend", and some will say that as such, I should give him the benefit of the doubt.
But no.
I don't buy it.
That sucked.
I hated it.
Lots of people hated it.
Everyone was kind of in shock that it was over so soon.
We all paid our hard earned money. (Some of us couldn't even really afford the money for the show but went anyway). And I can safely say, without a doubt, that I didn't get my money's worth.
It's easiest to just put it like this.
Here's the songs Hag didn't play:
Are the Good Times Really Over (my all time favorite Hag song)
Kern River
Mama's Hungry Eyes
Sing me back Home
Lonesome Fugitive
Swingin Doors
Ramblin Fever
I think i'll just stay here and drink
Lookin for a Place to fall apart
Branded Man
Rainbow Stew
This list goes on.
Unacceptable.
I don't care if you play slightly mediocre new songs as long as you play the classics too.
Look at the ones he left off!
And there's more classics he left off too, I just can't remember them all because there were too many.
Such a shame.
It shoulda been great.
What really gets me, and the thing that sucks the most is that I had to go. I didn't really have a choice at all. If I hadn't gone, I would have always wondered what I missed.
One time when I was in high school Johnny Cash played in my hometown and I didn't go see him. I remember the night well--it was rainy and dark and nasty, and I actually, while out on a joyride, spun around a blind corner and slammed on the brakes as i came within inches of sideswiping his tourbus. But I didn't go see him in concert, and I always regreted it.
I've seen Merle Haggard now, but I won't be going to see the Hag anymore, that's for sure.
Would i have been better off just staying home and listening to my cds?
Probably.
Or better yet, with the money that I spent on the Hag, I could go out and see 3 or so younger artists like Dale Watson, or Hayes Carll, or any of the countless other talented Texas musicians who are making, and have made, great country music.
Granted, they're not "legends" like Merle yet.
But they don't act like it either.
They respect that you're paying money to see them, and they appreciate that you're there watching them.
And they're good. Really good. No doubt about it.
"Stop rollin downhill like a snowball headed for hell".
Dang.
It sure would have been nice to hear Hag sing that.
I've got it on cd though.
Are the good times really over for good?
Shoot.
I hope not.
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