Well, it's officially tomorrow - it's 1:15 a.m. (late Friday night). I have just been to the local "midnight madness" at our bookseller to buy Harry Potter... but, this post is not to discuss that!
Gabe and I had an AMAZING time at the Al Stewart concert! He is phenomen-AL! He sounds *exactly* the same as he did in the 70's! To cut to the chase, he was witty, entertaining, EXTREMELY chatty, and a consummate performer. There were only 150 of us in the back room of the guitar store, McCabe's, in Santa Monica (California). It was a regular performance area with a stage, lights, sound room, the whole deal. There were vintage guitars, mandolins, banjos, autoharps, and everything hanging from the walls, as well as pictures and posters of many music greats throughout the store. It looked as if we'd stepped back into a time warp from the 60's. Al sang two of my favorite songs of his: Merlin's Time and Roads to Moscow. He took requests and was very friendly to everyone. We were third in line awaiting him before the performance and just as the babysitter called me, UP HE WALKS!! Gabe jogged my arm and I was like (to the babysitter) "Yeah, sure, whatever. I gotta go." And I hung up! He came up and, apparently, knew the guy at the head of the line, they hugged, he then stood there and surveyed us all in line and waved to us, saying, "Hello! See you all later!" What a nice guy!! He is average height, thin, wore tan slacks and a long-sleeved light blue business-type shirt, open at the top button. Although on one of his CDs his face looks angular, it looks more rounded now, and his hair is a greyish/blond shade, short, and combed straight back.
He smiled a LOT and really had us in the palm of his hand. I didn't take down a set list as I don't the names of most of his songs. But, he did sing those two I mentioned plus Year of the Cat, the Immelman Turn, Katherine of Oregon, Gina in the Kings Road, Oh Carol, Apple Cider Re-constitution, and several others from his Greatest Hits CD. O.K., here are the ones from his Greatest Hits album he sang: Bedsitter Images (I think he sang this one), In Brooklyn, Soho, On the Border, Song on the Radio. Oh, also one about Joseph Stalin called, I think, Joe the Georgian. He had a *really* funny way of introducing that one. He could very well have sung others, but, as I have never heard many of them before, I couldn't say. The ones I mentioned I'd already heard from the three CD's I recently bought. I really can't rave enough about him. He was signing autographs before and after the performance and I really would have loved to have stayed and chatted, but, it was already 11:00 p.m. and we had to get back to release the babysitter. A memorable evening for sure! Oh, almost forgot to mention... throughout the evening, Al did a few impressions, one of Dylan (dead on!), another of a famous rocker who he refused to name because he was making fun of him, and someone else.. it's too late now and I can't think of it. What a funny guy!!
Lastly, I'll just mention that Gabe and I plan to get tickets to see Ian Tyson who will also be playing there in August.
[ July 18, 2005, 00:14: Message edited by: Sheryl ]