From the Living Room Come the Spoils...or Steve Earle

Well, actually that’s not right…it’s from the living room that you get spoiled.  I've been spoiled by my house concerts.  At least that’s to what I’m attributing my lack on enthusiasm about the Steve Earle show last night.  Although that can’t be all of it….I loved the other shows I’ve seen at the Castle.  I loved the shows we saw in Nashville last time we were there.  But this one...well.....it was…uh….shall we say ‘just a little crowded?’  Here’s the view I had for much of the night:

We knew it was sold out so of course we knew it would be very crowded.  We also knew we wouldn’t be able to get there early enough to snag one of the few seats so went out to dinner with Ann and Bob…which was delightful!  I dug around online and we picked a place called Rosie’s.  Bob got there before we did and managed to get a seat (due to a cancellation) in the small dining room.  The place was lovely and our food good.  I had a Caesar salad on flatbread, Bob had a duck and spinach salad and Ann and Ernie (who were also dressed alike oddly enough) had truly enticing looking and smelling burgers.  Lovely dinner and not expensive at all.  So we happily trundled off to the Castle, just a couple of blocks away, and got there just before they started.  Thank God their weren’t opening acts as I might have wept.  It was phenomenally crowded.  I mean….REALLY crowded.  Like I wonder what their capacity really is crowded.   I am normally a worm-myself-up-toward-the-front kind of girl but I didn’t even ponder it.  We found a wall in the back to lean against but as they started playing it began getting more and more crowded in front of me…kind of trapping me right against the wall.  I couldn’t see a bloody thing other than a lot of checks from the checked shirts in front of me.  I eventually backed my way into the lobby where the sound may not have been as good but it was cooler and less overwhelmingly crowded.  And if I stood on the step aways back I could actually see the top of his head.  Yeah.

I’ve seen Earle twice before.  Once in Indianapolis which was a pretty great show (the Vogue I think).  Somewhere I have a picture of a bunch of us with him.  And before that, somewhere in the early 90’s perhaps, we saw him at a sold out show at the Riviera in Chicago.  That was like this one in that we couldn’t see much but at least it wasn’t as overwhelmingly packed.  Of course the bathrooms here were better so you give and you get, huh?

He sounded good although it didn’t seem like the most intense show ever.  Copperhead Road kind of drifted away but I’m sure it was a very different experience up close.  We ended up leaving a few songs into the second set. 

I still love Steve Earle and I still love the Castle Theater but not a compelling night of music for me....or the music might have been great....but I just couldn't get to it....   Also, I kind of hate to admit it but I have become a tad claustrophobic as I have gotten older.  When I think about some of the crammed audiences I spent time in years ago I know I couldn’t do it now.  Being in the far back seat of a van without a window open next to me is stressful these days.  Weird.  Life is damn weird.

The brightest spots were spending time with Ann and Bob and getting to talk to friends Kent and Sue---and a brief chat with Marty.

Here's a clip from somebody that had the perseverance to be right up front.  I think they probably saw and heard a different show than I did.