show review
squares Mon Dec 06 '10
583
The Palace Theatre, Greensburg,
Rank: Posted: Tue Dec 07, '10 9:22 am
I'm sure it would have been a great show but I was unable to attend due to 2 feet of snow that was dropped in Bradford, PA. I couldn't even make it up my friend's driveway to pick him up for the show! Where I live it's normally a 3.5 hour drive to Greensburg and it would have taken much longer if I could have even made it there. It didn't help that every county I would have driven through had either a lake effect or winter storm advisory.I had 2nd row tickets too but what I miss the most is the opportunity to hear a bunch of songs from BS&WW that I will likely never hear on another tour - something money cannot buy. I just hope everyone that went had a good time and traveled safely home. Maybe next time I can score 2nd row and won't get snowed out... t'is the season.

jsmike Mon Dec 06 '10
583
The Palace Theatre, Greensburg,
Rank: 10 Posted: Tue Dec 07, '10 9:11 am
Amazing concert! Joe and the band sounded perfect. Played old songs along with the new.

jour Mon Dec 06 '10
583
The Palace Theatre, Greensburg,
Rank: 7 Posted: Tue Dec 07, '10 6:09 am

The Palace Theatre is a great intimate venue. I last saw Joe at this venue two years ago (10/11/2008) and that show was a fantastic, rollicking, high-energy hit parade, which maybe set me up for a little disappointment with last night's show.

Highlights for me last night included: Hordes of Locusts, Crystal Planet, Littleworth Lane (great changeup) and Why. Joe is clearly still, and always, a virtuoso player. I really, really missed Stu Hamm, though. I haven't been following the news, so I don't know why he was replaced, but his absence was very much felt. The new fella was definitely trying to do some of the crowd engagement duties, but he seemed to lack the chemistry that Stu had with Joe when I last saw them.

I didn't have the heart to tell the very excited old dude behind me that the encore he was assuring me was SWTA was actually Summer Song, but that's fine for him. I, instead, walked away empty handed longing for a SWTA. And honestly, I'd rather be empty handed than see it get the treatment that Summer Song got. But I place a lot of the blame on the catatonic audience for that.

I think there were a lot of things conspiring against this show; The weather and roads were awful, for one. Opener Ned Evett shared that their last gig was in Florida and it was 75 and it was 20 and snowing here. As I said, the audience was sleepy. The Steelers had a late Sunday night game the night before, so I suspect that many of the members of the audience had been up late the night before, and you know, it was a Monday night show. What can ya do?

The other thing I wanted to mention was that I was interested to see Joe's new 24 fret JS guitars. There seemed to be a white one and an orange one. Then later in the show he was playing a red guitar that appeared to be a 22-fret JS, and I felt the tone was NOTICEABLY better on the red one vs. the orange and white ones. I know he's gotta pimp that new guitar, but something's not quite worked out, at least from where I was sitting. I'm always hoping to see an appearance by one of the gimmick axes too, but no chromeboys or acrylics last night.

Overall, Joe's a fantastic player, and on his worst night, I'd still be loving it. Here's hoping he brings back Stu, and some of the energy he brought last time he came through town.