[[..Fri.17.Mar.2k..]]
Where were you last night...?

I have here displayed in front of me one TOrN ticket, and one ticket UNused... but first I must explain the day that preceded the evening::

newly arrived in a town where no street anywhere runs true North, South, East, or West... streets that don't last but change names in unpredictable places, streets that don't stop but instead curve and keep going, ending abruptly for No Good Reason - streets unlabeled except for places where a cross street intersects that street, then the cross street is marked while the street one is traveling on remains a mystery without careful perusal of the street atlas - hiking many blocks in search of nothing more than my location and direction - feet ankles and knees beginning to scream at me to STOP this madness - finally it began to rain and it was then I knew the day had finally arrived at official misery - abandoning the quest for an umbrella and supports to aid my aging lower extremities, having gotten totally disoriented and Just Plain Lost at least three times, I overshot the subway stop where I was to find the KWS concert - then I couldn't find the club - no sign, no street number displayed (you have to be clairvoyant to live here! it's expected!) and by this time the carpet bag and valise I'd been lugging around all afternoon felt like two tons of bad road dragging my hands toward China...

once inside the club, I made my first stop at the T-shirt counter - the one I wanted didn't come in my size, so I took the next best thing - at this point I was grateful beyond belief simply to have a clean dry shirt that fit me to put on - after I dried off and changed in the rest room, I checked both bags for 2$ each - at last I was "free" to indulge in a nice stiff drink which I did my best not to gulp in one swallow - with incredible luck I found an empty chair alongside a low table I could put my swollen ankles up on and I sat back to inspect the talents of the opening act - nothing wrong with them - they sounded ok - but they were missing that special something that would excite the bored masses mingling in the mosh pit, to whom there is no sin worse than being unremarkable - the crowd was suitably unimpressed, and my stiff drink made a disappointingly dismal almost imperceptible dent if that in my bedraggled emotional condition...

I became slightly uneasy at the lackluster reactions of the crowd - fearing the worst I settled in to simply "endure the evening, alone" - in the same way I had doggedly, stalwart and purposefully hiked the crazy streets that day with fake outward confidence shielding any passersby from the disorientation I felt inside - I would make it through this night somehow, by golly(!) - whether I would enjoy it at all at that point was a Big Unknown, but I was determined to tough it out No Matter What

then something utterly amazing happened - the lights went dim and the crowd showed grudging and then even encouraging signs of life - I could just barely see the slim figure shadowy in the darkness, center stage - I began to sense the growing and keen anticipation of the audience - as the spotlight illuminated this singular figure, Kenny Wayne launched into a series of blinding nonStop riffs - I felt a huge weight being lifted from my soul - it was magical seeing him there, playing - looking so complete, confident, young, and talented - the crowd responded with the first roar of joy - enough to know there would be more and plenty joy to go around that night - it was to be an evening full of joy - roaring, screaming, blissful, rock my socks off JOY...!

I stirred from my comfy padded seat and strode over to the corner of the bar, behind a narrow ledge on the first rise of two stairSteps - I had a perfect view of the entire stage - standing about 10-15 feet back from the sound board area, I took out my earplugs and let the searing teeth on Kenny's fully amped strat cut straight through to the bottom of the blackness accumulated inside from a long, hard day of many trials - swept away on wave after wave of sheer rocking exultation, excitement, and just plain damn happiness - Noah began to sing and I went crazy inside with pure bliss - the band went through 3-4 songs nonStop - every time another song would start up with no pause, the audience roared with approval - I HAVE TRULY ARRIVED - AT LAST - IN BOSTON~!

[[..I'll skip the distressing incident with The Bouncer - suffice to say the world is not a fair place, we already know that - I managed to speak up for myself in the end and saw at least partial justice served..]]

the evening had barely begun and already I was in Heaven inside, and rocking righteously along with a lively crowd - they turned the volume down at bit and did a sitDown set, one assumes in order to rest up a bit before the second half of the show - leaving the stage only very briefly at any time, the action was consistently high energy and scarcely let up for two solid hours

I won't describe the actual setList and delineate each successive song/moment because it all happened so naturally, strung together with ease - nothing out of place, and everything proceeding forward like the steady march of a finely tuned battalion -  the rise and fall of tensions created an ebb and flow that never called attention to itself, but simply unfolded in wave upon wave of one great song after another

my thoughts on Kenny Wayne's performance - where do I start? what can I say? ...his Stage Presence has evolved in a wonderful way since I last saw him Sept.97 (not that he was lacking anything back then, not in the least - that was when I turned on to his sound after all, hearing him on the G3 tour) - he took command with a serene confidence uncluttered by the taint of too much ego - only just enough to make us love him all the more - his performance displayed a remarkable amount of classy, exciting, and unpretentious showmanship - the crowd ate it up and he cradled and controlled their adoration with cool and self-possessed soul as he lived his music through his instrument and served up every song with intensity and heart - I fell in love with it all over and over again every minute - Kenny, Noah, the crowd, the strong beat, bluesRock song sound, the slicing guitar - it all added up to a soaring elation that never stopped except to let us catch our breath and then dive right back in again - they played a good portion of the "Live On" cd, and some stone cold solid faves from the first two cd's, like Aberdeen, Shame..., Slow Ride, and Somehow ...Someway - as an example of how terrific the concert turned out to be, when they played "Was" I thought the frikken Roof would come off that place, or at least the top of my head - I knew the song rocked but hearing it ~Live~ with all that multiplied energy was an extreme delight in the Very Best Way

as for Noah... what an incredible talent that man has! he had that crowd securely in his back pocket the entire night - the same was true of Kenny during the guitar breaks as Noah walked off and Kenny took total control - the pair of them shared the stage without ever competing for the crowd's attention - egoless harmony reigned and we were free to enjoy them both by turns and together - as the concert neared its inevitable ending point, Noah sang "Oh Well" and my soul kicked into an even higher gear than I had imagined was possible - I could tell they had picked this number for a finale of sorts, because it gave Kenny a chance to pull out the stops - if the amps went to ten, when they played "Oh Well" Kenny turned up the heat to at least an eleven - this was beyond my wildest imagination of what that night and that concert would bring

and if I thought I was in heaven before, to my wonder and joy I found I had been .....mIsTaKeN~!

THERE WAS MORE~!

I thought "Oh Well" had to be the ultimate musical climax, and then... Kenny took up Voodoo Chile with a Well Controlled Wah that sounded Just ~SO~ awesome...! and THEN things became truly

.
.
.
~unbelievable~
.
.
.
and I do mean ~uNbeLEiVabLe~

...as it turns out, up until "Oh Well" they'd barely been warmed-up - and "Oh Well" while masquerading as a climax was merely the prelude to an EVEN WILDER extended period of Blues Rock Mayhem Madness and Barely Controlled eCsTaSy - I was convinced we would take off into outer space with that eXtReMe energy level - and check this out::

IT DIDN'T STOP THERE - IT KEPT ON GOING...

for what seemed like longer than anyone could sustain a high THIS HIGH, Kenny went NUTS playing and torturing his guitar - I mean he went Positively Crazy and I thought the entire place would fly apart at any moment - how could one song, one performer, one audience contain it all - I was exploding inside while Kenny was exploding onStage with a passion unsurpassed by anything I had seen in my life before this - he was giving it ALL uP and Up and UP and Wilder and Louder and more and mORe and More INTENSE than aNyThInG that had come before and who knows where I will see something like that again

it was - I swear - jawDropping awesome~!!!

by the time he was finished I was totally spent and felt So Fulfilled by the experience, any further encore would have been superfluous - a neon violet light made a wide strip across the crowd in the middle of the dance floor as the rest of the lights went on looking and feeling like wimps in comparison to the shining blinding moment we had all shared just moments before - I was ready to leave - I felt complete - my soul was flying in the clouds and my heart and step were as light and airy as a spring breeze - everything negative had fallen away and the rest had emerged from the fire into a white, blank purity of being - I was riding a smooth road outward and onward and Nothing could touch or impair the serene sense of perfection that permeated everything inside and outside my KSW T-shirt, spreading outward into a feeling that No One and Nothing in the crowd inching towards the coat check counter could take any of this away - the moment was mine to keep and I rode through it with a calm happy smile - ahhhhhhh...

outside a cooling gentle rain fell uncaring as I made my way toward the T-stop - about halfway there the rain had dissipated the body heat, the warm physical glow evaporated - the wind kicked up a notch and the rain felt finally and truly cold, penetrating deep into my weariness - the radio forecast said the rain would turn to snow by morning, so I wasn't surprised by this newly bitter biting chill - as soon as I could find the T-bench where I would catch my train, I dug into my carpet bag and found my snuggly baggy sweatshirt - grateful for even this much warmth, I rode to my destination in dampness and decompression mode, dragging fatigue behind me as Dead Weight - but it was ok - I was ok, but still Very Tired - I rode to the end of the line and took a taxi the rest of the way, the final luxury of a night I could not possibly have dreamed would be This Wonderful

::~thankYou, KWSBand~::

(and Welcome To Boston)
 
 

.....peace,everyone.....

~Faye