It’s about songs.<\/p>\n
You can be as beautiful as Beyonce, as desirable as Angelina Jolie, and it won’t mean shit in this business unless your songs are good.\u00c2\u00a0 You can create atmospheric music that will garner you a sizable audience, but if you want to break through and stay there you’ve got to have a stable of singable songs.\u00c2\u00a0 Stuff your audience sings along with in the car, that they break into when amongst friends.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what bonds us to you, why we love you so much, those songs.\u00c2\u00a0 And we love the version you’ve laid down on wax.\u00c2\u00a0 But what truly gets us off, makes us feel totally alive, is hearing you perform these songs live.<\/p>\n
If you think the audience wants perfect recreations of the studio recordings, you’re wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 You can go into the extravaganza business, with million dollar sets and music on hard drive, but what we truly want is a bit of humanity, to make us feel not so alone.<\/p>\n
The opening act last night was Lady Antebellum, sitting in for an ailing Sugarland.\u00c2\u00a0 They covered "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Boys Of Summer".\u00c2\u00a0 If AC\/DC were starting off today would they have to go country?\u00c2\u00a0 The Eagles ARE country.\u00c2\u00a0 The Nashville market is the last bastion of real music.\u00c2\u00a0 Actual songs played on real instruments.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s what you got with Keith Urban, real music.<\/p>\n
On one hand it hearkens all the way back to the sixties and seventies, all the way back to the Allman Brothers.\u00c2\u00a0 Keith Urban’s shirt had a few sparkles in it, but everybody in the band, including the front man, could walk down the street unnoticed, other than for their fame.\u00c2\u00a0 They looked like you.\u00c2\u00a0 And me.\u00c2\u00a0 Only they could do what we cannot…PLAY!<\/p>\n
They started with "Hit The Ground Runnin’", from the new album.\u00c2\u00a0 Which sounded better live.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a sterility in the studio takes.\u00c2\u00a0 But the songs had energy in Staples, they were like a well-worn pair of jeans, they were broken in, they were suddenly attractive.<\/p>\n
And Keith played most of ’em.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the way it was and still is in the country world.\u00c2\u00a0 A fan can’t miss a tour, some of these songs from the new album might never be performed again.<\/p>\n
But as much as I enjoyed the new material, the classics blew my mind.<\/p>\n
Early in the set, "Stupid Boy", with even more force than the original.<\/p>\n
And, of course, "Raining On Sunday".<\/p>\n
But the killer was "You’ll Think Of Me"…<\/p>\n
"I woke up early this morning around four a.m.
With the moon shining bright as headlights on the Interstate
I pulled the covers over my head and tried to catch some sleep
But thoughts of us kept keeping me awake"<\/p>\n
You can eventually fall asleep, after watching late night TV, catching up on that boring book, but you can’t STAY asleep. Suddenly, you’re startled awake.\u00c2\u00a0 You look over to the alarm clock, praying it’s late enough to get out of bed.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s not. It’s still the middle of the night.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t get up now.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to lie in bed, reviewing your life, trying to figure it out until you fall back asleep.\u00c2\u00a0 To awake again, sans enough shuteye, to face the day.<\/p>\n
Ever since you found yourself in someone else’s arms <\/span> Sometimes you don’t even know if there’s anybody else.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve been distant and secretive for far too long.\u00c2\u00a0 You may share the same bed, but you’re living separate lives.\u00c2\u00a0 But even if they don’t leave you for someone else, eventually they find a new love.\u00c2\u00a0 And you just can’t cope with it.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t know her the way you do.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like your life has ended.\u00c2\u00a0 Until it begins again.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is such a painful process, starting over.<\/p>\n Take your records, take your freedom <\/span> The splitting up of assets.\u00c2\u00a0 How come they always take something treasured of yours and leave something indelible of theirs behind?\u00c2\u00a0 Are they that eager to leave?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you call them, try to retrieve what’s rightfully yours, or let it go?\u00c2\u00a0 The call alone is too painful.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re too cheery, or dealing with you as if you’re an untouchable.<\/p>\n Take your space and take your reasons <\/span> And they do.\u00c2\u00a0 But they don’t come back.\u00c2\u00a0 Something you did, something you are is such that they can’t come back. Sometimes you don’t even know what it is.\u00c2\u00a0 They left eons ago, you just found out.<\/p>\n Someday I’m gonna run across your mind <\/span> They tell me breakups are equal, that both desired it.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never heard such hogwash in my life.\u00c2\u00a0 Somebody always wants it more.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re on the losing end, it’s okay to be vindictive, if you don’t own your anger it’ll just play out in your next relationship.<\/p>\n I wish I was never left.\u00c2\u00a0 I wish no one ever left you.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s almost impossible to recover from.\u00c2\u00a0 You can no longer trust.\u00c2\u00a0 But once you recover, however long that takes, you’ve gone through a character-building experience.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re strong at the broken places.<\/p>\n I love being exhilarated at a concert.\u00c2\u00a0 But I also want to be touched.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to stand and sing along at the top of my lungs, those songs I’ve heard on my computer, on my iPod, that stopped me in my tracks.<\/p>\n There was a hi-def screen, which moved like the lighting trusses of old.\u00c2\u00a0 Very cool.<\/p>\n Keith played his guitar while walking to a makeshift stage at the back of the arena, stating "Who’s got the good seats now?" when he arrived at the less than prime seats.<\/p>\n And there were tons of people back there.\u00c2\u00a0 No one can sell out the upper deck at Staples.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just not worth it.\u00c2\u00a0 To camp out above the three decks of skyboxes, to be reminded that you’re not privileged, better off watching the video screens than the action on stage.\u00c2\u00a0 But last night people needed to be inside, they needed to be there.<\/p>\n The whole business has inverted.\u00c2\u00a0 Songs are the come on for the gig.\u00c2\u00a0 In order to draw people live you’ve got to be honest and earnest, you’ve got to provide a human experience.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to make us feel there’s nowhere we’d rather be.<\/p>\n Keith didn’t look down upon the audience.\u00c2\u00a0 He even spoke about the recession.\u00c2\u00a0 Nashville has learned that you’re in bed with your audience, not talking down to people.<\/p>\n And last night Keith Urban spoke to me.<\/p>\n With his five guitar assault.\u00c2\u00a0 With his stinging leads.\u00c2\u00a0 With his songs that I knew by heart, that I could sing along with.<\/p>\n And although I loved "You’ll Think Of Me", when I heard the introductory notes of "Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me", I was truly elated!<\/p>\n I got no money in my pockets<\/span> I gave the parking attendant my last twenty.\u00c2\u00a0 My expenses are exceeding my income.\u00c2\u00a0 But last night none of that mattered…<\/p>\n ‘Cause I’m ridin’ with my baby<\/span> I’m there with my girlfriend.\u00c2\u00a0 And eighteen thousand new buddies.\u00c2\u00a0 We got the word.\u00c2\u00a0 That country is the new rock and roll.\u00c2\u00a0 And although there are evanescent hacks, those atop the heap deliver the same experience that made us sacrifice to buy records before they were free.<\/p>\n And the sun is shinin’<\/span> They say rock and roll will never die.<\/p>\n Metal acts in spandex are not keeping it alive.<\/p>\n Oldsters overcharging in sheds aren’t either.<\/p>\n Rather these country acts, who grew up on Skynyrd and the aforementioned AC\/DC, who refused to play the coastal game and subjugate their music to their image, have picked up Fenders and Gibsons and are playing their songs to a driving beat.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, Keith even played one of his numbers solo on his Telecaster.\u00c2\u00a0 A great song does not need gobs of production.<\/p>\n And you know the power of rock and roll.\u00c2\u00a0 It can make you forget the economy, your romantic misadventures, all the trouble in your life.<\/p>\n You can sit on your bed listening to your records.<\/p>\n Or you can collect some cash and go to the gig.\u00c2\u00a0 To see your favorite act.<\/p>\n And when they fire up your favorite song, you look to the heavens like a hound dog, singing along, thinking WHO WOULDN’T WANNA BE ME?<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s about songs. You can be as beautiful as Beyonce, as desirable as Angelina Jolie, and it won’t mean shit in this business unless your songs are good.\u00c2\u00a0 You can create atmospheric music that will garner you a sizable audience, but if you want to break through and stay there you’ve got to have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-y6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2115,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114\/revisions\/2115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I’ve been trying my best to get along<\/span><\/p>\n
Take your memories, I don’t need ’em<\/span><\/p>\n
But you’ll think of me <\/span>
And take your cat and leave my sweater <\/span>
We have nothing left to weather <\/span>
In fact I’ll feel a whole lot better <\/span>
But you’ll think of me, you’ll think of me<\/span><\/p>\n
But don’t worry, I’ll be fine <\/span>
I’m gonna be all right <\/span>
While you’re sleeping with your pride <\/span>
Wishing I could hold you tight <\/span>
I’ll be over you <\/span>
And on with my life<\/span><\/p>\n
I got a hole in my jeans<\/span>
I had a job and I lost it<\/span>
But it won’t get to me<\/span><\/p>\n
And it’s a brand new day<\/span>
We’re on the wheels of an angel<\/span>
Flyin’ away<\/span><\/p>\n
This road keeps windin’<\/span>
Through the prettiest country<\/span>
From Georgia to Tennessee<\/span>
And I got the one I love beside me<\/span>
My trouble behind me<\/span>
I’m alive and I’m free<\/span>
Who wouldn’t wanna be me<\/span><\/p>\n