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LIVE
IN CONCERT! |
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EDWIN
McCAIN |
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Review By
Trey Parks
The North End (formerly Rodeo's)
Jackson, MS
8/21/99 |
"Edwin McCain" has always seemed
to enjoy playing in these parts. As a result, he's developed
quite a fan following here. There are those here that would miss
Christmas with their families without a thought, but would go
see "Edwin McCain" every time he came to town.
About 1,000 such fans jammed into The North End (a club here
in Jackson, MS) to see "Edwin McCain" the other night.
About 1,000 fans left at end of show quite happy that they had
attended (minus the two or three that dressed up in their best
clothes and still didn't get beer bought for them.)
Judging from his songs that have recieved airplay, "Solitude,"
"I'll Be" and "I Could Not Ask For More,"
one would expect a mostly slow, ballady show, but this wasn't
the case at all. The band played a healthy mix of energetic rockers
and "get your lighter out" ballads, and varied them
enough to where the crowd never settled down and stopped dancing.
The set opened with two higher energy numbers, "Anything
Good About Me" and "Beautiful Life," both of which
allowed Larry Chaney to cut loose a bit on guitar. This also
set the tone for the evening, with the audience basically fully
charged from the outset.
The band seemed to really enjoy playing in the smaller venue
and being able to interact with the audience so closely, and
the audience fed off of this. Edwin and his bandmates were clearly
enjoying themselves and kept smiles on their faces the entire
concert. It's obvious when touring becomes just a job to musicians
and this hasn't happened yet with this band.
The show clocked in at a little under two hours, not counting
opening acts, and for the most part the band played songs from
the new album. In fact they hit every song on the new album except
one, unless I'm mistaken. The audience responsed well to all
the new songs, and even recognized all the words to the obligatory
singalong, which in this case was the song "Go Be Young." |
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Between songs, Edwin laughed and joked with
the audience, and told stories of his time on the road. In one
amusing story, he spoke of a show he and his band did a few years
back in Jackson, in the now-mercifully defunct club Midnight
Sun, where not a single paying customer showed up. Not only did
this bring a laugh from the crowd, but the fact that he and they
had this common experience (everyone knew of the Midnight Sun)
gave a feeling of kinship between the audience and the performers.
In one of the highlights of the set, during the song "Sign
On The Door," "Edwin McCain" invited Beth Hart
(one of the opening acts) onstage to do the song with him as
a duet. Although I didn't see where it added anything having
the song done as a duet, it did provide something more than a
color-by-number rendition of the album version.
Toward the last of the set, he played some older numbers, including
a version of "I'll Be" in which he was almost drowned
out by the audience singing along, and a rather enjoyable version
of "Solitude." He ended the show by voicing a tribute
to his grandmother, and then having the band launch into "See
Off This Mountain," which he had penned for her.
It was a moving way to end the show, and provided a great cap
on a nice evening of rock and roll music. Playing 300-plus tour
dates a year I guess has made the band veteran performers and
tight-sounding live musicians. They put on a hell of a show for
fans of their music and I look forward to their next appearance
here. |
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