Lucinda Williams – Vector Arena December 4, 2015

 

DSC_8924With a new album in the can, and a back catalogue of songs that is second to none, Lucinda Williams performed a stunning set at a pared-down version of the Vector Arena, leaving fans beaming.

I’ve seen Lucinda Williams a number of times over the past twenty years and her shows always seem to start out slow…or maybe tentative is a more accurate word. That was certainly true last night as she and her band took the stage at about 9:20 and began with Protection, from her latest album, Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone. Lucinda keeps a music stand with the song lyrics next to her and I find the idea of an artist glancing constantly down at a lyric sheet somewhat distracting. Plus, Williams’ vocal seemed hesitant and unsure.

Fortunately guitarist Stuart Mathis was on fire from the start and his solo brought some much-needed energy to the tune and got the audience engaged.

Lucinda’s band is the same that performed with her last time she was in Auckland back in 2012…Mathis, along with David Sutton on bass and Butch Norton on drums…although last time she also had guitarist Doug Pettibone with her.

While Pettibone is an excellent musician, Stuart Mathis seemed to have the guitar duties under control and Lucinda strapped on her electric for the second song, Real Live Bleeding Fingers And Broken Guitar Strings. Williams seemed to be warming up to the stage and Mathis helped things along with more fine playing.

By the time she got to Can’t Let Go, Williams had clearly got her mojo, turning in a much more assured vocal.

“I didn’t realize this venue was going to be quite so big,” she noted, perhaps explaining her initial reserved demeanour. “We need a bigger band”.

Actually, the band was perfect and so, soon, was Williams, as they laid down a swampy groove for West Memphis and Mathis blew his harp on crowd favourite Drunken Angel.

Williams performed solo, with just her own acoustic guitar for Compassion, a song derived from one of her father’s poems, and then she treated us to the title track to her upcoming album, The Ghosts Of Highway 20.

Mathis then returned to help create one of the highlights of the evening, a beautifully rendered version of Lake Charles, with Stuart adding another gorgeous solo.

The band returned and Lucinda led them through World Without Tears, but not before dedicating the song to the victims of the latest mass shootings in the US and placing the blame firmly on the NRA.

I know many folks prefer to keep politics out of music, but I like my musicians to speak their minds, especially when the have something intelligent to say, and her activist attitude was appreciated. Later, during Foolishness, she took another shot at the NRA, along with Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

“We’re gonna pick up the pace a little bit, “ she claimed before starting Are You Down. Eventually, Lucinda left the stage to allow the band to jam, and they did just that, with Williams looking on happily from the side of the stage.

The music continued to get louder and more funky for Something Wicked This Way Comes and a handful of fans began dancing in front of the stage.

Now we had a party.

Mathis really laid into Essence, adding a scorching guitar solo that took the show to the next level. And it stayed there for Joy and Honey Bee, which rocked relentlessly.

The rock and roll vibe spilled into the encore which consisted of joyous versions of The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go, Lucinda’s own Get Right With God and finally, and appropriately given the times we live in, Neil Young’s Rockin’ In The Free World.

As it turned out, the shrunken down version of the Vector provide a perfect setting for the show and the sound was outstanding. Lucinda doesn’t enunciate well, but I could hear every lyric and the music mix was excellent.

And judging by the new songs we heard, there’s plenty of great music from Lucinda Williams to come.

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Michael Flynn:

Lucinda Williams set list:

  1. Protection
  2. Real Live Bleeding Fingers And Broken Guitar Strings
  3. Can’t Let Go
  4. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
  5. Drunken Angel
  6. West Memphis
  7. Compassion
  8. The Ghosts Of Highway 20
  9. Lake Charles
  10. World Without Tears
  11. Are You Down
  12. Something Wicked This Way Comes
  13. Changed The Locks
  14. Foolishness
  15. Dust
  16. Essence
  17. Joy
  18. Honey Bee
  19. Should I Stay Or Should I Go
  20. Get Right With God
  21. Rockin’ In The Free World