Mark In Wisconsin

My wife and I attended the show in Milwaukee last night. I’ve been to about fifteen shows over the years and have been fortunate enough to meet and speak with the ever-gracious Bruce on a number of occasions. Many moons ago I had an active presence on this site (thanks to Si) where I reported setlists and did a fair amount of trading of tapes (yes, it was that long ago).

I have not been to a Bruce show in several years and I gotta say DANG! I was very impressed last night. Bruce’s two-handed independence just gets better and better. I’ve played piano since the age of five, and I play Bruce’s stuff, but I just don’t know how he does it! Kudos Bruce. You continue to get better my friend.

My second impression was just how fantastic the sound quality was last night. I’ve seen Bruce and the band from the front-row center of the same theater. Last night we were in the second-row center of the balcony. The piano, voice, and drum sound were simply spectacular.

A last general impression was just how wonderfully well Bruce and Sonny play together. The play off each other and they compliment each other beautifully. I’ve heard a LOT of live music over the years. I don’t think I’ve ever heard two musicians play so tightly together. The set was far too short. I could easily have enjoyed a full concert by the two of them. I hope you will NOT let the fact that this is “only” a duo keep you from going to see this show.

I did not take notes last night like I used to back in the day when I was somewhat obsessive about reporting setlists. The following tunes were played as far as I remember this morning. Admittedly, that memory is somewhat clouded by my consumption of a fine distilled malt beverage last night. So, I would gladly appreciate any corrections, additions, or deletions to this list:

M.I.A.M.I. (perhaps preceded by another solo tune, perhaps played later in the set)
Valley Road (with Metheny on acoustic and Sonny on washboard and I think Sonny played drums on all of the following)
Life In The Psychotropics
Preacher In The Ring Part I/Variation II(Twebern)/Catenaires (Carter) Excerpt
Might As Well Be Me (“for the deadheads”)
Where’s The Bat
Mandolin Rain (mellow re-work version)
Nobody There But Me (tribute to the late great Charlie Haden)

As always, thanks to the tapers. And if one of you happened to have caught the show last night, well…..