Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, Jace Everett

7-18-10 Cuthbert Amphitheater, Eugene, OR

Review by Phishbeard

On July 18, 2010, I had the privilege of going to see Lyle Lovett and his Large Band in concert at the Cuthbert Amphitheater in Eugene, Oregon. This venue is very park like and quite cozy. The Handicap accessibility, available restrooms, and food vendors were all up to par and the weather was very pleasant for the entire show as well. Many of the concert attendees brought in coolers of food and it was like a large picnic inside the Amphitheatre. I arrived at the show early enough to pick out a choice spot to place my chair and after I had my spot set up, I went to do my pre-concert potty time. When I got back, I witnessed a man moving my chair, taking my spot, and setting up shop of his own. This man’s setup included 5 blankets and chairs for 12 people and 1 blanket that laid empty on the ground the entire evening. Upon further notice, I noticed that these people associated themselves with the University of Oregon and it all made sense to me.

I decided after these people were rudely passing food back and forth in front of my face and being obnoxiously loud, that I would move my chair behind their vacant blanket. I wanted to at least take advantage of no one sitting in front of me. Jace Everett’s band opened for Lyle Lovett. Jace Everett is the guy who does the music for the HBO show Trueblood. We he opened with “Do Bad Things”, I knew I was in for a night of good music and the rude people to my left were then easily ignored. The band consisted of Jace on acoustic guitar and his buddy on an electric. They played another song featured on Trueblood about 4 songs in to their 7 song set, which lasted about 45 minutes.

Lyle Lovett then started his set playing a few songs as a quartet, which was great. Eventually the rest of his Large Band came out totaling 14 people including Lovett. His band was on fire and they played numerous songs that I have heard on the Sirius satellite radio station Outlaw Country. All of the music Lovett’s band played, including many songs that I did not know, were spectacular. The highlight of the evening for me was when he busted out “If I had a Boat”. The Large Band played a 2 hour set with no set break. Lyle had plenty of hilarious banter and stories to tell. He even gave multiple shout outs to Eric Taylor, a excellent musician that helped Lyle out early in his career in the mid 1980’s. Lovett made sure to not only introduce each band member, but he also let them each have some solo time, which was pleasant.

By 10 pm. the temperature did drop some and it got a tad chilly. By that time people were standing and dancing all over the place just to stay warm and to get the blood flowing. Before that time most of the dancing happened at the sides of the venue, because it was urged that people stayed seated to not block the view of others. Lyle Lovett closed the set with his quartet and then came back out for another 30 minutes to play a triple encore. During the encore his cello player played a breathtaking solo that left many people in awe. The final encore song was a gospel tune that sent people away holding their heads up high. In my opinion the show was great and the only downers of the night were those Duck fans and the minimal dancing space available, but I still went home a happy man with another great show under my belt.

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Phishbeard

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