ARLO GUTHRIE - Vancouver BC - April 19 05 - UBC

[StoneMtn]

Arlo Guthrie is pure magic. He put on a show to a sold-out crowd at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia that sometimes had me grinning, sometimes had me near tears, and always had my undivided attention.

He was backed up by his son, Abe, on keyboards and Gordon Titcomb on a pedal-steel guitar (as well as a litany of other instruments). The show was two sets of about an hour and a quarter each.

The crowd was, well, eclectic. To put it simply, our group was sitting next to a deadhead/hippy couple in their 40s on one side, and two well-dressed women of about 98 years old on our other side. Of course, there were also a lot of old “folkies”, but also people from every other walk of life. Arlo appeals to all.

The highlight for me was probably “When a Soldier Makes It Home”, a song Arlo wrote as a tribute to the members of the Russian military while occupying Iraq. That song always brings a tear to my eye.

As any of you who have seen Arlo would know from experience, he spoke as much as he sang (in true folky tradition) and his stories were at least as entertaining as his music. I think my favourite story was when he told us about playing on stage with Abe and his daughter Sarah Lee, and he somehow forgot the lyrics to “Alice’s Restaurant”. He kept asking his kids for help, and otherwise just kept up the banter while he played the song. His kids had no idea what to tell him. Later that night, after the show, he said to Abe and Sarah Lee, “I know my dad’s songs!” (Anyone familiar with the lyrics to Alice’s Restaurant will get the joke.)

He also taught us a few other interesting things, such as that “Darkest Hour” is actually a song Arlo first heard while dreaming. When he woke up, he had no idea who it was in his dream who’d been singing it, possibly him, but he knew it was a great song so he wrote it down. It was also amusing to hear that Joan Baez released “Portland Town” and accredited it to “traditional” rather than Arlo’s dad.

After seeing this show, I remember why I fell in love with Arlo’s music in the first place. The last few times I saw him were nearly a decade or so ago, and I must say that I do not plan to let it be that long before I see him again. The man is a pure genius (cleverly disguised as a “simple folky”). There is truly no one like him.

Setlist:

Chilling of the Evening

Oklahoma Hills (Woody Guthrie) (Recorded Originally by Jack Guthrie)

Gypsy Davey * (Woody Guthrie)

Gambler’s Blues (Cisco Houston)

The Motorcycle Song

Darkest Hour

Portland Town * (Derroll Adams)

Comin’ into Los Angeles

Rocky Road * (Peter, Paul and Mary)

When a Soldier Makes It Home

Slow Boat ^

Instrumental Ragtime Song ^ (Dave van Ronk)

When the Ship Comes In ^ (Bob Dylan)

City of New Orleans ^ (Steve Goodman)

Instrumental Song (Arlo wrote in Hawaii)

Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson)

My Old Friend ~ (Traditional Ragtime)

This Land is Your Land > (Woody Guthrie)

E:

Alice’s Restaurant (sort of; shorter and different lyrics)

Highway in the Wind

* Gordon Titcomb on Mandolin

~ Gordon Titcomb on Grand Piano

> Gordon Titcomb on Banjo

^ Arlo on Grand Piano

Quote of the Day: (of course, by Arlo himself)

There’s never been a time in the history of the world that you could do so little and make it mean so much.

[MoMack]

Hilarious. I saw this show in Sydney Australia last year.

Same bit about Alice's that basically was as long as Alice's. Very good show.

The part I like best was the story about bringing a guitar to see music just so he could get in free. Like it because we "accidentally" walked right into the show that night. There was no one taking tickets, which is good because we didn't have any. "We just walked sat down" (Note: to be said in the same voice as right before the Judge walks in with a seeing eye dog...)

[Flower]

i wanted to go to this show but noone would come with me. it looks like it was grate! thanx for the revue sm!

[timouse]

arlo is amazing. i saw him at the horseshoe six or seven years ago, and it was great. totally natural showman, very charsimatic, and has musically still got it!

i sent my brother in vancouver a ticket for this show for his birthday, when i talk to him this weekend i'll have to see if his review is as glowing as yours, stonemtn's thanks for posting this! i think you posted the original announcement in cavern west, that's how greg found out about it...very cool!

[StoneMtn]

Hey Tim:

I think that show at the Horseshoe may be the one I also attended, along with two more shows later that week in Ottawa. I have never been able to remember when or where that was, though. (In fairness, I also tend to forget where I parked my car, what I had for breakfast, my own address ... yes, the '80s were good to my brain...)

If it's the show I was at, it would have had to have been closer to nine or ten years ago. Does that sound about right?

I probably also have tapes (ya, actual cassettes) of that show somewhere.

[timouse]

you know, i think that may have been it. i'm getting very bad with recalling dates that things happenned. thank goodness for deadbase it could easily have been nine or ten years ago...his son was playing with him, what a great evening that was...glad to hear that arlo's still going strong!

i think that was the first non-smoking bar show i was ever at. either he had just quit, or was coming to realize the hazards of it, but he very nicely (and effectively, i thought) asked people to go into the front room to smoke. now people are shivering out on queen street for a smoke all the time