National Guard Armory, St. Augustine. Florida

Concert review by Eileen Riordan

Well we arrived first in line at 5:30 PM.  They were setting up and bugs were biting (Florida living) and the organizer of show said he would give Sherri and me the VIP treatment since we were the first to arrive.  He roped off our chairs, front row center.  He promised we would not lose those seats and sent us to have some fun. 

St. Augustine is the old city in U.S. full of history, things dating 1513.  We went on carousel ride and walked a bit but I got nervous and we went back and were still first in line.  This paid off as we got to see entire rehearsal through the window and the door was slightly open and we heard songs that were not even played during the concert, most notable "Tonight's The Kind Of Night" which was excellent.  They had a percussionist that they said they just found on the streets of St. Augustine (I don't know if they were kidding or not) and he was excellent.  My favorite was Song of the South with this percussionist. 

She broke a sting on her guitar and switched to an old one, asking crowd how long it's been since they've seen it. The front row was very far away from the stage and I am very doubtful of pictures being any good.  When Melanie broke her guitar string I snuck up and tried to take a few shots without being rude. 

 

We talked about 5 minutes as long line behind me.  Then I went to talk to Beau and told him "Song of the South" was my favorite and he said he really appreciated that because they are rearranging it. 

I heard the song (Jammin' Alone)   the very first time she played it in concert so it has a special meaning when I hear it played again.  Beau is getting better and better.  Melanie mentioned he just started to play 4 years ago and just turned 20 years old.  He is just the nicest young man. 

 

Melanie sang the usual hits including Brand New Key and told the long story about the 27 day fast and going to McDonalds and then 5 minutes later Brand New Key came out like a burp.  Also the part of the story about verse three where she will have her breakdown like Loretta Lynn did.  Then she said that they actually taped Loretta Lynn's breakdown during her concert and Melanie heard it.  She sang, Song For Robert Johnson, Cerulean Blue, Momma Momma, Beautiful People, What Have They Done To My Song, Ma? Psychotherapy, LaBamba (with story of course).

I spoke to Peter and Beau just briefly and Melanie for a few minutes as there was a big line of fans with tons of stuff to autograph.  I got the two CDs autographed. 

 

Anyway we felt like VIPs as our chairs were roped off as organizer promised. 

 


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