Bonnie Raitt & The James Hunter Six @ Ovens Auditorium

Tonight is the opportunity for A to tick a performer off her bucket list.  I'm pretty sure I don't know a Bonnie Raitt song, but I'm always up for a show (and a midweek date night at that).   That in combination with the fact that Raitt is donating proceeds to those that suffered from Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, makes tonight a no brainer.

We got to our seat half way through opening act, The James Hunter Six.  What a mistake!  We definitely should have been there from the beginning.  We walked in as he started Okie Dokie Stomp.  A rockin' bluesy number was excellent, and his voice - sterling.  Then he spoke.  He sounded like a Cockney.  How does the sound of a Mississippi bluesman come out of that small English body?  We got the last 20 minutes of his rockabilly/blues/R&B set and it was awesome.  A great cover - Percy Mayfield's Two Years of Torture was well received by the crowd, and his whole set had the crowd pumped for Bonnie Raitt.

James Hunter Six Setlist

A 20 minute set change before Bonnie Raitt and her band strode onto stage to thunderous applause.  Raitt then gave a masterclass in blues-rock, both vocally and with her guitar playing.  When early on a crowd member wished her a happy birthday, I was amazed to find 2 weeks ago she turned 75.  Her voice was perfect.  Every note hit the sweet spot.  As predicted, I didn't know any of her music, but it stop me getting into a fantastic set.  I know she paid tribute to John Hiatt and John Prine with a couple of songs.  And it sounded like she suffered during Covid.  Not only losing friends, but the loss of time and touring opportunities played on her mind.  Her version of Chris Smither's Love Me Like A Man was great (even though I don't know the original).  she did a couple of solo acoustic songs, which showed a couple of flaws in some guitar playing, but beautiful songs nonetheless.  Raitt not only supported western North Carolina tonight, she did go out of her way to mention the organizations that were being funded from tonight's show.  Overall a great show.  It always is when you don't know a performer, and they make you sit up and take notice all night.  A thought it was amazing, so always an added bonus.  Tonight I have "discovered" 2 artists, whom I'd happily see again.

Bonnie Raitt Setlist

The Crap Facts

This is my 513th concert.
This is my 4th concert at Ovens Auditorium..
This is my 112th concert in Charlotte.
This is my 134th concert in North Carolina.
This is my 313th concert in the USA.
James Hunter Six is the 597th band I've seen.
Bonnie Raitt is the 598th band I've seen.

Les Savy Fav & Ultra Lights @ The Earl

I am getting to an age where I still love seeing shows, but getting motivated to see them is getting harder and harder.  This is the case tonight.  Les Savy Fav are a bucket list band, but Atlanta is as close as they get.  And when a three and a half hour drive turns into as 6 hour drive, I really question what I am doing.  There were 2 occasions where I was just stopped on the 85 for 45 minutes at a time, and considered turning around and going home.  I'm so glad I didn't!

The Earl is a new venue for me, and is in the cool East Atlanta Village.  It looks like a street where it all happens.  Late night bars, restaurants and just people out and about.  But tonight I get to the venue just in time to line up through the narrow corridor, to the back room, for Ultra Lights to start 5 minutes later.  While waiting in line, Les Savy walked past, much to the crowds cheer.

Ultra Lights are a local band, and seemed pretty stoked to be playing tonight.  A good sized crowd in the small room (Dive bar?  maybe) were in early and saw Ultra Lights put in a good 35 minute set to warm up the crowd.

Within 25 minutes a white-wigged Tim Harrington was on stage, pulling out all the dance moves to the lead-on song, before the rest of the band joined him.  As the guitarist's pick slid up the strings and Harrington burst into "He's a bad motherfucker....16 pairs of shoes in his closet....", the wig was quickly lost, the suit jacket dispersed of, but the dancing ramped up a couple of notches - band and crowd - as LSF opened with Blackouts on Thursday.  From the start the band were on fire, and Harrington spent as much time in the crowd as on stage.  And when you could take your eyes of him in the crowd, you'd see a tight band having a great time on stage.  The music reflected that.  The sound and songs are great.  I'm not familiar with a lot of their songs, but Reprobate's Resume was rocking, as was Patty Lee.  To finish the set the notes of The Sweat Descends rang out to the joy of everyone.  You could tell people had been having a good night but this song took it up a notch.  Again Harrington was out in the crowd, and was this the song he left and sung in the front room (? - I can't quite remember).  The band left the stage, leaving behind a fired up crowd.  It wasn't long before Les Savy Fav were back for more.  The 4 song encore crescendoed when in the middle of Dirty Knails, Harrington got everyone on the floor, before busting out for a banging finish.  I'm not sure how he did it, but by the time I bought the Oui LP, Harrington was a the exit, thanking everyone for coming.

My cousin Moz gave me a digital copy of Inches in 2009, and it is an album that gets listened to all the way through quite often.  Les Savy Fav are now a bucket list band I can cross off, but I'd happily sit in 6 hours of traffic to see them again - any day.

Les Savy Fav Setlist

The Crap Facts
This is my 512th concert.
The Earl is the 140th venue I've seen a concert at.
This is my 2nd concert in Atlanta.
This is my 2nd concert in Georgia.
This is my 312th concert in the USA.
Ultra Lights are the 595th band I've seen.

Les Savy Fav is the 596th band I've seen.

Les Savy Fav are the 600th time I've seen a band in the US.