Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, 7/10/10

Here's the setlist from Jason Isbell's set at the Taste of Downtown Saturday:

Grown
Decoration Day
Streetlights
Dock of the Bay
Try
Goddamn Lonely Love
Psycho Killer
Outfit
7 Mile Island
Hurricanes & Hand Grenades
American Girl (Tom Petty)
Dress Blues
Never Gonna Change
Danko/Manuel (I got my wish!)
(encore)
Instrumental
Atlantic City (Bruuuuuce)

I thought the show was great. First of all, it's so nice, and so rare, to see an actual touring band I'm really a fan of, of Jason Isbell's caliber, here in Springfield. For me, the setlist was great - a lot of my favorite of his Truckers songs and a lot of my favorite of his solo work. Got tears in my eyes during "Dress Blues." Also loved their version of Atlantic City - I thought it rocked it up nicely while retaining the song's essential mood.

Also, at one point while jamming, they broke into a riff that sounded really, really familiar, but we couldn't place it until the next day when my husband said, "That was Wilco!" It was the breakout riff from Spiders (Kidsmoke), I'm pretty sure! That was a hoot.

Jason was really gracious - as always; we've actually met him twice before, briefly, and he's always quite gracious. We hung around for a minute afterward to say hi, and he was pleasant and accommodating to many people before us, and to us as well. We heard him say he was going to the Brewhaus afterward, but, let's face it, we were totally done in by that point. Had a blast.



Flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lynch/sets/72157624354662443/

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit/St Louis 11/11/07

Jason Isbell: guitarist, singer, songwriter, former Drive By Trucker.

Jason Isbell dot com.
Jason at Wikipedia

After we bought the tickets, we were disappointed to learn that Jason was opening for Cracker. I don't mean to disparage Cracker, but the plain truth is that I don't know anything about them at all and don't know any of their music. We wanted to see a whole night of Isbell. On the plus side, we were starting a vacation, so making an early night of it meant we could make some miles after the show - we ended up leaving shortly after Jason's set, didn't hear any of Cracker, and spent the night in Marion, Ill on our way to the Smokies, so it was good.

Side note: Jason's keyboardist is that Derry De Borja from Son Volt. Added bonus!

Set list:
1. Grown
2. Ain't Never Gonna Change
3. Chicago Promenade
4. Down in a Hole
5. Assassin
6. Goddamn Lonely Love
7. Psycho Killer
8. Razor Town
9. Magician
then with guy from Cracker
10. Hurricanes & Hand Grenades
11. Outfit
12. Try

It was a pretty healthy mix of his own solo stuff and some of his Truckers stuff. I was happy to hear Goddamn Lonely Love, but Outfit really made my night and that of a lot of people, I think. Assassin, of course, is a track from Trucker Patterson Hood's solo album, and it's a good song, so it was good to hear. It wasn't a huge crowd, and the floor was mostly empty at first, so we stood kind of at the back of the floor with about eight people. It was a clear view and also much better sound than right up against the stage. As the show went on more people came out on the floor and we shuffled forward until around "Outfit" we ended up against the stage and there were, oh, twenty or thirty people on the floor? After Jason's set he came to the edge of the stage and talked to people and signed a few autographs. Really nice guy to his fans, just like when we saw the truckers at mississippi nights (our last show there! wail!). He asked each person their name and signed "Thanks, (whoever!)" and his name. Not the best photo conditions, my poor little camera, but it's plucky, and so am I. Jason gave a good show, he played hard and the band was really together and smokin'. He really held his own as a solo artist.







with guy from cracker (david lowery or johnny hickman, I guess)




signing autographs

finally, 2.0

At last! Jason Isbell at The Pageant in St. Louis Nov. 11.

That's probably the week we were thinking of going to the Smokies. But it's a Sunday. We could leave Monday, no?