OT: Hayes Carll & Dierks Bentley

As I mentioned earlier, my wife & I went to the Hayes Carll & Dierks Bentley concert on Friday night. I probably should refer to it as the Dierks Bentley/Hayes Carll concert since Dierks was the headliner. I had no idea how big he was until after I got tickets and spoke to some co-workers.

The venue for the penultimate show of the "Up On The Ridge" tour was Coyote Joe's & I liked it right away. Nice wide-open area for the crowd that butts up right against the stage. If you're a big fan of the performer and have no problem getting there early, that's about as close as you can get. One thing to note is a definite lack of seats. We arrived about 7.30p, about 2 hours before anyone took the stage and the limited seats were taken or roped off. We found a wall to lean against for Hayes Carll's performance, but let me tell you, a leaning wall is a far cry from sitting.

Another item of note is that Coyote Joe's is cash only, so luckily for us, I was actually carrying enough cash to buy a couple drinks while we waited...and waited...and waited. Hayes finally took the stage at some point.

His setlist for posterity's sake was:

Hayes Carll (opening for Dierks Bentley & the Traveling McCoury's)
Coyote Joe's, Charlotte, NC 2010-05-21

1) Wild As a Turkey
2) Little Rock - From memory, Hayes prefaced this song with "This is a song about Little Rock; it's called "Little Rock."
3) Drunken Poet's Dream
4) Starcrossed Lovers (new, duet) - My stab at the title. Hayes prefaced this by describing it as a song about a Fox News viewer and an MSNBC viewer. He also mentioned that it would appear on his next album, slated to be released in "summer 2014," a tongue-in-cheek comment (I hope!) on the delay(s) to his upcoming album.
5) I Don't Wanna Grow Up
6) I Got A Gig
7) Hard Out Here (new) - Since this song mainly dealt with hardships from being out on the road, Hayes prefaced this with what was essentially a disclaimer that he realizes in this economy it's tough out there for everyone. I don't think it was necessary, but maybe he'd gotten guff in other towns for this.
8) Bad Liver and a Broken Heart - This was slower than the album version if I recall; beforehand announcing this as the "slow dance portion of the show."
9) Down the Road Tonight

Some comments on Hayes' performance:

1) This was my first Hayes Carll show; I am not aware of him being in this area before, but he's probably come through at one time or another. I was very much looking forward to seeing him live for the first time, but must admit, I was a little disappointed.

My first impression of his vocals was they were not very good, although in my layman's take, he seemed to pick up steam as the show progressed. That being said, I didn't think he sang nearly as well as he does on his studio albums. (Although I see now that Hayes has been gracious enough to allow live audience recordings to be hosted at Archive.org, so they are available for download. Unfortunately, there's nothing from this tour.)

2) I thought the set was very short; only nine songs & under an hour. This may be the norm for opening acts nowadays, but in retrospect, why not bring out the opening act on an hour earlier? The interminable waiting would've gone much quicker and Hayes would've the chance to play more of his songs, which should help him to better build his audience. Perhaps the contract is written in such a way as to disallow this.

3) My wife, never having heard Hayes Carll before, wasn't particularly impressed; she thought all his songs sounded the same. It is important to note that the venue might not have been the ideal place to break out quieter songs such as "Beaumont" and "Don't Let Me Fall," a couple I was hoping to hear.

4) All the above being said, I would love to obtain a recording to give the show another listen. If anyone happened to make one and is willing to share, let me know.

As for Dierks' performance, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not sure I'd like his earlier material, but I do like me some bluegrass, so Dierks backed by the McCourys was pretty enjoyable. Or at least as enjoyable as being packed in like sardines in a hot club behind a tall cowboy and his cute date could be. (I'll add the couple was excessively nice & upon noticing my wife couldn't see, they were gracious enough to shift to the side so she'd have a better view.)

As an added bonus, as a Dylan fan, I enjoyed hearing bluegrass versions of "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" and "Roving Gambler." We left a little early since my wife's feet were aching from 4 hours of standing, so I missed the end of the show. If Dierks' performance is available, I'd love to get a copy of it to hear the entire show.

Some pictures from Dierks' performance at Coyote Joes's are here for those interested.

Also, a nice review of the next night's performance (the final show of the "Up On The Ridge" tour) at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville is available here for those interested.