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Amazing, amazing show. Let's get right to the songs:
Everyday I Have The Blues
Who Did You Think I Was
Wait Til Tomorrow
Come When I Call
Good Love Is On The Way
Ain't Gone N Give Up On Love
I Don't Need No Doctor
E Blues
Hearts So Heavy
I Got A Woman
Gravity
Water (New Tune)
Mr. Pitiful
Encore:
Daughters
Axis: Bold As Love
I got these titles from the set list. Otherwise, I would have only remembered "Wait Til Tomorrow," "Good Love Is On The Way," Ain't Gone N Give Up On Love," I Don't Need No Doctor," "Gravity, "Daughters," and "Bold As Love." The others would have been lost in the mix because there were SO many songs I hadn't heard before.
Of the new songs, "Good Love Is On The Way," "Hearts So Heavy" (I think), and "Gravity" were the standouts.
I say "Hearts So Heavy" (I think) because I'm not sure if this is the song I REALLY loved. Part of the chorus went "Heaven knows... but I don't." That's all I can remember! Whatever song has those lyrics is INCREDIBLE. I remember reading that John said he hadn't written a "hit" for his upcoming album yet. Well, that his hit. It's acoustic and sounds like something that would fit well on "Heavier Things."
"Gravity" I LOVE because of John's electric guitar playing. His tone and the style of the song remind me of my favorite blues player — Robert Cray. I LOVE this song and can't wait to hear it on the upcoming album!
"Good Love Is On The Way" surprised me. The way it was performed live, it sounds like a 70's classic rock song. It was WAY cool and it has a sweet, heavy guitar intro.
I was really pleasantly surprised to her him play "I Don't Need No Doctor." I think I was the only one singing along to that one, but I didn't mind.
The other real standouts for me were Hendrix's "Wait Til Tomorrow" and "Bold As Love," as well as SRV's "Ain't Gone N Give Up On Love." John took an EXTENDED solo on "Ain't Gone..." and it was great. He's turning into a real showman on stage and it was obvious on this song that he's more confident in his playing than ever.
"Daughters" was a bit of a let-down as an encore, but he did mix it up. He played it similary to the way he played it at the Grammys... on electric.
A lot of people were shouting for John to play songs like "Comfortable" and "Love Song For No One." I KNOW John heard these requests being yelled, but he didn't acknowledge them.
Great show. I only wish I could go tomorrow too.
But one thing this show did was get me SUPER amped for the upcoming album. I was slightly worried about John writing blues/rock songs.
Now I know I have nothing to worry about.
I should start by saying I didn't care for "Clarity" the first time I heard it. It was such a departure from what I was used to from John, and I didn't think the horns worked with John's music. Of course, it DOES work (wonderfully!) and it was my own resistance to John's evolving as a songwriter that was the problem. Slowly I began to like parts of the song — like the way the guitars jump in just before he sings "And I will wait to find…" It's such a simple guitar phrase, but gorgeous in its simplicity. So I started to look forward to that part of the song. Then I started to like the three-string chords John uses to frame the song. Then I started to like the horns. Then the piano in the beginning, etc., etc. The song completely grew on me. And I'd have to say it's the one song on "Heavier Things" that hasn't peaked for me. It still gets better each time I hear it.
I think of "Clarity" like I think of poems by Ezra Pound or TS Elliot — it's not going to appeal to the masses (as true art never will), but for anyone who's willing to put some effort into REALLY listening to it, they're going to start to understand the greatness of it. But not completely. It's got that element of true greatness that can never be completely pinned down or boiled down to a simple explication. That being said, here's what the song means to me.
Someone has suggested that "Clarity" is John wondering out loud whether his celebrity status will last. I think this idea plays a small part in the song, but it's just the beginning. I think what he's really saying in "Clarity" is that any time we spend worrying about how long something will last takes away from the moment at hand to be enjoyed. ("By the time I recognize this moment / This moment will be gone.") That can apply to his celebrity status, as suggested, or to a relationship that is going well, which I think John alludes to.
But the BRILLIANT thing about "Clarity" is how John will negate the previous statement with the next statement, showing his struggle to accept the concept he himself knows to be true. Yes, he realizes the moment is gone, but that doesn't stop him from going back and trying to recapture the happiness he SHOULD have felt when instead he was wondering how long the moment would last. I love the line, "But I will bend the light / Pretending that it somehow lingers on." "Bending light" is a Newton/Einstein theory about how time slows when light passes by a gravitational pull, and John's reference means he's trying to slow down the moment so he can enjoy it. Absolutely freakin' brilliant.
He goes back and forth like this throughout the song. He's scared, worrying how long any given moment will last. He thinks up a million scenarios that could ruin his moment ("I throw my fear around"). But then for no explainable reason, he feels calm. The brilliance of the ACTUAL moment (the "diamond") comes shining through for him, melting away the false brilliance (the "rock candy," which looks like diamonds but lacks the essence) that lies in the hope that the moment will last forever.
And even though he knows the moment WON'T last forever, that the moment CAN'T last forever, he can't help asking himself if it will. The first time I heard "Clarity" I thought it was redundant for John to repeat the line, "And I will wait to find / If this will last forever." He sings it consecutively, and I thought, "Couldn't he have come up with a different lyric?" But stupid me — I didn't realize that he was putting in words the feeling of waiting… and waiting. Again, brilliant on his part. Not so brilliant on mine.
He asks himself if there was even a second of time that he lived in and enjoyed the moment. Or did he simply move on ("sail through") through the moment, failing to stop ("drop my anchor down") and experience it because he was worried about how long it would last. He regrets that there wasn't a moment that he simply said, "I'm here, she's here… THAT'S what matters. Not whether we'll be here a week, a month, a year from now." (John gives us a similar message in "St. Patrick's Day." "If I can just get through December, January, and February, perhaps…") Next thing you know, he's wasted the afternoon reflecting on things he should have enjoyed in June. Hmm, I wonder if she thinks about it, too? ("How `bout you?")
Again, I think the brilliance of the song lies in the struggle John has of accepting what he knows to be true. When you think about it, can we really just STOP worrying? No. We can realize it does us no good, but it's impossible to stop altogether. But there's no doubt we'd be living more fully if we COULD stop worrying about future problems ("rainy weather") and get on with enjoying the moment at hand.