[Slowhand] RAH 2009

[Ken Norris]

I attended the first four shows of the RAH 2009 residency. I thought the first two shows and the second two were quite different, even although they had quite simiilar setlists. The first couple of shows are what I would call "EC lite." He started
heavying things up in the third and fourth shows, and my impression is that continued to happen as the run proceeded. Till finally he was back to electric Layla with Doyle on stage, and doing GTGBIALW earlier in the show. We'll have to see what
evidence the tapers can provide. 

Even though I found the first couple of shows, as shows, somewhat lightweight, he was doing material that I really liked that disappeared later on. The cover of Dylan's Not Dark Yet was reallly terrific. Also, his cover of Maceo Merriweather's
Anytime For You was quite good. What I was the most interested in was the version of Little Queen of Spades that he played at the first two shows. Mostly because he was playing A LOT of guitar. On the 16th he sang verses, then Chris S. took a piano
solo, then he sang another verse, and guitar soloing began. What I THINK happened is that the band went up to D, but EC started his solo in C, so the first couple of notes were bum notes. But AFTER THAT, wow! He played 36 bars, sang another verse,
and then played another 12. It was impressive.

The second night the structure was the same, but he was spot on with his solo from the get-go. And started out playing it a lot slower, stretching it out. But again, but one piano solo, and the rest was EC.

On the 19th and 20th he shortened his solo by one go-round, but it was still quite effective. And on the 19th and 20th he replaced Before You Accuse Me with Everything's Gonna Be Alright, a song I much prefer, perhaps because I've heard it far less
often. One of the nights on LQOS he kept the first solo down in the key of C, and then the band shifted up to D for the final solo. On four different nights he played LQOS four different ways. I was hoping it was going to be an 11 night work in
progress, but from reports I THINK he went back to spreading the solos around among band members, which just takes it back down to where it has recently been. For a few nights there he was doing something different with it. 

I agree with all the people who don't partiicularly care for Tim Carmon's keyboard solos. I think he's a really good ensemble player, but his solos are all effectsy and, on a certain level, intellectual exercises, IMHO. Certainly they don't affect
me emotionally, other than to turn me off. And it's actually kind of sad that, in Old Love, his solo comes after EC's. The quality of their playing is so different and, for me, TC kind of sinks the ship. 

Alll four performances of I Shot The Sheriff were great. I warmed up to Going Down Slow and Anything For Your Love over the four nights. I did not warm up to unplugged Layla or 15 minute Cocaine.

I'm interested to hear what the last four shows were like. I think they probably sounded and felt quite different from the earlier shows. I think there's a narrative progression in how the shows unfolded. 

Best,

Ken