Arlo Guthrie at Massey Hall
We just got home from the Arlo Guthrie concert at Massey Hall. We had fun - the show was well-played and very entertaining. Arlo played his well known tunes, some old folk songs and a new piece or two along the way. He still tells lots of rambling stories between songs, and his voice is in pretty good shape too. The last time I saw Arlo perform, at Ontario place with Pete Seeger many years ago, I felt the show was in the moment; this time out it seemed somewhat nostalgiac. He even commented about playing certain songs every night for 40 years. Still, I enjoyed the show and I'm glad had the opportunity to attend.
7 comments:
Seeing Arlo Guthrie in about 1988 was the highlight of an amazing Mariposa festival (when we camped on the site, I don't know if you can still do that?) He was so good and his storytelling is awesome. We also saw John Prine and Tracy Chapman at the same festival. I wonder how his movie Alice's Reastaurant holds up, and if he did the song with a contemporary twist which might be a good idea? did he say anything about politics etc? He's sure been through this before...
At one point in the show, Arlo talked about songwriting as being like fishing....the songs kind of swim by you and if you're in the right place at the right time, you can grab one....then he talked about explaining this in a letter to Bob Dylan where he suggested that maybe Bob would consider throwing the small ones back!
Thats very cute and he sells himself short, but its super nice.
His performance of Alice's Restaurant was pretty much straight up, by the way.
Arlo's stories are often the best part of his shows! But I love the music.
The movie holds up really well. My step daughter viewd it a few months ago and really loved it.
btw, look at the little boy on the cover of Arlo's self titled album. That little boy (Arlo's son) is now his pianist.
I know that only because Arlo's daughter, Sara, told me that before a show here a few years ago. She was hawking Arlo T-shirts and albums.
She, incidentally, now has a pretty good career of her own going.
Sara Lee Guthrie was opening for Mary Gauthier in town the night we saw Arlo, so she showed up at Massey Hall in time to join in on This Land is Your Land and Irene Goodnight! His son Abe played keyboards at the show, and is a good player.
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