John Prine concert in Asheville NC last Saturday night

Four of us made the fantastic pilgrimage to see an annual (or more frequent!) trip to see a John Prine Concert in a new city and venue this past Saturday night. Asheville North Carolina's Thomas Wolfe Auditorium was the place. As we found the Civic Center in scenic and historic downtown Asheville, a couple hours before the show, the Civic Center was bustling in preparation for a concert (in another part of the complex) for Buckcherry ( I think that was right); and this was a very different demographic of concert-goers. The hustle and bustle of the complex changed after those music fans started entering their venue. And a more familiar demographic started milling around the Wolfe Auditorium side! We had a nice Thai food dinner after browsing the many fine eating establishments in Asheville. We had fantastic seats in the second row center for the show, and Sarah Watkins (as the opener) got started right on time with a spirited and energetic set- Sarah, accompanied by her brother Sean were part of Nickel Creek, and she is venturing on to a solo effort- she is a very entertaining performer, and is opening for lots of great acts in her effort to get out to people. We'll follow her release of her new CD and seek out other performances and how she is doing around the country.
John Prine put on his typically great show, and got a great crowd response. Jason and Dave did their usual exquisite accompanying, and the song selection was deep and varied; favoring some of the quieter, reflective songs, but plenty of rollicking ones mixed in. Bottomless Lake was one we haven't heard too much in these recent years shows; and Speed of the Sound of Loneliness. Killing the Blues and Clay Pigeons were also different ones than we've heard lately. He had some regular stories, but told them with some good sly variations, and dug a little deep with some stories of song origins from the early years. He did People putting people down, as part of the two song encore; finishing with Paradise. Lake Marie was the regular set closer as usual, and Jason had some particularly solid instrumental time in that song toward the crescendo. It was great to be sitting up so close, and really seeing the expressions and performing and to see John (and Jason and Dave's) reaction to the audience. Yet another great experience at seeing John and loving his music so dearly.