The down low on Knoxville

[shane]

July 5, Knoxville @ Blue Cats

Show started later than advertised, which is good because I forgot about the time change and started to freak out! Opening band was quite good. Two piece outfit, drummer and guitarist/singer. Played a tight and concise set. Made my way to the very front row on the left corner for J.

J came out relaxed to mighty applause and began to set up his rig, which consited of an old shitty looking Gibson accoustic and an even worse looking back up. But the guitar sounded phenomenal – trust me! And…afterall, who could see J playing a brand new…ummm…Ovation or something silly like that?!?!

Some guys up front starting yelling for J and threw a sheet of paper on stage. I assume it was a written request cuz J started off by saying "I got a special request I am gonna start with." Then he banged out "Just like heaven" and it was friggin remarkable! He nailed down the distortion parts and it was pretty damn heavy.

As usual J stayed fairly quiet during the set – which consisted off all the "regular tunes" and a few surprises – including a new tune. The new song sounded like a pretty straight forward medium temp rocker with the line "Everybody’s let me down" repeated over and over.

He blew everyone away and played perfectly! He had some rythm parts looped and would perform the most mind boggling solos EVER over top of them. His timing was amazing and the transition between leads SEAMLESS!

Halfway through the set he said something like this…

"I see Jerry Cantrell is playing here soon, anyone going? Well…I think its sad that Layne died. I remember one of my greatest rock moments came once when I got to sit in on the drums. It gave me the chance to enjoy being an arena rock drummer for once."

Then some jackass jumped on stage during a solo and practically jammed a disposable camera in J’s face. He just kind of looked up with a "WTF" look. This was the most disrespectful thing Ive ever seen and was made worse by the fact that this was an intimate accoustic set. J quipped after the incident…."I started to get scared for a moment. I looked up and there was this sasquatch (sp) on stage!"

The crowd was rabid. There was the obligatory drunk obnoxious bastard up front, but besides that everyone made J feel very welcome I thought. We got him out for an encore. We tried for a second – even though the crowd grew very very loud chanting "J…J…J" over and over, I suppose he was tired. I hung around and caught him offstage. I met him last year in Nashville and he was super sweet. I felt like a cheeze ball but I had to ask him for a picture. Now I have a pic with him and last year I got the bands autographs….I can finally not bug him anymore! I was really brief and told him he kicked ass and asked about the new album. He said to look for it in October.

For those of you who havent met J let me try to describe him…

Super nice and approachable. But he is somewhat shy by nature and very quiet spoken – speaking in matter of fact phrases. Its like he is seriously clueless as to why someone would want his auto or picture. But he is humble and gracious enough to accept it. He is very, very patient and Ive never seen him be an asshole to anyone – even though I’ve seen people be somewhat overbearing on him I think.

J once again made it a night to remember and the 3 hour trip to Knoxville was worth it to say the least! Can’t wait to see him again.

Listen folks…I have amazing pictures of the show and I dont have any webspace to store them. I’d like to share them….how do I do it?

And also…if anyone recorded the show I can trade pics or whatever else…but Id really love to have a copy.

[email protected]

L8r-
Shane

[SG]

Thanks for review Shane <img> it`s cool to hear diffrent perspectives of the show,thanks! <img>

I don`t know much about how to put the pics up but I`m sure somebody around here can help out <img>

[AGAP]

Hey Shane,

Thanks tons for the review, Just Like Heaven sounds like it was pretty pleasing!!! Love your description of J as well.

We would love to see those pics, image uploading to the site is currently being worked on….hope you can put them up once that has been finished.

Thanks

Allison <img>

[sarsaparilly]

shane are ya sayin an ovation is a lame ass guitar?

Quote:

And…afterall, who could see J playing a brand new…ummm…Ovation or something silly like that?!?!

Quote:

cuz i got a wicked old ovation folk balladeer that might just change your mind. and if hearing her would not do the trick than i reckon i can hit you good and hard on the noggin with her. i am trying admirably to NOT be offended but honestly i just want to scratch yer eyes out for them fightin’ words about my baby. so unless you wanna be labeled as a rascist snob, take it back, at least about this particular guitar, come on ya never even met her dude. p.s thanks for the review too! i wanna see j do just like heaven, that would be ok with me.

<small>[ 07-09-2002, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: sarsaparilly ]</small>

[shane]

Oh man….I dunno! <img>

Honestly – Ovation was the first name to come to mind. I would have said "a fancy Martin" but…well…that would have been kind of stupid for obvious reasons!

Ovations sound great! But I just can’t go with a guitar that won’t stay on my lap! <img> Those damn round backs!

Plus I was jabbing at price tags, not quality.

At any rate..I meant to say that I couldn’t see J playing a brand new guitar with a fresh glue smell. It was great to see him rock an old guitar – and he didn’t even bother to trim the strings! Surprised he didn’t poke someone’s eye out…..

maybe the silly "sasquatch" bastard that jumped on stage for the pic?!?! That would have been great!

l8r
Shane

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