My Most Popular Post of 2024: 'Too High To Review The Willie Nelson Concert'

I don’t remember a lot of it but here are my notes, man

EDITOR’S NOTE: A review of the “Outlaw Music Festival” was not on my editorial calendar until a day or so prior when some friends invited me along. I had never seen Willie Nelson in concert, a bucket list event, so I immediately agreed.

Rather than a standard form review, I experimented with a humorous essay in the form of a concert review from the perspective of a critic under the unexpected influence of a secondary cannabis high.

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I attended the Outlaw Music Festival at the Darien Lake Amphitheater on Tuesday (September 17, 2024). It was a beautiful, late summer afternoon as our party approached the Genesee River Basin Watershed.

We drove east from Buffalo under puffy clouds and azure skies which gave way to cool evening breezes under a bright harvest moon.

Southern Avenue took the stage at 5:00PM while I was talking with a group of bikers in the parking lot. We were discussing the sublime beauty of the Durango Silverton Railroad when it occurred to me that they were not actually smoking Marlboro Lights like they said they were.

What follows are excerpts from my concert notes because things are a little hazy this morning. I add clarification where possible.

Durango Silverton Railroad.

John Mellencamp

High energy, played his biggest hits. 72 years old.

Unique use of accordion and violin in pop/rock music.

Mellencamp’s band is dressed like waiters.

During his acoustic interlude he screamed at a fan “hey, you in the red hat! Why don’t you shut the f*#% up?” (Author’s Note: Mellencamp was heckled in Toledo following his public support of Biden and since then the red hats seem to be following him. The heckler at Tuesday’s show got little traction).

“All Along The Watchtower.” Dylan cover when Dylan is next on stage. Nice.

Great bass player.

Did he just say, “thank you Denver?” Guy behind me says no.

Butterscotch Telecaster open D tuning. Every song in D?

Hourlong set. Sounds good.

Mellencamp is a good guy. Farm Aid. (Author’s Note: Mellencamp began Farm Aid in 1985 to buy and forgive the mortgages of midwestern family farms subject to foreclosure. It has since become the primary political counterweight to the corporate takeover of US agriculture. The 2024 show will be held September 21 in Saratoga Springs and features Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Mellencamp, Mavis Staples, and many others).

In and out of men’s room, five minutes. Line for the women’s room is 20 yards long.

We should really stop treating women like shit.

Ticketmaster/Live Nation → monopoly or cartel?

Bob Dylan

Began with “All Along the Watchtower.” Nice.

Dylan behind a black grand piano. Piano was his first instrument? (Author’s Note: I have no idea why this in my notes but it is, somehow, true. Young Robert Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minnesota began playing piano at age 11 before switching to guitar).

Deep red curtain background lit with lamplight spots framing the band. Gives a lounge feel.

Tight, low-energy set. Jazz jam session vibe instead of rock concert vibe.

Sparse applause between songs. Audience is enjoying it but only giving back the energy they get from the stage.

Another Telecaster, black with white pickguard, lipstick pickup.

“Mannish Boy,” Muddy Waters?

“Hard Rain is Gonna Fall.”

Look at all the cool people on the Bud Lite Party Deck.

Do we really have to watch TV commercials on the monitors between sets?

Willie Nelson

The man is 91. Cross “see Willie Nelson in concert” off bucket list.

Willie seated with Trigger. Singing with ??? (Author’s Note: the guitar player and singer who performed with Willie is Waylon Payne, musician, actor, and Willie’s godson).

Great harmonica player. (Author’s Note: The legendary Mickey Raphael).

Drummer playing snare only. Sounds perfect for the set.

“Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.”

Willie is not fond of music executives.

“You Are Always On My Mind” I’m not crying. YOU’RE crying.

“May the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Great show. Audience moved.

END OF CONCERT NOTES

Musical Nostalgia

The Outlaw Music Festival was, in the end, an exercise in musical nostalgia; I say this as praise rather than criticism. Although clinging to the notion that the past is better than the present can be depressing, loving the music of one’s youth is not indulgent, but rather a biological imperative.

Music lights up our brains like little else. Mark Joseph Stern explains this well in a 2014 essay:

To understand why we grow attached to certain songs, it helps to start with the brain’s relationship with music in general. When we first hear a song, it stimulates our auditory cortex and we convert the rhythms, melodies, and harmonies into a coherent whole.

From there, our reaction to music depends on how we interact with it. Sing along to a song in your head, and you’ll activate your premotor cortex, which helps plan and coordinate movements. Dance along, and your neurons will synchronize with the beat of the music.

Pay close attention to the lyrics and instrumentation, and you’ll activate your parietal cortex, which helps you shift and maintain attention to different stimuli. Listen to a song that triggers personal memories, and your prefrontal cortex, which maintains information relevant to your personal life and relationships, will spring into action.

Music takes the best parts of our lives and literally weaves them into us. Those musical threads were aglow Tuesday night in an audience who went home happy.

One final note: the sound guy knew me and printed out a setlist, but I gave it to a woman with a golden retriever. I have no regrets.