Taylor Hicks and the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra

Taylor Hicks was here a few days ago and since he was always my pick to win American Idol (yes, I like AI -- shut up) and a friend had tickets, I went. Our seats were very close so I could actually see him. Hicks was fantastic -- he really looked like he was having fun. He sang my favorite Susan Tedeschi tune -- Gonna Move (her version tops his by a mile but his was still good) -- and he ended with my very favorite Shelby Lynne song, Where I'm From (Shelby Lynne is from Alabama and the song is about here) plus the Doobie Brothers -- he was great, especially on the Shelby Lynne song. It's as if these lyrics meant something special to him:

all I'm trying to say is I'm
never far away from an
Alabama frame of mind

And he really captured the soulfulness of that song -- something he just missed with Tedeschi's Gonna Move.

It's the audiences that make concerts difficult for me. I still maintain that if I'm going to a concert, I should have to approve every single person who wants to go to the same concert. I think if I pay for seats I should be able to remain seated and still see the show. Everyone where we were stood up through the whole thing. Why? I don't get that. If this were at the Fairgrounds, sure -- that's what you expect -- it's even part of the fun. Then there was this freaky shrieking banshee (I know that's redundant but she really shrieked a lot and she was loud) behind me. During the opening band's show (they were The Greyhounds -- they were good) she kept shrieking, "Taylor! Taylor!" Then she was apparently under the delusion that:

1. I paid to hear her sing not Taylor and
2. I cared what she thought. She kept singing every freaking song really loud -- I was lucky to hear him. When he sang Shelby Lynne's Where I'm From, she shrieked, "I LOVE that song!" Well, so do I -- the difference between the two of us is that I didn't feel the need to let the entire audience know about it. I told the person I was with that if she saw my hand sneak back there to punch anyone she needed to stop me.
   

I felt sorry for the poor usher who had to keep coming down the aisle and making those idiots get at least in the row they were supposed to be in instead of in the aisles - she had to make several people leave and go to their seats in the back.

After the show, we went over to a local bar where Taylor Hick's former band, the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra, was playing. We went because my friend loves Taylor Hicks and she heard that he often sits in with this band. Well, he didn't show but I was happy because LMBO was very good and I'd been introduced to a new band whose music I enjoyed. I came away with one of their cds. Here everyone was standing and dancing but it's that kind of venue so I expected that and was fine with it.