Hiatt 2:
I saw my second John Hiatt concert last night, and as was once suggested, I did Bring the Family. Actually, the family brought me. The Son Unit (who heads for college next month) arranged it. The show was at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which, as you might guess, is a lawn-and-foliage-based venue. I first saw him sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s at the Center Stage theater. He was with Sonny Landreth, and I was close, so I could catch all the wildman antics and mugging. This time we were way in the back because we were late for the opening act and didn’t want to wander through the bodies looking for a seat.
Because we were in the back and the acoustics, the crowd response sounded muted, even though I don’t think it was, judging by the dancing and the fact that the scene seemed sold-out. We left during the closer, Memphis in the Meantime, which is a shame since it’s a favorite. But logistics sort of dictated that an early exit was in our best interest.
It was all good. The band was rock- solid, Mr. Hiatt was in fine voice and a good mood, and the crowd, was appreciative, with just the right number of dancing/swaying persons. We did come away from the show with a new rule for attending concerts. If you can’t tell whether its a telecaster or stratocaster onstage, you should have brought the binoculars. From now on, they’re always coming with us.
Mr. Hiatt did say one thing that really has us wondering. He said that years and years ago he played somewhere on Buford Highway. We can’t imagine where that would have been, though a crowd member kept suggesting “Fuzzy’s!”
