Practically Perfect In Every Way

My day. I left the house about 6 o'clock in the evening to get down to Playhouse Square early enough to get a parking space right near the enclosed walkway, and a ticket to see Bonnie Raitt. So far so good, minimal traffic, all is going well, even with the $8 it costs to park where I like to park.

So I get to the ticket window and ask what kind of seats they have left, and I get:

SECOND ROW, DEAD CENTER.

So, I go outside to have dinner at Otto Moser's, a place I chose because it was relatively deserted and quiet, unlike its neighbor, the much more trendy, fashionable and expensive, Star, which was standing-room only and noisy. So at Otto's, which is decorated with ancient photos of theatre folk from the early nineteenth century AND several mounted heads from the deer family wearing baseball caps, I was presented with a servicable strip steak, baked potato and applesauce by a genuine broad (for less than $20), the folks next to me were smoking (imagine that - inside a restaurant!) and it was the perfect, low-key, unpretentious meal I was looking for.

So I go in to the Palace, and survey the libations. The whiskey tonight was Jack Daniels, which I am officially not fond of, but if you are listening to blues, it is the drink of choice.

As I was being led to my seat, I noticed that there was no orchestra pit...the front row was literally next to the stage, so my seat was at most, five feet from the stage edge, meaning I was going to be less than twelve feet away from Bonnie Raitt.

It made my stage-managing heart swell with pride when at 7:30 EXACTLY (oh, yes, I checked), the lights dimmed and they announced the opening act, Stephen Bruton. Stephen seems like real nice fellow, had immaculate and beautiful guitars with very idiosyncratic string flourishes at the head, and he wore a most attractive multi-patterned shirt and great Levi's.

Then, Bonnie Raitt came out. Folks, she is magnificent. She wore a burned-out maroon velvet, deep V neck belled sleeve top and tight black pants and boots. I was close enough to her to see her cuticles and her eyelashes, and when you go to see Bonnie Raitt, most of the joy is watching her play, and I had the best seat in the house for that.

The stage backdrop was one of the coolest things I have ever seen and probably cost a $1.98. It was like 100 yards of clear plastic that were gathered and swagged, and then when lit in various ways made the greatest visual inpressions of texture and color. Blue, green, red, steel gray - many moods, and all of them rich and evocative. Way cool.

Bonnie seemed to be having some trouble with her monitors and quickly ripped the ear monitor out, and asked for a floor monitor to be set up. There were many problems with levels throughout the course of the show, and Bonnie showed herself to be in command of every aspect of the stage. When folks started yelling out requests, she handled by saying softly, "Oh, yeah, that's a GREAT song........but so is THIS one."

At one point she looked out into the audience and announced,

Well, I'm throwing a curve ball at the band and the crew, and changing the set list, because like Bobby Brown, it's my perogative.

Then she kicked the piano player off of his chair and sat at the keyboards, murmuring, "I hope I remember this, I wrote it after all...I just feel like doing it tonight..." and out came Nick of Time.

There were three standout performances in my mind. The first one was during a set when she sat on a black leather stool, with her hand on her knee and performed a gorgeous, jazzy version of I Can't Make You Love Me (which garnered a standing ovation). Her fragility and depth of emotion, and her presence in the performance were truly breathtaking. It was a beautiful moment. After she surfaced, she said,

When you go that deep you gotta pick yourself up with something like this

and literally threw a guitar around her shoulder and strutted arrogantly around the stage, just like Mick Jagger, exuding sensuality and power. That immediate dichotomy was truly impressive.

The second favorite moment was the mind-blowing Mighty Tight Woman by Sippie Wallace, which appears on Bonnie's first album, recorded in a garage when she was 21. This one was a sultry, deep blues groove, with long, excellent solos by Bonnie on acoustic guitar, Jon Cleary on piano and Stephen Bruton on lead guitar. It was steamy. And much like her soul-sister, Maria Muldaur doing Bessie Smith's Empty Bed Blues, tonight's performance was much richer, truer and filled with experience in comparison to that early recording (which is still impressive in itself).

The final song of the night (the last of the three encores) was Robert Palmer's Bad Case of Loving You, which she did an outstanding version of - hard rockin' and very fun.

The show had it all - a treat for the eyes and ears. Jazzy, wrenching ballads, slow old blues, pop, rock and the pleasure of seeing a true legend, comfortable enough in her own skin to be completely real and present.

She is a wonder.