Before I talk about the gig I just need to rant for a minute. This was my second visit to the Leamington Assembly and my impressions from my first visit two weeks ago were very favourable. Good sound, nicely done out, bars without queues - all good stuff. This time there was some sort of problem with either the tech or maybe the artists but we were kept queueing in an increasingly crowded and hot room for more than an hour past the advertised door opening time. The issue is this - complete and utter lack of explanation or apology even when asked. Amateur hour or what? Rant over.
Support was from Buick 6 who are Lucinda's current band. They played a guitar based set built around changes in rhythm. The groove kept changing and it was good to listen to. I am always a sucker for a bit of pedal steel or slide guitar and the that featured in a few tracks and just once or twice I got a small hint of Allman Brothers.
When Lucinda came on the band reverted to a a dutiful backing band at first. Lucinda strummed an acoustic guitar and the set was sounding good with her big distinctive voice dominating the sound. I love the southern US accent and I love the way that it comes through when being sung even though a lot of other accents disappear. However about six tracks in the gig just changed gear - the track was "Tears of Joy" and that was followed by "Blue" ,"Jackson", "Pineola" and "Out of Touch" (not necessarily in that exact order).
Now the band were back in the groove and the vocal was powerful and beautifully defined.
I think it was partly that she was visibly enthused by the venue and the audience, and suddenly there was extra energy and everything was a tighter and more dynamic and the gig just took off.
Towards the end of the gig I felt that Lucinda's voice was starting to struggle a bit but this is not surprising - she belts out the vocals without compromise and has been doing so for thirty years as she told us more than once.
The encore featured a track with just Lucinda singing "Passionate Kisses", followed by a couple of tracks off "Little Honey" with the full band. I am glad I eventually caught up with seeing Lucinda Williams and she delivers full-on. I'll catch her next time she is over here.
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