Tanglewood, Lenox, MA4th August 1997 |
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Hey - this is Bret here. Before the show started, my sister spotted "Goatboy" on stage so we went over and had him sign our LIC booklet. Then we had "happy Stevie" sign it and he said, "Well, there's is a first time for everything. When Ani first came on, she said, "What is this, a graveyard?" In response to the uninterested Dylan fans and pockets of empty seats up front (from Dylan fans getting food) then she said, "What are these radio station seats?) But then the incredible happenned, a few Ani fans were already up and dancing to the rhythms of my IQ, then my sisiter and I started dancing and the old security women told us to sit down, and then a few Phish like guys started going up front to dance, and then about 300 people all rushed the front area and it turned into an Ani dance party. So eveyrbody was going crazy for about 1 1/2 songs until they started clearing the aisles. Then people all took refuge with other Ani fans . One girl, looking for a place to sit up front turned to another fan, and she said, "Do you need a lap?" Then there was this drunk guy that said (or yelled) this chick sucks, sit down!) So the rest of the set continued with ani fans huddled together in rows dancing. When the inital rush up front started, Ani said, "I was going to be grumpy but you guys just made my day." Then she told a story about Utah Phillips , saying that he would be happy that the fans worked it out with the security guards and the fire regulations, and didn't look to her to solve the problem. Then she said, "Just try and not be so flammable." She left the stage to a standing ovation (from all the concert goers) and came back on to do "Both Hands" acoustically. She seemed to look at the legions of fna sin amazement during the show, perhaps not knowing what to expect opening up for Bob. Unfortunately, she and Bob did not do any songs together. Goatboy told me earlier that "they had just got there and that he did not even meet him yet. My o!!
wn miracle of the night came when we were walking back to our lovestation wagon and we ran into Andy Stochansky and Jason Mercer talking to a few fans in front of the love bus. I had Andy take his picture with me. Jason said that Dan Bern was there that night too. This drunk teenage girl siad to Jason, as Goatboy passed, "that's Ani's boyfriend, didi you know that?" I told Jason that I liked his Banjo playing on God's Country and he said that maybe that would be his in with Dylan in terms of playing with him. Anyway, it was a great show - and a good vibe in the air -this mini tour with Bob seems like a good time for the fans to meet the RBR family in a relaxed setting, with so much of the focus on Dylan. Andy told this family of fans that "they should come see them play Europe where they play to 400 fans. What a great show! Looking forward to the Great Woods show on the 16th! For the record, Ms. D had green extensions and long blue extensions in back swept up into a ponytail of sorts.
Bret Kerr