Villa Montalvo presents Leon Russell
2014-10-24
Carriage House Theatre
Villa Montalvo, 15400 Montalvo Dr, Saratoga, CA
8:00 PM, Friday, October 24, 2014

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:00 PM lights down, announcements from Kelly Hudson]

1. [8:03 PM] I Got a Woman »
2. [8:07 PM] Prince of Peace »
3. [8:10 PM] Out in the Woods
4. [8:14 PM] One More Love Song $
5. [8:17 PM] Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms $
6. [8:19 PM] Stranger in a Strange Land
7. [8:22 PM] Let the Good Times Roll ¤
8. [8:25 PM] All God's Children Got Soul »
9. [8:2m PM] Dixie Lullaby $
10. [8:28 PM] Baby, What You Want Me to Do?
11. [8:31 PM] Back to the Island
    [Leon talks about playing with George Harrison]
12. [8:39 PM] A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
    [Leon talks about discovering Ivory Joe Hunter]
13. [8:43 PM] Kansas City Woman
14. [8:48 PM] Wild Horses $%
15. [8:53 PM] Georgia on My Mind %
16. [8:58 PM] I've Just Seen a Face ^%
17. [9:01 PM] ? $%
18. [9:06 PM] Tight Rope $%
19. [9:08 PM] Delta Lady %
    [begin solo section]
20. [9:13 PM] Sweet Emily
21. [9:17 PM] Magic Mirror
22. [9:22 PM] ?Mad Dogs & Englishmen (my notes are incomprehensible here!)
23. [9:27 PM] A Song for You
    [band returns]
24. [9:31 PM] Jumpin' Jack Flash $
25. [9:33 PM] Paint it Black $
26. [9:34 PM] Kansas City $
27. [9:36 PM] Roll Over Beethoven
    [show ends 9:41 PM, no encore]

• Beau Charron: guitar, $ pedal steel guitar, ^ mandolin, harmony vox;
• Brandon Holder: drums;
• Leon Russell: piano, keyboards, vox;
• Jack Wessel: bass, % electric contrabass, ¤ lead (t07) and harmony vox.

Working with a crack band, ol' Leon whipped the crowd into a frenzy as he pinballed from one top hit to another, all barrelhouse carousing mixed up with swiftly swatting chord clusters, growling the quick verse chorus verse and then slam! bam! thank you ma'am! and on to the next tune. No more than three minutes per tune? You set the pins up, take aim, then mow 'em down. Strike!

Lots of favorites on that list up there, though I'm sure a whiner could name a few omissions to moan about. I can't recall the last time I saw Leon – maybe 10 years ago? Or twenty? Dang, the time sure flies!

I'm real glad that I made it out to tonight's show, though I'd have preferred to see him at Yoshi's – closer to home and less lop-sided sound system. Oh well. Bought these tix way in advance, and stuck with the original plan instead of making the leap of faith when other opportunities arose. Gotta be cool with the lot you draw sometimes!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!