I recently went to the Austin Music hall to see Dr. John and The Lower 911 Band. I was real excited to see the Dr, but wasn’t sure what material he would play. I haven’t heard much of his new material, but very familiar with his classic stuff.
I arrived just after the concert started. For anyone going to a show at Austin Music Hall – If they say show starts at 8 – that means show starts at 8. If figured there would be an opener, but there was not.
As I walked in, they were playing “Wild Honey”, one of my favorite Dr. John songs. He was sitting in the middle of the stage with a piano on one side, and his organ on the other. While he was playing the piano, he would reach the his other side and play the organ with one hand. It was all so smooth, and flawless.
There wasn’t that many people in the audience so I moved up to the front left side of the stage so I could watch the bass player, a true master of the New Orleans groove. I really enjoyed getting 5 feet away from the musicians. The band proceeded to play “Right Place, Wrong Time,” “Tipitina,” and a few new songs Dr. John has released in recent years. One song was about tough times in New Orleans after Katrina that discussed a damaged, corrupt city trying to survive.
After that Dr John moved over in front of the bass player (also right in front of me) and started playing guitar and singing “Let the Good times Roll”. It was so cool. Dr. John isn’t a fancy guitar player, but he has that old school, piano feel, which I really appreciate.
THEN, Dr. John started doing this odd voodoo dance. It kinda looked like he was doing the limbo dance, but there was no stick. It was crazy… I thought he was gonna fall over. After the last song, which I think was “Indian Red,” there was a short pause, long applause, and Dr. John came back and started to play his classic, “Such a Night” on the piano. Towards the end of the song, the band came out, gave a little more to the crowd. It was a real nice end of the show. Then Dr. John danced and played a little more guitar, and they walked away… back to the crescent city.
I had a blast.
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