Allegheny Landing Park, Pittsburgh, PA.... The WYEP Summer Music Festival In Brief: The only old song Shocked played was "Anchorage"--everything else was new. But unlike many performers who are heavy on their latest material, she was so dynamic that no one seemed to mind. Erin McKeown sat in on guitar for about 4 songs. There were some technical troubles during Penn's set, but he still played well. "Long Way Down" was interrupted halfway through ("I'd like to soldier on," Penn explained when he stopped the number, "But it's hard to sing if I can't hear the guitar"), but I'm so glad he played it. He closed with "Walter Reed," one of my favorites of the new record.
State Theater, New Brunswick, NJ.... Before Tori's show (the second time I was seeing her live), my then-wife Christine and I were meeting my WHTG colleague Matt Pinfield, Atlantic Records' Tod Elmore, and a few others for dinner at a restaurant next to the State Theater. The hot topic at dinner was discussion about whether O.J. Simpson might be guilty of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson, which had taken place the previous Sunday. Someone at the dinner table mentioned they had heard on the radio earlier that O.J. was missing. Speculation was interrupted when Matt realized he had to head over to the theater to introduce Tori on stage. Tori and I, after the show Christine and I strolled over to the theater and saw the show, with Tori performing alone with her Bosendorfer on one side of the stage and a harpsichord facing the other direction. It was perhaps the best Tori show I've seen. After the show, we went and spoke with Tori's tour manager and went backstage to meet Tori...
Comments