LOCATION: Cornerstone, Bushnell, IL
LINEUP: Karin, Linford, Jack, Don, David
REVIEW BY: Jeff Holland
Well, Cornerstone 2000. Over the Rhine. Well.
Grab a cup of joe, sit down, 'cause this is probably going to be
a long one.
I arrived at Cornerstone on the fourth and just barely caught
the end of the Monk show. Well, that stinks. Ric was doing
some mighty fine playing, but all I got to hear was "Within,
Without", another song, and "That's My Love." However,
after the show I strolled down to the merchandise tent and
who else was manning the Over the Rhine booth but some guy
named Linford Detweiler. I got to talk to him briefly, I talked
a little bit about the official website, my website, the MP3's of the
month and such but the conversation eventually descended
into decadent fanboyism ("Wow, y'all are SO awesome.")
What can I say, it was my first time talking to him. He was
in great spirits, you could really tell he was enjoying being
at the festival. He gave some assorted goodies including
an uncut sheet of Eve trading cards (!) and an uncut sheet
of cards from the Patience era which includes a somewhat
detailed history of the band. Now I actually have material for
my website for the years 1991 to 1993! Thanks, Linford!
Not much other Over the Rhine related stuff happened for
the rest of the week except at the Gene Eugene tribute
concert. Karin appeared on the stage and sang for the
first two or three songs (Sorry, I don't know Adam Again's
work very well, so I couldn't tell you what songs they were)
Linford sat down about a row or two in front of me to see
the show. He watched it with an amazing intensity and
attention and when Karin was on the stage his gaze was
fixed solely on her. It was kind of neat to see a musician
so intently enjoying another musician's work. The fireworks
went off behind us at the main stage at Cornerstone as the
concert when on. Kind of a fitting tribute to Gene, I thought.
Anyway. On to the show.
Over the Rhine went on promptly at midnight on the last
night of the festival. The tent was packed full despite the
fact that the Choir was having a reunion concert down the
dusty and yet muddy road at the festival.
Here's what they looked like. At the far left was Linford with
a brown shirt and a hat. His hair is now about shoulder
length for those of you like me who haven't seen the band
in a long time, this was new. Behind him and to the right
was Dave LaBruyere on bass in a shirt and jeans. Karin
was in the middle. She was wearing a black top and a long
black shirt. Hair is now blonde and in pigtails. She had
an acoustic guitar and a tiny little toy piano to her left.
Right behind her was Don Heffington sporting a fedora
as he played the drums. Over on the far right with plenty
of room was G. Jack Henderson. He had his Gretch, what
I guess is a Fender Strat, and a chair for his lap steel. Still
looks the same, but now with combed hair.
WHEN I GO
Karin and Linford only on the stage. Karin plays acoustic
guitar. This is a real moody piece with a main theme that
sounds kinda like "Stairway to Heaven" Very quiet, but
yet turbulent. Great vocal workout for Karin.
GO DOWN EASY
The whole band is on stage now. Karin is playing the
acoustic guitar and Jack is playing his Fender. Pretty
close to the album version except for piano parts by Linford.
GOODBYE
This version sounds more like the one on the _Roaring
Lambs_ tribute than the version they were doing a couple
of years ago. Jack switches to his Gretch for this song.
Audience applauds at the pause, as always. Jack has got
this new trick (well, new to me, at least) were he will hold
a note for a long time at the end of the song, give it some
some work on the tremelo, and then yank the pick off and
abruptly end it. He did this on a couple of different songs
during the night.
ANYWAY
As Karin is explaining what this song's about, Jack's
guitar lets out a squawk and Karin says, "Jack wasn't
there!" If I remember right, Jack used to play the opening
guitar part on his slide guitar, but tonight he used the
Gretch.
FAITHFULLY DANGEROUS
This version sounded more like the album version of
the song. Jack is now playing the Fender again. He had
some crazy, cool sounds in this song.
CAST ME AWAY
Linford started this off with a nice piano intro. Karin says
it sounds kind of like the interludes at church when the
choir sits down and the pastor comes to the pulpit. This was a
long version of the song with lyrics I had never heard before.
No "And Can It Be" after this, instead they go straight into...
LITTLE BLUE RIVER
Jack plays the slide guitar while Karin plays the acoustic
guitar. This was a great version but I really, really miss
the "Roll Me Over, Roll Me Over" part that Brian sang in
the background. Sigh. Karin finished this song with the
"He Walks With Me" hymn.
Karin says "We're going to try out some new things on you
now..... just for fun. This songs started out to be a relationship
song, but it become a come-on song, I hope that's okay."
SHOW ME
Great little song! Jack has some cool wah effects on his
Fender. Linford and Karin both play accoustic guitar. One
of those pieces that makes you tap your foot. After the song
Karin says it's sort of a part III of the "How Does It Feel?"
trilogy. Linford agrees if you count the reprise of "How Does
It Feel?" as the second part. Linford calls Cornerstone a
"a nice tall, bright mile marker" He talks about the children's
book about butterflies that he picked up and gives the
explanation that Lindsey so eloquently gave us. He states that
his mom just turned 70 and just started taking piano lessons
(and started seeing a therapist!)
GREEN CLOUDED SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY
Another bouncy little piece. Kinda country sounding, but
not really. Linford plays the accoustic guitar and Jack plays
the Fender. After the song, the band gets a good laugh,
apparently Dave was new to this song, because he was
reading the chords off a sheet of paper taped to one of the
cymbal stands and Linford had written the wrong chords!
He remarks, "It's good to play songs you don't know every
once in a while."
JACKSIE
Linford: "This is another one we probably don't know, but we'll
sure try." Try they did. It was a very good rendition of an
old song.
ALL I NEED IS EVERYTHING
Linford wishes Eric a happy 18th Birthday. Karin almost forgets
the beginning of this song before they finally start it. She
apologizes after the song as her "brain shut down. Fortunately,
it started up again.... shut up, Jack!"
JUNE
Dedicated to Gene Eugene. Jack had an awesome guitar
solo at the end of the song with a very cool (dare I say,
Edge-like?) guitar tone.
FAIRPOINT DIARY
Linford says he tried to fit most of his life into six short verses.
"I think I covered most of the important stuff. Maybe I should
say like Bill Mallonee, to be continued..." Linford and Karin
only on the stage for this one. Linford plays an accoustic guitar
and Karin uses the tiny little toy piano. After the song Linford
asks if we're doing alright, "they said we could play for two hours."
RHAPSODIE w/ KARIN'S INTRO
This had the extra lyrics at the beginning of the song that Karin
sings. I so love this song.
After the song, Karin says "Come on back, boys..." and the rest
of the band returns to the stage for...
LUCY
This is an extended long version of the song with a keyboard
intro by Linford and a long rollicking ending by the band.
MY LOVE IS A FEVER
A funky bass line by David. Jack plays the Gretch. This was
kind of a cross between the version on Eve and the version
on Besides (minus Ric's solos.) Very funky.
CIRCLE OF QUIET
Karin plays the accoustic guitar and Jack plays the Fender. This
version of Circle of Quiet had the full band, but it had a piano
ending to the song that was very similar to the version on
_Amateur Shortwave Radio_ After the song, Linford introduces
the band and thanks virtually everyone including their "vicar"
Dave Nixon which married him and Karin. He was there manning
the merchandise table.
LATTER DAYS
As has been said around here before, I'm not sure why they end
the set with this song. It's kind of a downer to end a show on.
I guess its because its very popular.
ENCORE-
POUGHKEEPSIE
This version is done by the whole band.
LAST NIGHT
Karin says, "Linford's gettin' sassy!" No slide guitar like
the album version, instead Jack plays his Fender.
SECOND ENCORE
JACK'S VALENTINE
Linford literally leaps back onto the stage for this encore!
This is a great version of the song. Linford was really
into it, changing around the phrasing and interacting with
the audience. During one of the instrumental parts, he quips
"If y'all want, you can pick two chords and go home and
write a song, too!" Jack has a great guitar solo on the Gretch.
NOW I KNOW
This is Cowboy Junkies song that Karin says they didn't
get to play while on tour with the Junkies. Only Karin, Linford
and Jack were on the stage for this one.
Well, that's a lot of notes. If you made it this far, you can read on
to my short editorial comments. Jack was really great for this show,
more and more he's becoming more tightly integrated into the
sound of the band. I love some of the eerie guitar tones that he
gets. David was a very funky bass player, that's the first time I had
seen him with the band. Don was a very capable drummer, but very
different than Brian. Not better or worse, just very different. I
kept expecting the little fills that Brian always had in certain
places of certain songs, but Don handled it very differently. Karin
was in great form, her voice was very clear and she had pretty good
diction for most of the show. Linford was more animated than I've
ever seen him in concert, he looked like he was having a really good
time.
I know I missed a "once-in-a-lifetime" reunion of The Choir, but
I don't care. This was one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" shows where
a band really had a lot of fun and played really well. They had
extended endings for everything and really looked like they were
enjoying themselves and lots of new stuff made it memorable, too. I
hope its not two years before I get to see them again.