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TRACY'S
WHERE YOU LIVE TOUR- 18th June 2006 Sentrum Scene, Oslo,
Norway (by Susan
)
(her
20th anniversary tour)
The venue, Sentrum Scene, used to be an old movie
theatre, which was converted into a concert and movie
festival hall. Upstairs there were seats in the gallery,
but farther back, downstairs it was only standing room,
on a stair step floor, so that at least those farther
back could be higher up. I stood on the first of the
stair step sections, bars in front of me and I had brought
a 3-legged folding stool, for which I was glad. The
only others who seemed to have one like that was the
people right in front of us!!
Ben
Taylor, son of Carly Simon and James Taylor, opened
for Tracy. His voice was smooth and he hit both high
and low notes just as his father and Uncle Livingston,
his style much the same. I have seen both in concert,
Livingston since I was in high school, 1978 or 79, and
several times in college. It was Ben alone, with guitar,
and he struggled a bit with the talking in the crowd
competing with his playing, requesting those in the
back to please lower their voices on two occasions.
It was very enjoyable and many in the crowd did listen
intently, Ben helping us with his comedic sense, singing
among other things- about a crush the singer has for
a girl, but he likes the girl's boyfriend so much that
he can't do anything about the situation. Later on he
realizes what nice eyes the boyfriend has, what nice
hair, my goodness- it is the boyfriend he really likes!
hehe He said his CD was available at the merchandising
counter next to Tracy's and that he is told that his
music sounds better with his signature on it, I assume
those cost more ;-) He also dedicated a song to Tracy,
and said that for those who hadn't seen and heard her
in person before had a fantastic treat ahead of them,
that she is a very special person.
After
a break we were treated to Tracy herself!!! I felt overwhelmed,
was just about to cry tears of joy, but held myself
together. I had seen her in March 2003 during a depression
and I felt a combination of joy and numbness at that
time. Now I felt only pure unfiltered joy and gratitude
for being able to come. I wore my shirt from that last
concert, pure black tee with the words Say Hallelujah
from one of her songs, and that was exactly what she
started her set with. I knew most of the lyrics of her
entire set, and sang along the whole time, moving in
time and occasionally clapping. The others were enthusiastic,
but perhaps it took a beer before they were loose enough
to really move to the beat (Norwegian Inherited Stiffness
Syndrome ;-)).
Her
sound was clearer, crisper, more energetic, more true
to the CD's than I remembered from last time.
When
she spoke I was enamored, and have since decided that
I wouldn't mind being stranded on a deserted island
with her ;-) (Having tested her level of consciousness
on Dr. David Hawkins map she is up in the 500's, which
is at the level of Love, so that radiance is not in
my imagination).
She
said she had only formerly come to Norway when it was
very cold and that she didn't realize it could get this
hot here (it really was hot and humid even at night!),
but that she liked it (I thought she was maybe trying
not to insult us, but when I read the reports at the
Yahoo club site of the outdoor concert in UK where her
hands were so cold she had to stop during The Promise
and get some warmth back in her hands before she could
continue- that gave me a different perspective). Also
that so far on the tour they would arrive somewhere
and it would be nice, but by the next day it would rain
and be miserable. She thought that now that it was the
next day and it was still hot and beautiful that "the
curse had lifted." She also commented that it never
seemed to get dark, how do people sleep? "Do you
ever sleep?" she asked the audience with a resounding
"NOOO" from the entire audience, followed
by laughter!
Later
she also introduced the old song Sub City by saying
she had written it long ago probably when Ronald Reagan
was in office. She thought at that time that it couldn't
get worse, she said. (Pause.) But- (pause)- as we know----(pause)----it
did! (more laughter) She commented that looking back
Reagan seems so benign. Sub City speaks of standing
in welfare lines and trying to get jobs.
Many
of Tracy's songs are about social injustice or the darker
sadder sides of society, such as abuse within the home,
dreams of running away from a struggling lifestyle,
dreaming of "Mountains of Things" which she
also sang. Her later songs seem mellower, less revolutionary,
more personal and reflective perhaps.
There
were several songs, especially part way through and
onward (when the audience was warmed well up) when everyone
was singing along, loudly, at this point I sang even
louder myself. At one point the lighters came out creating
an audience of starlight.
She played The Promise for us in Oslo as well (my favorite)
and at the first notes of that this is what happened:
Before I had even consciously identified which song
it was I got a strong tingling in my finger tips, that
ran up my fingers, up my arms, down my spine and into
my legs!!!! It was crazy and intense. She sang it yet
more passionately than in 2003)- it was crisp and clear,
only her and her keyboardist Kiki and vocals, and the
playing was brilliant!! People were hardly able to control
themselves anymore so they began to whistle and clap
and do stuff IN the song out of sheer exuberance!!!
There
was one other song where I had some of the tingling
and it was Fast Car- during the chorus the ENTIRE crowd
started singing really loudly along with her. This happened
over and over (she tends to sing LOTS of repeat choruses
and theme words, even more in concert than on the albums).
They did that on another song as well- Revolution I
think. I also spied some of my neighbors there- a leftist
politician, his wife an African nurse.
By
the end the people were totally WILD- everyone was clapping,
singing, dancing, moving, someone shouted WE LOVE YOU
TRACY!!!! and I echoed the sentiment.
Songs
there were included in her set, not in this order, and
some I am unsure of (I play them often enough that in
the end I became unsure if I had heard all of these
that evening or had just sung them so often at home!!)
Say
Hallelujah
Mountains O' Things
New Beginning
Never Yours
The Promise > Save a place for me (extraordinary!
audience exuberant!)
Talk To You
Subcity (with harmonica on a support)
Paper And Ink (Tracy on a strumstick! fantastic)
Telling Stories
Another Sun
Fast Car
Talkin'Bout A Revolution
Change
Give Me One Reason
America (Tracy on drums!)
Get Up Stand Up (same as in 2003!)
Baby Can I Hold You (with audience helping)
The Band:
Tracy Chapman: various guitars, vocals, harmonica, worldstick
strumstick, drums
Kikki Ebsen: keyboard, a kind of squeezebox instrument,
vocals,
accordian
Quinn: drums and percussion
Joe Gore: bass, slide
WE LOVE YOU TRACY!!
PS
I did get a Where You Live t-shirt at the last moment,
all black with her face in a graphic white, and tour
dates and cities on the back.
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