To Gwar or not to Gwar; that (unbelievably) was the question. Gwar was in town the same night as Dwight Yoakam and for a brief insane moment I considered going to see Gwar instead of Dwight. I don't even like Gwar! I like the fact that they exist but I don't get the joke. I approve of the whole monster movie performance art thing but they sure do cross the lines of good taste.
I can't laugh at Gwar's bit so I really don't belong at a Gwar show. The main appeal was the fact that many of my friends were going including special guest star LCG's little brother. This is a little brother who hasn't missed Gwar in over ten years (and he's only twenty-five) and I wanted to see little brother in full Gwar dork mode. He still wears his first Gwar shirt covered with Gwar schmutz to every show.
Fortunately common sense won out when I realized that I would want to leave a Gwar show after about thirty seconds of Gwar so I decided to see Dwight Yoakam. Once the choice had been made I thought I might see if any of my non-Gwar friends were going. A few were and we were supposed to meet at seven but I don't know who all showed because I only found the Mustachioed Drummer. MD has a similar Dwight Yoakam knowledge level as I do, he's liked what he heard and thought that Dwight would be fun to see.
Well, Dwight Yoakam did not disappoint. He and his band were just terrific, although they all looked like they came from different band practices. Now that Dwight doesn't wear those tight jeans anymore he was wearing a stylish country guy suit. You know. Light material, subtle southwestern-type design on the back of the jacket, no tie and a cowboy hat. His bass player was wearing a three piece suit and looked sort of like Adam Clayton without the neck movement.
His guitarist had long hair and tight jeans and a blazer that looked like it was made from material stolen from his mom's old couch. It was paisley and had that upholstery gloss to it. The drummer had the hipster country look, sparkly western shirt and mirrored sunglasses under his cowboy hat. The utility player (keyboard, steel guitar, various percussion, etc.) had stolen the face that Pete Yorn stole from Joe Perry and was dressed professor-style in a blazer and turtleneck combo.
It was an odd looking mix that mixed together perfectly. Dwight and his band are so, so talented. I didn't know the first couple of songs and then they started playing I Want You To Want Me. I forgot he had covered that tune! My mom played it for me a couple of years ago and the funny thing is, it's almost true to the original. The drum part did not change at all but the rest of the music was countrified. This is assuming that you are comparing it to the more frequently played live version. The original album version of the song has a country flavor as well. Both are excellent, and Dwight's version is equally excellent.
Then...some other stuff happened. I heard a song that I figured he wrote after listening to a lot of Original Flavor Hank Williams; the tune was straight out of the days when country was called Country and Western. Later there was a song that sounded very much like I Walk The Line but it was a newer tune and you have to cut Dwight Yoakam some slack. If after Johnny Cash died he listened to much Johnny Cash and then wrote some songs, it's probably not a blatant rip-off attempt if they sound like Johnny Cash. I assumed it was more of an unconscious tribute.
At some point Dwight Yoakam said something about Waylon Jennings but I didn't catch what it was, because listening to Dwight Yoakam talk is like listening to Boomhauer. The what did he say?/I was hoping you knew conversation happened almost every time he said something. It wasn't a crucial problem because Dwight don't talk much. And as the show progressed it got a little easier to decipher. My favorite was when he said that he was going to play a song that was never a single but he thought it was nice. He added that he might be biased because he wrote it. Yes! The one time I could understand his full sentence was the time he was being funny! Woo-hoo!
The other songs I recognized were Little Sister and Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. while MD was able to spot a Buck Owens tune because he has played it with one of his own bands. Even when we didn't know the songs it was fun to play guess the influence and really, I liked all of the songs. I knew a small percentage of the set list but there was not a dud in the bunch. It was great song after great song and I had this urge to go buy Dwight Yoakam albums.
And then came the encore! I must say, I was hoping that he would change into the tight jeans for the encore but it didn't happen. He did do the second best thing though. He played Crazy Little Thing Called Love. I had forgotten his version of that too! Had I been drawn to his show because deep down I remembered that he had covered two of my favorite bands? I have no idea; I'm just glad that I went. If you like some rock and roll mixed with your old style country you should go too. Dwight Yoakam puts on a terrific show.