The Joe Purdy Concert

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, then you’ll know that I am a huge fan of Joe Purdy.  His songs are powerful, combining both wonderful lyrics and catchy music.  On almost any given day with almost any mood I can listen to Joe and feel his songs, feel the emotion attached to them.  With that, I’ve wanted to go to a Joe Purdy concert for many years now, and now I can finally say that I have gone.

The concert was in a bar, 3rd & Lindsley, in Nashville.  The setting was dark and atypical of what a bar might look like.  The stage was small and there were no bad seats in the place.  This environment creates an intimate setting for the show.  Luckily, me and Keisha got a seat at a table right beside the stage, and if there was a front row, then we were on it.

Joe’s opening act was a French singer-songwriter named Julie Peel.  She played about six songs with just her guitar, harmonica, and kazoo for support.  Her music was catchy and soothing, and her voice was pleasant.  Overall, a great opening choice for Joe methinks.  You can check out Julie’s music at her website by clicking here.

Joe came onstage next.  He played a solo show and the concert lasted about 80 minutes.  It was exciting to see the dude so close and to listen to him belt out familiar tunes from his large catalog, in addition to some new music, too.  The sound was perfect, and the live show sounded almost as good as the studio.  Joe played a fair mix of guitar-based songs and piano-based ones.

Sadly, I was expecting a longer show.  Eighty minutes doesn’t seem long enough to me, but I understand that Joe was probably tired.  He himself drove 9 hours to get to the show, so I’m sure he was a bit worn down.  Plus, this was the last show before he took a Holiday break.  Regardless, the concert experience was awesome.

One thing that wasn’t awesome was this drunken fangirl that kept getting on people’s nerves.  I can understand fans calling for requests, but this woman was rather rude.  She stood only a few feet in front of Joe while he played and sang and she sang along with him, if you can call it singing.  It had to have been distracting to Joe, as he kept making side remarks about acting like an adult and being respectful.  At one point she was talking so loudly and getting pictures made that Joe said something like “…that’s a good one.  You go ahead and do whatever you want.  It’s your show.”  He later on joked about hiring “somebody to choke that b------,” which was inappropriate on Joe’s behalf and likely spoken in anger.  Finally (and paraphrasing) he told the woman that if she could keep her mouth closed and be quiet through his next song then he’d play whatever song she wanted to hear.  She didn’t last very long, and Joe didn’t play what she wanted to hear.  Joe played his last song, did a one song encore, and left the stage.

Really it was disappointing and disgusting.  Do some people not have any sort of respect?  I think everyone should be required to learn etiquette and learn how to act when out in society.  I went to the restroom after the show and saw that woman’s husband/boyfriend/malefriend talking with Joe’s manager(?).  He, too, was very likely drunk.  He was yelling that that lady was Joe’s biggest fan and she just wanted to hear one song and that Joe didn’t have to act like that and that Joe was a piece of crap and that he wasn’t leaving until Joe played that song and that if he had to then he’d bust in Joe’s room and “throw a Bible at him” and bust him up and blah blah blah.  I decided to skip out on the restroom and leave.

I guess the point is nothing new.  Alcohol makes people do stupid stuff.  It also makes the rest of us think less of you if you’re drunk and stupid. 

I have to hand it to Joe, he did a great show, even with the loud distraction he had to put up with throughout a few songs.  I definitely can’t wait to see him again.  If you’ve never listened to Joe’s music, you are missing out.  He’s got all ten of his albums on his website that you can stream for free.  I’d recommend starting with You Can Tell Georgia, Paris in the Morning, Take My Blanket and Go, or StompinGrounds.

Finally, I’ll post a video of a new song he did.  Joe’s had a long history of letting fans record video and audio at his concert, but I only recorded a few songs.  It’s called “The Ballplayer.”  Awesome stuff.  (If I’m not supposed to have this video up then I’ll remove it.)