But knowing all this and experiencing it are two separate things. The only other time I've seen Arlo Guthrie in concert was in the summer of 1981, when he and Pete Seeger were doing one of their tours together. It was at an outdoor venue at Ontario Place in Toronto, Canada, and the atmosphere wasn't that conducive to intimacy. So it wasn't until last night that I was truly able to understand the appeal Arlo Guthrie holds as a performer.
From the moment he and his band walked on stage, until he finished signing autographs and posing for pictures with people after the show almost three hours latter, he made everybody feel right at home and as if they were his special guest. It felt like he was constantly aware of each and every one of us in the audience and that he knew without us this evening wouldn't have been possible, so we were as important as he was to the proceedings.
Half the fun of an Arlo Guthrie concert is the stories that he tells as introductions to the songs. Some of them are funny and some of them are serious, but they all increase our connection to both the man and the song.
He tells us of being at his parents' home in 1961 and this funny-looking guy shows up at the door looking for his dad. Well, Woody was in the hospital by then, he spent most of the last 10 year of his life hospitalized with Huntington's disease, so Arlo invited him in and they hung out for a bit and played harmonica together before a young Bob Dylan went off to visit Woody.
He continued on to say that Bob visited his dad quite a bit for a while, and then four years later: "We starting hearing these great songs we'd never heard the likes of before... Maybe I should have visited my dad more often in the hospital." Then he and his band launched into "Mr. Tambourine Man".
It's been a long time since I've heard that song in its entirety, and because of the introduction I found myself paying close attention to it and let the sensations of the music and the lyrics working together affect me. I haven't taken recreational drugs in close to twelve years, so what I felt can't be put down to that. Arlo's personalization of the song allowed me to go inside it, travel with it as the lyrics say, and perhaps truly experience what Dylan had intended his audience to feel when he first wrote it.
Article comments
1 - Lono
Arlo is great. I have seen him play a few times, and met him after each show. Dude is a very good guy, and a great storyteller.
2 - Scott Butki
Excellent review. I'm jealous you got to hear him
sing Alice.
3 - Gale
The review is excellent. As to Arlo, I am very happy to know that something so good is lasting so well. I saw him in Santa Monica in 1968 and heard "Alice's Restaurant" when it was relatively new. I agree that his humanity is a most important part of why he is exceptional and I hope we have the man and his music for many years to come.
4 - Steven Gotz
I saw Arlo the last couple of nights in a row at Epcot Center (Disney World in FLorida). When he broke into Alice's Restaurant during his final set of the night, the crowd went nuts. When he did it again the next night, I had an HDV camcorder focused on him.
So I now have him in HD with reasonably good sound. This is something I will be showing to guests in my home for years to come.
I hated to miss tonight's shows, but I may just have to see all three sets on his last night (tomorrow).
5 - da Cat
I heard him sing "Alice" when I was lucky enough to get tickets for his concert in Sarasota FL.
First time I ever heard the song, for I am only 21 years old, but I instantly fell in love with his personality and his way of entertaining his "friends", corse thats how he made me feel.
And the song that keeps on swinging through my brain is "my peace" wich I love and adore in the beauty of its simplicity.
just thought Id let you know.
More or less, I experienced the Concert the same as richard, and will never forget those once in a lifetime goosebumps-breeding rollercoaster ride two hours of living music culture
6 - smack
I was at this Arlo concert in Kingston. It was a mystical, magical night. Contact me for a recording of this concert. Thanks for the review.
7 - Tina C
I have seen Arlo @ our local symphany hall, I also was gifted by a performance on July 7 2007,@ the "Church" in Housatonic(Great Barrington, Mass.) The Church in Alice's restaurant. I can't believe how accurate this above article is. How the writer gets it so right. I watched Arlo that night of his birthday. He is a great performer and story teller and because his legend is so personal and more private than most performers, it makes it greater. I saw him once @ Chicopee High School, in Chicopee Massachusetts. I paid $5 for the ticket and everyone had to bring a non-perishable food item as it was a food bank drive. Arlo seems to find the best places to perform and we keep finding them. It is October 7, 2007, and my boyfriend and I are on our way to "The Church" again tonight to witness another enchanting perfomance by one of the greatest story tellers know to our generation. Thank you.