We enjoyed the before concert gathering and need to do more of that. The problem with getting together with several friends at once is that you just can't ask every question and laugh enough with any one person. it's really frustrating in a group of people who are way more interesting than most. The word "stimulating" comes to mind.

Alert concert goers may have noticed a pair of famous Tennessee bloggers commandeering some prime seats way down front that were vacated by less appreciative fans. (Either that or maybe, in a more charitable vein, the baby sitter was about to turn into a pumpkin)

Experienced Lucinda fans know that a Lucinda show is never over until it's over and it may not be over even then. The best show may be the second or third encore. This time she only gave us one but it was a treat.

I totally agree about the obnoxious crowd. Soemtimes the yelling lept us from hearing her comment between songs. It seems to be worsening from show to show.

Steve Earle 2005- drunks and screamers but hey, it was SE.

Hiatt/Ely/Clark/Lovett 2005- no screamers, just a few shouts. No problem drinkers probably because um, well the age of the audience's bladders.

John Prine 2006- The best. We were seated with everyone else who bought pre-sale tickets via Oh Boy! but the difference was John did not permit folks to get up, get a beer and then return to their seats. If you got up during a song they did not permit you to return until there was a break between songs. What a wonderful difference that made. Wish they all would do that.

It sounds like you all had a great time and I sure wish we could have gone too.

I enjoyed meeting everybody. It's a shame the gathering had to end so early; Mrs. Bubba and I could have solved most of the world's problems within another hour or two.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

Actually, the worst I've ever seen was at a John Prine concert in Indianapolis when he opened for Bonnie Raitt (admittedly, at least 20 years ago). Second worst was when Sam Bush closed a bluegrass festival well after midnight in Bardstown KY around 1997.

Prine also played Indianapolis about seven years ago with Nanci Griffith, and it was an entirely different, far more subdued and polite atmosphere.

I saw Todd Rundgren at Tennessee a few years ago. We were on first row of cushioned seats. So up next to the stage. Three folks behind us talked non-stop thru songs etc. At regular voice level. I think Todd could probably hear them. I thought they would eventually stop. they did not. They could not possibly have been listening to the music. I finally politely told them its hard to enjoy the music over your talking. They quieted down, but seemed irritated. I felt the ushers should have stepped in earlier. It was pretty loud.

I wanted to join you all. We looked to get last minute tix, but it just didn't fit our schedule. We needed the daylight for all the yard work we're behind on.

Sounds like the biggest thing we missed was the meetup and Carrie Rodriguez, whom I really like and have never heard perform. I still like hearing Lucinda, but I still have vivid memories of past concerts.

Was "The Big P" (from Eastern Europe) still playing bass through an SVT? He and Pettibone rule, especially when they get to Righteously!

Knoxville audiences must keep setting records for showing the least amount of class. How many times did morons yell for Freebird?

Second worst was when Sam Bush closed a bluegrass festival well after midnight in Bardstown KY around 1997.

Sam's last show at the Tennessee was wonderful, but the crowd still sucked.

It's tough but wonderful when two great singer songwriters are in town but Chris Smither at the Laurel Theatre did not suffer from rowdy a..holes. Even though beer is allowed and I saw some, the young and old and in betweens thoroughly enjoyed Chris Smithers excellence without being obnoxious. It's distressing to hear about the folks at the Bijou and Tennessee Theatres who make the concerts less than enjoyable for the folks who want to hear the music. The Laurel still rules as the best small-house venue. I saw Lucinda there as part of songwriters-in-the-round several years ago.

I'm a little late reading and responding to this topic, but--I have to say--I had the exact opposite impression of the crowd at Lucinda Saturday night. Other than about a dozen one-second whoops and song requests from a few overly-appreciative fans, the crowd was dead as a doornail. One encore was all we deserved.

For the record, I personally obeyed house rules and sat quietly in my seat, but after Lucinda performed "Unsuffer Me," I had to laugh when a guy a few rows behind me yelled, "UNMARRY ME, LUCINDA!" I actually forgot I was in church for a second.

The Tennessee Theater is a bit too subdued an environment for anything other than opera and chamber music, and I usually feel bad for music performers since they don't get any energy back from the crowd. Steve Earl, a couple of years ago, after putting it all out there in a rocking version of the "Revolution Starts Now" shrugged at the frozen corpses sitting and politely golf-clapping in the seats and said, "Well, I guess the revolution starts a little later in Knoxville."

That's my impression of the Tennessee Theater.

Best show I ever saw was at the Tennessee. New Year's Eve 1999. Last hoorah for the V-Roys. Incredible show, incredible guests, incredible crowd and a quarter pound of incredible coke. What a party!