ACL Update - Friday Part 6

The signing made us miss most of John Prine’s show. Everyone we talked to loved it as he kept the band simple and played both old and new songs. He was, like so many others, political. He even changed the lyrics of a song to point a finger at the current administration.

As the sun set in Austin, the stage was set up for 18 people. Yep, it was time for Lyle Lovitt’s Large Band. I’ve never seen Lyle and the sight and sound of 18 musicians, and not just musicians but musician’s musicians, was fantastic. The full 18 only did a few songs at the beginning and at the end. The rest of the time he moved around between a 5 piece and an 8 or 9 piece band. Many of the band members have either been long time members of his band or are part of rock and roll history or both; with too many to mention here. It was a great show. I did have a few complaints: It took forever for him to get on stage (the band did a whole solo piece first), he did an extended joke asking the audience to guess whether band members drove trucks, and he gave the cellist an extended solo. During a full show, this is all fine. But with only an hour and a quarter to work with, he could have tightened up his set a bit. It was the best show of the night though.