Frigid Temps, Cold Hearts and Tornadoes – Four Nights on the Road with Jason Isbell part 2
Most normal folks go to tropical locales or exotic lands on vacation. Music writers? Well, we follow the music. So, after seeing Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit twice in my adopted home state of Colorado (which really is a vacation itself), I charted a path east through Kansas and south to Tulsa, Oklahoma (one of America’s best mid-sized cities) to see Isbell and Co. twice more. Here’s a round-up of the last two of those four shows (in five nights) featuring the best live band in the business.
May 6 & 7 – Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK
After a day without live music and a 700-mile speed run down to Tulsa, I made it to Cain’s Ballroom roughly 30 minutes before showtime on Sunday night. The historic venue is celebrating its 100th Anniversary, and it’s one of the best venues in America – simple and loud. Night One of the band’s two-night stand (no openers either night) started just like Colorado did – with “When We Were Close.” Show highlights included – naturally – “King of Oklahoma,” which Isbell mentioned was written “right down the road,” and “Last of My KInd,” which has become a sing-along for the left-behinds of all stripes, red or blue. “Double drum time,” though, was the peak – two sets of drums, smacked into submission by Gamble and Johnson, bouncing off those 100-year-old walls…rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t get any better. Isbell also included a cover of the Bob Dylan-penned “When I Paint My Masterpiece” in the encore. It’s appeared on this tour before, but it was especially appropriate in the home of the Bob Dylan Center, a museum that Isbell visited during this stop in Tulsa.
Night Two was notable for two reasons – the threat of tornadoes bearing down on Oklahoma, and the rowdy – even for Cain’s – crowd – Isbell has noted before that Sunday crowds can be a little sedate (after they’ve been day-drinking since brunch), but this was Monday, and some good ol’ boys were ready to hoot ‘n’ holler. In the end, the worst of the storms landed far north of town, and after Isbell admonished the most obnoxious of the crew for disturbing those of us who were at Cain’s for, well, the music, the band put on one of the hardest hitting shows I’ve seen them do. “King of Oklahoma” was EXTRA jammy, “Something More Than Free” connected with hard-working Oklahomans,” and “Super 8” felt like a fitting end-of-the-world elegy if the tornadoes had ended up steering our way. The encore included a crowd-pleasing (!) “Just Like Heaven” and wrapped with “Never Gonna Change,” which has largely been sidelined as the newer “This Ain’t It” has become the guitar duel du jour. When I spoke to a fellow concert-goer after the show, he remarked that his only criticism of any Jason Isbell show is that you rarely get a genuine surprise. And that’s true – the two biggest eyebrow-raisers bookended this four show run – Shires spitting fire at the beginning, and “Never Gonna Change” making a now-rare appearance, But, when you consider the quality of the songs and the expert performance of the 400 Unit, any Isbell show is the height of the craft right now. We’re lucky to have the work.
See part 1 of this series here: Show Review: Jason Isbell Tour (part 1) Red Rocks and the Mission Ballroom
Find more details and information on Jason’s website here: https://www.jasonisbell.com
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Jason Isbell at Lyric Opera House in Baltimore
The best singer/songwriter in the world bar none. Saw him in concert live and twice on Austin City Limits. His lyrics are gritty and hard, with some reflective of a life changing along the way.