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John Prine
Sunday
Before this evening's show a member of the Radio 2 production team asked him for a set list. "I ain't doing no goddam set list", he replied.
"I'm just gonna get up there and jam!" And as Lake Marie built up and up in
intensity to bring his performance to a close, he jammed so hard he snapped
a guitar string.
Bouncing round the stage, looking like a Southern preacher crossed with a
chirpy chipmunk Prine seemed in good health, despite his well-publicised
struggles with cancer. He was meant to perform at the festival
last year, but he broke his elbow and had to make an eleventh hour
cancellation. It's clear from the warm response that the crowd are delighted
to see him on stage at last.
Instead of making generalisations about how all people live, in his songs
Prine tends to focus on the minutiae of a particular character's life. These
narratives can be sad and touching, like that of the Vietnam veteran in Sam
Stone, the woman who feels her home is a prison in Angel From Montgomery, or
Paradise, which tells of how Prine's own hometown in western Kentucky was
destroyed by the mining companies' diggers.
But he moves from the tragic to the comic with such ease. Last night he
joined Iris DeMent on stage, and tonight when he introduces his "favourite
girl singer" we all know who he's talking about. They played a couple of
songs from Prine's duets album In Spite Of Ourselves, including the eagerly
anticipated title track. The story of a couple who love each other despite
some rather horrible eccentricities, lines like "He ain't got laid in a
month of Sundays/I caught him once and he was sniffing my undies" had the
audience in stitches.
Sue Keogh
Do you agree with this review? Send us your views.
Thank you radio2 ihave just watched the wonderful John Prine via the net, drink in hand, comfy chair, great view, no one standing up in front... If you cant get a ticket this is the nearest to being there - thank you again. The duets with Iris were brilliant!
Lawrence Stewart, Middlesex
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