Travis Tritt in Beverly

Well by gosh, I won tickets from Sunday Morning Country again, this time to see Travis Tritt solo acoustic (again) at The Cabot in Beverly.  The after-work Friday drive over to Gulu-Gulu in Salem was not as painful as it has been some times, probably due to it being school vacation week and me leaving a little earlier.  Sarah arrived at just about the same time and we had a fine meal and some fine beers and ciders.

Short drive from there up to the theater and we had 8th row or so in the center balcony, not bad at all!  Travis came on right on time and did one long set that left us all pretty satisfied.

Some criticisms were that his voice cracked from time to time and showed signs of fatigue towards the end of the set.  Perhaps he could have saved his voice a bit by not talking so much, mostly about himself, between songs.  But if he needs to remind himself that he's great, we've just got to bear with it.

So there were some low points to the concert but there were also some incredible heights.  Here's the setlist:

It's All About the Money
Where Corn Don't Grow
The Pressure Is On (Hank Williams Jr.)
I'm Gonna Be Somebody
Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man
Country Club
500 Miles (Hedy West)
Country Ain't Country
Pickin' at It
Drift Off to Dream / Help Me Hold On
Anymore
Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)
Best of Intentions
Help! (Beatles)
Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way/Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys / Good Ol' Boys (Waylon Jennings)
It's A Great Day To Be Alive (Darrell Scott)
Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde
T R O U B L E
I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash)
The Whiskey Ain't Workin'

Encore:
Night Moves (Bob Seger)

There was a nice audience singalong on Country Club, hard for this not to be a highlight.  But for me the best songs of the night were Lord Have Mercy On the Working Man and Best Of Intentions.  Tritt has a fabulous voice and works it hard, getting extra tremolo and rolling over the 16th-notes all the time.  And when it works it's just sublime classic country, as on these two songs.  Best Of Intentions really succeeded in being the tear jerker it's meant to be.

But the real highlight of the night was when his guitar tech brought out a twelve-string and (after a LONG introduction), he played the Beatles' Help!  I heard the other day that John first sang this as a blues and his bandmates convinced him to sing it instead as the quintessential rocker it's known as.  But Tritt not only did it as a blues, he did it as a *country* blues and it was fantastic.  He also did his wonderful cover of Cash's I Walk the Line, though his Waylon medley fell flat.

Finished with a Bob Seger song and Sarah and I took the prompt to leave a bit early and beat the crowds.  All in all a very fun night!