I was lucky enough to be able to go to Tanglewood for the Prairie Home Companion broadcast. I had seen the performance scheduled on this website, but there was no other mention of it on the Tanglewood site. Also nothing about Arlo on the schedule board or in the program. So yes, he was a secret special guest - I'm very happy that I happened to look at this site's schedule just 2 days before!

I had such a fun time. It was great to see/hear Martin Sheen and Steve Martin (quite the banjo player!), but I must say that Arlo got the most applause and appreciation from the crowd, especially when Garrison Keillor announced that he would be there.

After the broadcast ended, almost all the performers stayed and we had about another hour of music, with many sing-alongs, and Arlo also played City of New Orleans.

We also managed to escape the thunderstorms that were predicted, and yes, it was raining in the bright sunshine as Garrison said. They also managed to avoid a disastrous situation - the Shed had no power about an hour and a half before the show was supposed to start. There was an issue with a squirrel in a circuit box, but fortunately power was restored quickly.

I was so happy to see Arlo again, it's been a few years now. Hopefully the powers that be at Tanglewood took note of the enormous reception he received, and plan an Arlo show for next year.

Entire show can be heard here:
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2009/06/27/

Hopefully this will work - my album of photos from the show. Not the best quality, but you'll get the idea!

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=774babbce7ec0fc6&sid=0AaNWjZm4ZOGLFMg

Very cool; thanks for posting. I see Mrs. G was there, too -- are those some of the kids standing next to her?

I was thinking tonight, idly, as I walked home from the subway, that it would be cool if Arlo routinely did a 5-10 minute "anti-Arlo" bit on PHC -- like the bit in April about Woody's Republican son and the TLiYL parody at Tanglewood -- maybe they could bill it as a "special guest appearance by Arlo Guthrie's evil twin, Olra".

Many thanks Katie for sharing your photos of the show. I really envy you for being there. I've always wanted to see PHC live; seeing it with Arlo would be more than cool. I'm adding it to my bucket list

Thanks for the show report & pics. Looks like a nice show...

They have a REALLY good finger style guitar player in the PHC band by the name of Pat Donohue. He has toured around on his own and I have had the pleasure of being his soundman at our venue some years ago.

Found a couple of "extras" tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/jguth3#play/all/ ... MNiCJFZQOQ
http://www.youtube.com/user/davecr#play ... VE6NBBw4cM

Nice to relive the night - thanks for posting these!