ADG was in Glen Ellyn tonight, bringing his leftwing politics to Redsville, USA. It was awkward at times, but always a good time with Arlo! Here's the setlist:

Oklahoma Hills
Talkin' Dustbowl Blues
Pastures of Plenty
St. James Infirmary
Kindness (Sarah Lee and Johnny)
Union Maid>Ladies' Auxiliary
They'll Be No Church Tonight
In My Darkest Hour
Comin' Into Los Angeles
Great Green Rocky Road
---------------------------------------
Red-Haired Boy (Irish jam)
Alice
In Times Like These
Exploration
Another Man's Done Gone
Peace Call
City of New Orleans
Motercycle Song
Woddy speaks
This Land is Your Land
E: My Peace

Highlights:
-Pastures was easily the best song of the night
-Kindness was great; I like Johnny more every time I see him
-Union Maid was a surprise, but fantastic; Sarah Lee has an amazing voice
-Lyric addition in Alice's: "There were mother rapers, father stabbers, father rapers.....CONGRESSMEN!"; drew quite the laugh, even just down the road from Hastert's district
-In Times Like These gets me every time; fantastic song, adg!
-City of New Orleans, dedicated to the memory of Jack Nielson. Jack opened every show of the CoNO tour (which Arlo said they plan on doing again!!!!!). He was absolutely astounding. Apparently he died a few months ago. The dedication made this song particularly powerful. Does anyone know where I can pick up a CD of Jack's?
-Motercycle Song; I've never heard him do that one!
-My Peace; the perfect closer

My only complaint was the lack of Woody as the show went on. I love Alice, and I really dig Sarah Lee and Johnny, but I'd have gladly traded Exploration and Alice for 1913 Massacre, Pretty Boy Floyd, Deportee, Hard Travelin', and Goodnight Irene (I know it's not quite Woody, but it fits). I know those are songs that are a bit controversial at times (especially in a district where ads get run by the minute trashing the Democrat runing there's pro-alien stance), but as adg said tonight, the songs are still relevant. Though I'm sure Woody is standing and applauding in God's Boxcar right now, I think a tour specifically geared towards his legacy needs to have at least one of the aformentioned songs not done tonight.

That's my 2 cents. Lacking in Woody songs I wanted to hear or not, still a fantastic performance by adg and family!

we ended up having to leave at the midpoint. (long story, but bringing a 7 year old probably not the best judgment on my part. And did you know that St. James Infirmary is pretty scary when you're 7?) Big bummer, but since I had seen the Alices show in February I wasn't too bummed. I AM bummed we missed the Motorcycle song--I sing that to my kids all the time!

But anyway Arlo seemed in rare form, refreshed and funny. Union Maid was a HIGHLIGHT and a treat. My husband and I chuckled about the Glen Ellyn audience having to sing along with that one!

If we would've made all the changes as above it wouldn't have been a family legacy tour, it would have been a Woody Guthrie legacy tour. Nothing wrong with that, but this tour was especially designed to show what continues thru the generations, not just the beginnings. As for politics, I thought the audience did pretty good... Left wing? I can't think of anything we sang or said that was define-ably left or right wing. I leave that to the professionals. If you caught something that seemed to divide rather than bring everyone together, let me know.

Oh, I didn't mean to come off as sounding like it was decisively dividing, I just know that DuPage County, home of everyone's favorite house speaker, has fairly Red politics. I didn't pick up on too many people singing along with Union Maid (though my dad n I were singing pretty loudly up in the balcony; he's a unionside labor lawyer), and I felt like the applause for lnes like "Thinking is free....or at least it used to be" was fairly sporatic. I didn't think it was divisive, I just found the audience less responsive than the ADG crowds I've seen in the past (Chicago and my native Skokie; unfortunately, due to being a Sabbath-observant Jew, I can't make it to the show this Friday in Skokie). I thought the things you said were tasteful, wonderful, and absolutely true, I just felt like the crowd was a bit irreceptive at times.

I guess the fact that I've recently been listening to my dads 4-disc Woody box set may have played a role in what I was hoping to hear. It just seemed like the first set was prodominantly Woody early on, and after Ladies' Auxiliary, the only song that Woody actually put to music was This Land Is Your Land. I guess I was surprised by the large number of archived songs. Either way, those are just my personal prefferences. I definetly understand what you're trying to do with this tour, and hey, I'm never passing up an opportunity to see ADG, Sarah Lee, and Johnny! That's a combo that can not go wrong!

I was reading along and I saw this and I asked myself "The speaker of the House is a Commie??!? Sure, a certain political party has co-opted many of the policies folks used to complain about Soviets doing but..." and then I remembered I'm a geezer and the same words have diferent meanings nowadays. Nevermind.

kurt...

LOL Kurt--I don't think readily in terms of red and blue either--I can never remember which is which!

I live in DuPage County and it is about as Republican as you can get. So I do totally get the irony. However, I felt the show was more historical than political (at least the part I saw )

Alices Restaurant Revisited--My husband is a lawyer representing union workers too...he does workers comp but others in his firm do labor law--I wonder if he knows your dad? Small world!

Anyway, I never tire of hearing Arlo and family live! Thanks ADG for a great show. Next time I'll stay till the end

Hmmmmm.........."Legacy", in my Merriam Webster's says "Inheritance----also....something that has come from a predecessor or the past".
The Guthrie *Family* Legacy Tour seems to be as advertised. Woody may be the base of the pyramid, but he ain't THE pyramid.
(Not to be arguementitive Alice's R.R., since it seems your post was observational and not really critical, my views are presented in good spirits)
Remember too that Arlo's shows are music shows that may have some political content, and not political shows that may have some music content. I think he does it well and gets whatever message he may wish to get across without getting in your face......a uniter, not a divider as it were. (wish dubya had that skill as he claimed)
It's tough to make other people happy all the time.
I also have a lot of empathy for a guy that has to try to live up to peoples expectations and try to make people happy considering it's part of a folkslingers job description! YIKES!

Hey AlicesRestaurantRevisted. I'm good friends with Jack Neilson's daughter, Sarah. My two friends and I sent him a note before the show to ask him to dedicate a song to Jack. He was an awesome person and a wonderful musician! If you're interested in his website, it's here: www.jackneilson.com . You can get his cd from www.cdbaby.com.

Thanks a lot Arlo for both an awesome show and for adding to the memory of Jack. [/quote]

Thanks for the setlist, ARR ...You just gave me a sneak preview on what the Guthrie Legacy Tour is all about since I will attending the Legacy in Storrs, CT on November 3 and 4. Eventually this will be the first time seeing Sarah Lee and Johnny perform along with dear ol' Dad, I'm psyched! I recently bought Sarah Lee's solo CD and the Exploration CD, last but not least ordering Johnny's Unity Lodge CD. For the past few days I have been wearing them out to familiarize myself with the tunes so that I can be good and ready to follow along in song. Arlo you taught your daughter well in song writing with heartwarming lyrics, melody, the gift of an angelic voice. I say thank you for bringing on another generation of a beautiful Guthrie ...Overall this reminds me of friends being invited to a family get together/reunion

Peace,
Lorie

That reminds me of the time about two years ago we saw Arlo and Steve Earle on two consecutive nights. I hadn't seen Arlo in many years and was expecting his show to be somewhat political, as it was an election year. Well, weren't we surprised when the Steve Earle show turned out to be TOTALLY political and Arlo's show (at the Old Town School of Folk Music, with SarahLee and Johnny) wasn't political at all. It was definitely a "uniting" experience.

[/quote]Small world question: were you in the right side of the balcony (seat 23-45 or something like that)? As I was going in, one usher turned to another and said "I've got someone here who needs to get a note to Arlo and the band." Was that you guys?

Thanks for the links by the way.

Did anyone happen to record the show? i'm looking for a nice recording of My Peace for my wedding. Thanks in advance...

PM me your email address. I don't have the recording from this show, but I have one from last year.

Congrats on the wedding, btw.

I/we were in the right side balcony seats 41-43. Where were you at?? We were like, fourth row I think?

Second row, seats 32-35. I think that was totally you behind us going in then! I was wearing the AR40 tie-dyed tour shirt and Bob Dylan sweatshirt, curly hair, and red yarmoulke (Jew hat)