When an American artist of a certain stature reaches a certain age, he or she is inevitably referred to as a “National Treasure.” Yet if there is one musician worthy of this overused moniker, I’m nominating Willie Nelson, original country music outlaw and patron saint of singer-songwriters and stoners everywhere.
If you’ve never seen this American icon live, I recommend hightailing it over to the Nokia Theater tonight. At the rate Nelson tours, you may have many more chances to see him, but he is 74 years old after all. As a bonus, this show is a reasonably priced one for the state-of-the-art Nokia theater, with tickets starting at $35 and capping at $75.
Nelson will likely feature a few songs from his new album Moment of Forever, but whenever I’ve seen him in concert he mainly gives the audience what they want: the hits. And it’s not until I saw Nelson live that I realized just how many hits he has to choose from. The last time I saw him, I recognized just about everything and I’m a pretty casual fan. “Whiskey River,” “Always on My Mind,” “Nightlife,” “Pancho and Lefty,” “Crazy” (yep, Willie even wrote Patsy Cline’s signature song), and many others graced the set list that had most of us singing along.
But if you’re expecting the mellow tenor that graced the top of the country music charts for much of the 70s and 80s, you’ll be surprised that Nelson sounds a bit different in concert these days. He more or less scats his way through his songs, hitting some phrases early, some late, some not at all. Whether he’s getting in touch with his inner jazz singer or he’s simply too winded to sing ‘em like he used to, this style seems fitting. Like Bob Dylan, Nelson has sung these songs so many times that he deserves a little room to reinterpret them.
Not that this bothers his faithful fans. Going to see Willie Nelson is about so much more than the songs, anyway. A figure as beloved as Nelson could probably sing nothing but nursery rhymes and the crowd would still shout “Willie!” between every number, as if calling excitedly to an old friend. And Willie treats the audience like old friends, too, smiling and joking and looking genuinely happy to be there, no matter how many nights in a row he’s been on stage. When he sings “The life I love is makin’ music with my friends/ I can’t wait to be on the road again,” which he inevitably will, you’ll believe he still means it.
The Nokia Theater is located in downtown Los Angeles, 777 Chick Hearn Court. Doors open at 7, Willie Nelson goes on at 8:15.
Buy tickets here.
Photo via Wikipedia.
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