Thursday night, Jonny Lang played at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT. Tickets were a bit on the pricey side ($95 after fees) but I had a feeling it would be worth it. I have been wanting to see Jonny live for YEARS now, so when I stumbled upon the listing on the Playhouse’s site, I new that I had to splurge as a bit of a late birthday gift for myself.
The opening act was Christopher Robin – originally from Connecticut but recently moved out to Arizona. He said it was his first time back in roughly 6 months and so he was spending more time with family than picking out a setlist so he decided to just wing it. After the first song he said he decided to try to do songs acoustically that he had only done before with his full band. Personally, I thought all of the songs sounded great (having never heard him before and having nothing to compare it to) but a couple of songs he said he would definitely not be doing that way again. He ended his set with a sing a long to “The Weight” – although he was about to start another song when he was told that his time was up. It worked out nice that way – the sing a long got everyone a bit loose and ready for Jonny to hit the stage! (You can check out Christopher Robin at http://www.christopherrobinband.com/)
What I thought was interesting was Jonny’s setlist was on the stage even during the opening act. Of course, I didn’t get a chance to see it – but I did attempt to keep track of my own setlist which will be at the end of this post. I’m not sure how accurate it is – but all the songs were l-o-n-g. At one point I think we were 3 songs in and I looked at my watch and Jonny had been on stage 25 minutes. All the songs just turned in to these jams and were just awesome. It is really hard to put in to words how amazing this performance was. And when the crowd stood after songs and clapped for an extended period of time (Jonny deserved all it and more) it almost looked like he was embarrassed everyone was cheering for him!
After playing for an hour and a half, he left the stage – but everyone stood and cheered and then Jonny came out and did 3 more songs. At the end of the 3rd song each of the band members did a (long) solo and then they jammed even more after that. I have to say that this concert is probably in my Top 5 ever – and I am kind of frustrated that I really can not articulate how great it was. As a blogger, that is never a good thing!
Jonny’s sister was also his backup singer – for those of you who are also American Idol fans, you may remember that she auditioned on Season 8 and made it to I believe the top 36!
Setlist:
Don’t Stop (For Anything)
A Quitter Never wins
Turn Around
Red Light
Living For The City
That Great Day
Breakin’ Me
Lie to Me
40 Days and 40 Nights
Rack ‘Em Up
I Am