Bonnie Raitt rocks Tanglewood, 8/24/98

by Seth Rogovoy

(LENOX , Mass., Aug. 25, 1998) -- When right before the conclusion of her concert at Tanglewood on Monday night, Bonnie Raitt said, “I’ve had more fun in this show than in many, many years,” you really believed she meant it.

Tossing out her set list early in the evening, Raitt pulled off the nearly impossible task of investing her program with the sort of intimacy and spontaneity ordinarily reserved for nightclub-style shows.

The end result was a fiery, soulful, hard-rocking affair -- the best show Raitt has put on in memory.

Backed by a lean, versatile four-piece band, Raitt dug deep into her catalog, saving the obvious hits for the end of the show and instead showcasing new songs and tunes by other songwriters.

The stripped-down arrangements emphasized groove and guitars, and those who came to hear Raitt’s signature slide work did not leave disappointed. Rhythm and blues were given equal time, too.

But mostly this was a night utterly dominated by Raitt’s infectious personality, alternately serious and playful, sober and sassy.

The price for all the spontaneity was more talk than usual from Raitt, including numerous tributes paid to the surroundings and acknowledgments of her happy memories of playing Music Inn back in the ‘70s.

The show was also erratically paced, with long delays between songs, false starts and abrupt mood-switches, such as following up her steamy new R&B song, “Spit of Love,” with a jazzy version of her hit ballad, “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”

But in the end such violations of the summer-shed playbook were a price worth paying, as the audience got a rare glimpse of a genuinely charming person and performer in Raitt. A singular presence in contemporary pop, there is virtually no one else like her -- man or woman -- who has maintained a career at her level of popularity without compromising the integrity of the music.

Ever the missionary for the blues, Raitt paid tribute to such writers as Mose Allison and J. B. Lenoir, even going so far as to spell out the latter’ s name and suggest which album the crowd should seek out, before launching into a version of his “Round and Round,” which appears on her great new album, “Fundamental.”

Jackson Browne kicked the evening off with a solo acoustic set on guitar and piano. Browne also dug deep into his catalog, favoring his typically morose, searingly introspective ballads. “The Pretender” struck a chord over 20 years later in its apt portrait of the lost American dream.

Ever the sanctimonious, p.c. Boy Scout, Browne missed the barn with a “rehab rewrite” of the Rev. Gary Davis tune, “Cocaine Blues.” Anyone who has heard Bob Dylan sing the song in concert over the last year or so knows that as written it packs a chillingly powerful impact that is only lessened by adding dubious lyrics about the C.I.A. dealing drugs to inner-city populations.

In the first of what was to be several duets sprinkled throughout the evening, Raitt joined Browne for a few numbers, and then brought out her band to kick his set into high gear, which it did on such great old crowd-pleasers as “Here Comes Those Tears Again” and “Running On Empty.”

Browne joined Raitt for a low-key, mid-concert duet, and again at the end for a hit-filled encore, including “Thing Called Love,” as the crowd rushed the stage and Raitt lamented the 10 o’clock curfew, saying she would have played all night if she could.

That sure would have given them something to talk about.

If you would like to purchase Bonnie Raitt's latest CD on-line, please click on the SoundStone logo to the right.