Concert Review: Last Of The Breed - History In The Making

Last of The Breed is appropriately titled. I had the pleasure of seeing the legendary trio play in Austin at The Backyard, a large, outside venue right off the highway. The stage is surrounded by walls with rows and rows of chairs descending from the stage. My seats were near the back, right behind where the future bathroom line would form and continuously obstruct what little view me and my fellow Section K’ers had.

Paula Nelson opened the show at 7:45 on the dot. By this time not many people had made their way to their seats, and the loud chatter from the frenzied crowd made it hard to pay attention to anything on stage. From what little I did hear she has talent. It took close to thirty minutes after she wrapped up her segment to prepare the stage for the next act.

After everything was hooked up properly Ray Price nonchalantly strolled to the center microphone and began performing to a standing ovation. “You know, I’m 81 years old,” he told the crowd, “and I am not the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby.” Loud laughter followed, I knew the joke was coming and still chuckled a little. The moment he took the stage and the lights went out the smell of cigarettes and weed filled the air, luckily the breeze kept the stench light for the remainder of the night. Price performed around nine songs, including: “Heartaches by the Number,” “City Lights,” “Make the World Go Away,” and “Other Woman (In My Life).” He was backed by his Cherokee Cowboys. Afterwards he made a brief exit to another standing ovation, but quickly returned and sang a tribute to Hank Williams. “I want to sing a song written by a friend of mine. I’ve never recorded it, and I only lived with him for a year before he died.”

Another twenty minute pause in action came while Asleep At The Wheel setup their equipment. An announcer introduced Ray Benson and the band. Even from where I was sitting I could tell that Benson was unusually tall. Benson and the band performed stellar versions of “Route 66″ and “Miles and Miles” before Haggard graced those in attendance. He opened with “Take Me Back to Tulsa” and was joined by three fiddles, one of which was the legendary Johnny Gimble who is an immense pleasure to watch. His voice was noticeably weaker, but it didn’t detract from the evening in the least bit. Other notable songs by Haggard included: “Silver Wings,” “I Thing I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” “Big City,” and “Ex-convicts In the House.”

In the middle of “Okie From Muskogee” he was joined by Willie Nelson and guitar, Trigger. Afterwards, Willie pondered out loud, how about a little “Pancho & Lefty?” The crowd went wild. My heart began racing, I glanced at Brady, he smiled back. This was one of the moments I had been waiting for my entire life. It feels almost blasphemous to critique anything by these guys, but I was left underwhelmed. Both Willie & Merle sang their verses too fast, parts of the chorus were out of order, and the guitar solo sounded nothing like the recorded version. My standards had been set too high for this particular song for them to ever be lived up to.

Willie and Merle sang three or four more duets together, including a new Willie Nelson song, “Back to Earth.” It was one of the highlights of the night, Haggard sounded ten years younger. Ray came back again to sing with Willie and Merle on a few more songs. “Nightlife” was one of the more beautiful songs performed, mainly due to the outdoor atmosphere and the stars shining down from the clear Texas night. Members of the audience rose and slow danced in the aisles.

While Willie, Ray, and Merle were all on stage Freddy Powers came out to sing a song and then left as quickly as he had came. The trio also performed a Floyd Tillman song, “I’ll Keep Loving You.” The traditional country atmosphere was growing stronger throughout the night. After “Roly Poly” the trio left the stage.

This time Willie was the only one to return. He sang “On the Road Again,” “Always On My Mind,” “Superman,” and “Crazy” before finally closing the show around 10:30 with his trademark “Whiskey River.”

During the past week or so I’ve read enough reviews from the previous Last of the Breed concerts that I could tell you what was going to happen before it happened. Yet somehow, the show wasn’t any less magical. As someone quipped a few times throughout the night, this was history in the making and I’m glad I was along for the lesson.