Glen Matlock @ The Troubadour (1/21/24)

It’s hard to be an aging punk rocker. Punk is loud, aggressive, reactionary, anti-establishment music, things that don’t tend to improve with age even if you do still have the fire. Sadly, Glen Matlock wasn’t even trying. Dressed like one of your dad’s golfing buddies, he led an all-star band, including Gilby Clarke (formerly of Guns N’ Roses) on lead guitar and Blondie stalwart Clem Burke (who apparently shows up everywhere in LA) on drums, through a relatively low-key set at The Troubadour on January 21.

Let’s start with the obvious. Matlock is a legend if only for his time with the Sex Pistols, writing most of the music on their seminal “Never Mind the Bollocks” album and largely defining their sound (if not their look). Even after leaving (or getting kicked out), he managed to form the moderately successful Rich Kids before embarking on a long-winding, largely anonymous solo career. With all that background, a trip through the musical years, heavy on the early stuff and reveling in the myth of a punk rock OG, was my initial expectation. And even though that’s what we got, there was something just missing.

Much like Johnny Marr or Peter Hook, Matlock has decided to step into the frontman role. Yet his lack of vocal strength, combined with a dire lack of stage presence, again demonstrates why some of us are born to be sidemen. Even among the actual sidemen, only Burke’s performance truly stood out. Performance-wise, the main energy during the show came during the two Sex Pistols songs, both of which desperately called out for Johnny Rotten’s sneering vocals rather than Matlock’s sedated delivery. Beyond those two highlights, none of the rest of the set, including “Blank Generation” (which Matlock introduced as one of the three most important songs to punk rock after “Louie Louie” and “You Really Got Me”) nor “All or Nothing” by the Small Faces (Matlock’s personal favorite song), were enough to inspire even a simple sing-along. I realized how dire things were when Matlock seemed to spend the bulk of “Ghosts of Princes in Towers” singing directly at me, perhaps realizing that I was the only one who actually knew the words.

On looks alone, the audience made up for the mediocre music: the cool factor of attendees was an 11, with people most more interested in looking good than getting invested in the music. Yet the vibe certainly wasn’t helped by the cameramen slipping around the crowd, sticking giant cameras in front of paying attendees for what must be an upcoming DVD release. Not a great way to entertain an audience. But perhaps entertainment wasn’t the point. Maybe in LA, it’s about looks more than performance, nostalgia more than immediacy, familiarity more than memorability. For one night, that’s ok.

Set list:

1. Won’t Put the Brakes on Me
2. Keep On Pushing
3. God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)
4. Burning Sounds (Rich Kids song)
5. Ambition (Iggy Pop cover)
6. Magic Carpet Ride
7. Consequences Coming
8. On Something (Glen Matlock & the Philistines song)
9. Tried to Tell You
10. Sexy Beast
11. Ghosts of Princes in Towers (Rich Kids song)
12. This Ship
13. Blank Generation (Richard Hell & the Voidoids cover)
14. Can’t Be Myself With You
15. Head on a Stick
16. Pretty Vacant (Sex Pistols song)
17. Rainy Day Season
18. All or Nothing (Small Faces song)

Aly & AJ @ the Greek Theatre (9/8/23)

Is there such a thing as bad music? Obviously there’s music people viscerally like or dislike, but music has an inherent appeal, just by its nature. And given the right setting, especially when performed by professionals, music, no matter how off-putting or boring, can end up being enjoyable.

That was the mindset heading into Aly & AJ’s show at the Greek Theatre on September 8. If it hadn’t been for the discount $25 tickets, we never would have been there. But the price was right for an evening of music in a beautiful (and to me novel) atmosphere, so we decided to roll the dice.

We got our money’s worth. As a scaled-down version of the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek Theatre is yet another fantastic southern California concert venue. Dug out of a hill in Griffith Park, the few thousand seats overlooking the mountains have an intimate feel you can’t find at most outdoor venues. With the weather at a perfect temperature as the sun set, I could have sat there all night (well, maybe if beer was cheaper).

By contrast, the music was…fine. Neither of us were familiar with Aly & AJ’s music; I had never heard of them at all, though Katie knew they had some previous connection with Disney. They played fast, they played soft, they tried to evoke atmosphere, they tried to inspire passion. Had we been laid out for a picnic or watching the sunset, it would have been perfect background noise. The rest of the crowd clearly agreed: other than one or two sing-a-longs that got people out of their seats, the overall vibe was passive and laid back (except for the drunk ladies behind us who blabbered LOUDLY throughout the entire show).

Most tellingly, the one moment of spark that I usually get at a live show wasn’t even from the featured performers. Opener Vanessa Carlton performed a taut, 6 song act that barely qualified as a set, but she still had the entire crowd singing along to “A Thousand Miles”, her one hit. That one moment of transcendent music was enough for an enchanted evening. The rest was pleasant noise.

Vanessa Carlton set list:

1. House of Seven Swords
2. Willows
3. White Houses
4. The Only Way to Love
5. A Thousand Miles
6. Who’s to Say

Aly & AJ set list:

1. Open to Something and That Something Is You
2. With Love From
3. Pretty Places
4. Love You This Way
5. Stomach
6. Talking in My Sleep
7. Take Me
8. Baby Lay Your Head Down
9. Sunchoke
10. Don’t Need Nothing
11. Potential Breakup Song
12. Slow Dancing
13. Like Whoa
14. Division
15. On the Ride
16. Tear the Night Up
17. Break Yourself
18. Listen!!!
19. Personal Cathedrals
20. Joan of Arc on the Dance Floor
21. After Hours
22. Way of Nature Way of Grace
23. Rush

Encore:

• Blue Dress
• The Last Town
• 6 Months of Staring Into the Sun

Meute @ The Wiltern Theater (5/24/2023)

Vocals are underrated. Without vocals, all you get from pop music is an unending, unrelenting barrage of noise. There’s no chorus, no hook, no chance for a sing-along. Sure, it’s fine if you’re tripping on E at the club; otherwise, it’s just background noise. Even classical music gets tedious after a while.

Such was the case with Meute, a German band that plays a mix of techno dance beats and marching band horns. It’s an incredibly unique sound, one that instantly lends itself to fun and makes it impossible not to move your ass once the music starts. Indeed, as soon as the lights went down at the Wiltern Theater, the crowd was pumped. The band had the audience dancing in the aisles from the first song. Unfortunately, that high energy level just couldn’t be maintained (at least not for us). As each song rolled into the next, Meute’s music degenerated into a blanket of same-ness. After 30 minutes, I had heard enough.

To their credit, Meute do attempt to shake things up. While I was disappointed the band didn’t even bother with choreography, their music is accompanied by an intricate light display, straight out of a Pink Floyd laser show. Unfortunately, the constant stream of colored lights, while dazzling, only had the effect of making us blind. At first, I thought all the cool-looking fans walking around with their sunglasses on indoors were merely vain. Halfway through the first song, I realized they were just in the know.

One a side note, the historic Wiltern Theater definitely lived up to the hype. The décor is charming and the sound quality is excellent, much better than The Belasco or the Fonda Theater. It’s certainly worth another visit. As for Meute, I’ll mix them in to our dance playlist. But I don’t need to see them again.

Set list:

1. Intro
2. Nostalgia Drive
3. Slip
4. Holy Harbour
5. Loss of Hope
6. Peace
7. Acamar
8. Hey Hey
9. You & Me (Disclosure feat. Eliza Doolittle cover)
10. Araya
11. Infinite
12. Drum Solo
13. What Else Is There
14. Kerberos
15. Ticino

Encore:

1. Sail
2. Slow Loris
3. Rej

Elder at The Constellation Room (5/13/2023)

Vocals are overrated in rock music. Sure, it’s great to sing along with your favorite artist, but words are nothing without the music. Case in point: somebody once told Kathleen Hannah that if she wanted people to listen to what she was saying, she had to start a band since nobody goes to spoken word readings. And bands like Bikini Kill are the exception: the level of profundity in rock lyrics for 95% of bands has barely evolved from “I love you”.

Still, I was slightly taken by surprise to find myself experiencing the heavy metal version of Phish when my friend Gerry invited me to see Elder, one of his favorite bands, play at The Constellation Room down in Santa Ana on May 13. For more than 90 minutes, the music kept rolling out in wave after crashing wave, never quite stopping or starting as the crowd grooved along (as much as headbangers can groove). It was a full-body workout, despite the fact that the band made it through a mere seven (7!) songs.

And that’s what gets me to the idea of vocals. Every time Elder lead singer Nick DiSalvo stepped up to the mic and attempted to wail like Geddy Lee over his band’s pulsating wall of sound, it barely registered. These songs don’t have choruses or hooks, no one is there to sing along, so why even bother? It’s an approach jam bands have evolved that is closer to jazz than anything resembling rock.

What’s interesting about Elder is that, unlike in jazz (or prog), there are no individual theatrics. No Rick Wakeman or Neil Peart showcasing their musical virtuosity. Instead, every member of Elder is moving in complete synchronization, generating an immovable musical force that is impossible to resist. DiSalvo is the nominal front-man, though bass player Jack Donovan was the one actually positioned front and center. Keeping everything tied down was drummer Georg Edert, a relatively recent addition to the band whose lack of theatrics was offset by incredible timing and steadiness that carried each song exactly where it needed to go. The musicianship and performance was so stellar that I didn’t even miss the vocals.

Now this is likely a minority opinion. There was certainly some argument about the value of singing (and performance in general) on the car ride home. Yet in my mind, Elder ended up saying everything they needed to with their music. Maybe the band will find a way to integrate more traditional song elements. Or maybe they’ll realize their destiny and give up on vocals all together. Were the Grateful Dead ever trying to say anything all that profound?

Set list:

1. Catastasis
2. Thousand Hands
3. Lore
4. Merged in Dreams – Ne Plus Ultra
5. Halcyon
6. Compendium
7. Gemini

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes @ The Regent Theater (12/2/2022)

A cover band is a weird entity. Once they’ve graduated beyond bar-band status, they tend to fall into two classes: parody or tribute. Playing punk versions of well-known pop songs, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are somewhere in between. It’s clear they like, or to some degree admire, the songs and artists they are covering, but their punk background forces them to put on a nonchalant, no fucks given attitude to let them properly take the piss out of the music.

When it works, their approach is fun and silly. Lead singer Spike Slawson (the only original Gimme present) kicked things off with a solo ukulele intro to Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” before the rest of the band turned up the adrenaline, marking one of the only times I’ve ever enjoyed hearing this song.

However, as things progressed and the band was tearing through their revved-up versions, I found myself only hearing the original melodies and arrangements. Stripping everything down to loud and fast resulted in a mostly monotonous set list. I kind of like the original versions of John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” (well, the Peter, Paul & Mary version) and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, and the Gimme’s piss-takes weren’t improvements, or even that enjoyable. And Cake did a way better job with “I Will Survive”.

Maybe if the set list had focused on songs closer to my youth in the 80’s and 90’s, I would have enjoyed the show more. As it is, the highlights were seeing CJ Ramone on bass (which in my mind was even cooler than seeing OG bass player Fat Mike), and getting to experience a new venue. Originally a movie theater, the Regent ended up as a porn theater before closing and re-opening as a music venue. Sometimes, a new version is an improvement.

Set List:

1. Rikki Don’t Lose That Number (Steely Dan cover)
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Jimmy Boyd cover)
3. Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver cover)
4. Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (Paul Simon cover)
5. Sloop John B (traditional)
6. Jolene (Dolly Parton cover)
7. On the Road Again (Willie Nelson cover)
8. Ghost Riders in the Sky (Johnny Cash cover)
9. Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver cover)
10. I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor cover)
11. Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland cover)
12. Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond cover)
13. Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp) (Barry Mann cover)
14. Danny’s Song (Loggins & Messina cover)
15. Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time) (Elton John cover)
16. Feliz Navidad (José Feliciano cover)

Walk the Moon @ The Fonda Theatre (10/18/22)

In 2002 (my junior year of college), I saw the Stone Temple Pilots, then in their 10^th year as a band, play at Cornell University. They opened with a haunting version of “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” as an homage to the recently departed Layne Staley. They rocked through their hits, pulled out a couple more covers, played an acoustic set halfway through. Within months, they had disbanded, never to regain their prominence or footing.

20 years later, I saw Walk the Moon play their own 10-year anniversary tour at the Fonda Theatre. Not quite a cult band, more than a one-hit wonder, Walk the Moon used the occasion as a valedictory, bathing in the admiration of their die-hard fans while thumping their collective chest at everyone else. Clearly the band sees themselves as still on the upswing. After seeing the show, I’m not sure I agree.

Much like STP, Walk the Moon wear their influences on their sleeves. They sound like a band that spent their high school years taking acid and listening to The Killers, with a retro sound that borders on parody, an homage to an imitation of the real thing. Even “Shut Up and Dance”, their biggest hit, comes off like U2 meeting Gary Numan. And the other Walk the Moon songs that I’m familiar with are strong enough to get a dance party going, if not see it all the way through. It’s fun as long as people are in the mood.

Unfortunately, they didn’t quite play to these strengths. First, they made the mistake of playing for way (way) too long. A set that ran over 2 and a half hours could have easily been cut in half. Worse, they made the classic mistake of “slowing things down” halfway through the show in a bid for sincerity. All the acoustic mini-break accomplished was to send everyone running for the bathroom.

By contrast, they dance songs had everyone moving (side note- the acoustics at the Fonda are fantastic). It was almost enough to make me a convert. Then there’s that song. “Shut Up and Dance” is the ultimate up, a complete banger. Everyone in the crowd had been waiting for it the entire night, tripping with anticipation that it might just be the next song to get played. The band did a good job playing on that tension, self-aware enough to realize what everyone wanted yet confident enough to refrain from pandering. When the opening chords did finally start churning out, the place exploded.

So where is Walk the Moon on their career trajectory? Based on this show, it’s hard to tell.

Set List:

1. Quesadilla
2. Lisa Baby
3. Next in Line
4. Anna Sun
5. Tightrope
6. Jenny
7. Shiver Shiver
8. Lions
9. Iscariot
10. Fixin’
11. I Can Lift a Car
12. Surrender
13. Avalanche
14. Different Colors
15. Anywayican
16. Work This Body
17. Tête-à-tête
18. Blue Dress
19. Up 2 U
20. Someone Else’s Game
21. Mono No Aware
22. Giants
23. Shut Up and Dance
24. Population of Two
25. One Foot

Paul McCartney @ SoFi Stadium (5/13/2022)

At this point, if you’ve seen Paul McCartney in concert once, you’ve seen all you need to see, or are going to see. His set list has barely changed over the past few decades: you get the standards (“Hey Jude”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”), the changes of pace (“Here Today”, “In Spite of All the Danger”), and a couple of randoms thrown in to keep his band on its toes (I’ll never understand why he continues to play “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”, which sounds incredibly lackluster when disconnected from its Sgt. Pepper’s context). If you’re looking for more variety, Paul apparently is doing a series of bonus shows on this tour where he apparently does go into some real deep cuts.

You also get the stories. Like most senior citizens, Sir Paul tends to repeat himself, especially in storytelling. In interviews, in books, in concert, they’re all the same. While understandable given the length of his career, it’s gotten to the point where I can recite verbatim the little anecdotes he tells the crowd (much to the annoyance of my seatmates).

That said, I can’t fault the man- he clearly knows what he’s doing and he puts on a great show. To see someone Paul’s age rock out for well over 2 hours, getting an entire arena on its feet (well, for part of the show at least), is to be a part of rock and roll history, and possibly something more. When 60,000 people are ‘nah-nah-nah”ing to “Hey Jude”, you get the feeling that maybe, if only for a brief moment, there’s hope for unity in this world. And then the lights go up and the moment is gone. But, as always, Paul will return.

Set list:

1. Can’t Buy Me Love (The Beatles song)
2. Junior’s Farm (Wings song)
3. Letting Go (Wings song)
4. Got to Get You Into My Life (The Beatles song)
5. Come On to Me
6. Let Me Roll It, with Foxy Lady jam (Wings song)
7. Getting Better (The Beatles song)
8. Let ‘Em In (Wings song)
9. My Valentine
10. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings song)
11. Maybe I’m Amazed
12. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles song)
13. In Spite of All the Danger (The Quarrymen song)
14. Love Me Do (The Beatles song)
15. Dance Tonight
16. Blackbird (The Beatles song)
17. Here Today
18. New
19. Lady Madonna (The Beatles song)
20. Fuh You
21. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles song)
22. Something (The Beatles song)
23. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles song)
24. You Never Give Me Your Money (The Beatles song)
25. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (The Beatles song)
26. Get Back (The Beatles song)
27. Band on the Run (Wings song)
28. Let It Be (The Beatles song)
29. Live and Let Die (Wings song)
30. Hey Jude (The Beatles song)

Encore:

31. I’ve Got a Feeling- “virtual duet” w/video & vocal tracks of John Lennon during The Beatles rooftop concert in 1969 (The Beatles song)
32. Birthday (The Beatles song)
33. Helter Skelter (The Beatles song)
34. Golden Slumbers (The Beatles song)
35. Carry That Weight (The Beatles song)
36. The End (The Beatles song)

Halsey @ The Hollywood Bowl (6/21/2022)

Musicians are (or want to be) stars- all eyes on them, fans hanging on their every movement and word. On rare occasions, though, they take a back seat to an even bigger star. Such was the case on June 21. Nominally, pop phenom Halsey was the star, the headliner, the draw. In reality, the star is (and always has been) the venue: the Hollywood Bowl.

I’ve been to my fair share of outdoor concert spaces (Wolf Trap, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Saratoga Performing Arts Center), and none of them even come close to matching the tranquil yet energetic ambiance that I experienced at the Bowl. Celebrating its 100^th anniversary in its 4^th (or 5^th) incarnation, the outdoor venue with perfect acoustics, generous sightlines and gentle setting nestled in the Hollywood Hills is maybe the perfect live venue. We were even treated to a surprise light show of the Hollywood sign, an occurrence about as rare as a shooting star.

Oh yeah, the show itself. It was…fine. I’ll admit that I had barely heard of Halsey before the show. Our motivation for getting tickets was the chance to experience the Bowl; the performer was irrelevant. So my musical review should be taken with a grain of salt.

Halsey’s approach to performing was a lot of running around, trying to energize the crowd against a sparse backing (only 3 musicians creating all that sound huh?) Except the Bowl isn’t really designed for that kind of festival energy, so her efforts fell mostly flat beyond the first couple of rows. The crowd didn’t seem to mind, dancing and singing along to every song (Was Halsey singing? Was she lip-syncing? Does it matter?). Her monologues about empowerment weren’t very inspiring, and her mid-set “speed art” drawing move during one song was just plain confusing.

Not helping matters was the generally poor sound mixing. It felt like the volume on every song was being turned down so as to not trigger a noise complaint. The Bowl’s acoustics were much kinder to opener Wolf Alice, who rocked through a sterling set that has motivated me to check them out more deeply.

So the verdict in this case is pretty conclusive: doubtful that I’d see Halsey again, but definitely will be back to the Bowl as it kicks off its second century.

Set list:

1. The Tradition
2. Castle
3. Easier than Lying
4. You Should Be Sad
5. 1121 / Die for Me
6. Graveyard
7. Colors
8. Hurricane
9. Lilith
10. The Lighthouse
11. Killing Boys
12. Girl Is a Gun
13. Be Kind (Marshmello & Halsey cover)
14. 100 Letters
15. Honey
16. 3am
17. So Good
18. Bad at Love
19. Whispers
20. Gasoline

Encore:

21. Nightmare
22. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (Kate Bush cover)
23. Without Me
24. I am Not a Woman, I’m a God

Dave Matthews Band @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (8/21/2021)

It wouldn’t have been my choice for my first post-pandemic concert (that would have been a sweaty mosh pit at the 9:30 Club or Black Cat). But it worked.

Dave Matthews Band, proper heirs to the Grateful Dead as America’s favorite jam band, welcomed a concert-starved crowd back to normalcy with an impressive 3-hour set at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Playing that long requires chops and comfort, both of which the expanded band (now including 2 horn players, a keyboardist and Tim Reynolds as the now quasi-permanent lead guitarist) have in abundance. And Dave Matthews himself, love him or hate him, can never be accused of phoning it in. Emoting over each note, Matthews put on an impressive vocal display and even more energetic performance as a bandleader, neither of which I thought he had in him.

The show’s vibe was one of familiarity, with most of the crowd content to sway along with the extended musical excursions. The energy level was solid throughout but things never rose to a full crescendo, except maybe during “Ants Marching”. Of course, that’s not really DMB’s style. But I would have appreciated something that got me off my ass: I stayed prostrate for the majority of the show, and I don’t think it really made a difference.

Combined with the perfect weather, it all added up to a welcome summer evening, the kind of thing that would have been taken for granted only a few years ago. I can’t wait for the next time.

Set list:

1. One Sweet World
2. Seek Up
3. Sweet
4. So Right
5. Do You Remember
6. Why I Am
7. Crush
8. Time of the Season (The Zombies cover)
9. Tripping Billies
10. The Only Thing
11. So Damn Lucky (Dave Matthews song) (with Sly and the Family Stone’ “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” interpolation)
12. Gravedigger (Dave Matthews song) (Preceded by drum solo)
13. Drive In, Drive Out
14. Say Goodbye
15. Louisiana Bayou
16. Write a Song (Preceded by band intros)
17. Cornbread
18. Ants Marching

Encore:

1. Crash Into Me
2. All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover) + Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin cover)

Gershwin Prize Ceremony for Garth Brooks at DAR Constitution Hall (March 4, 2020)

“Most of all, I want to be remembered as a SONG WRITER!” As Garth Brooks shouted those last words, culminating a night of tribute and celebration, he clearly believed them. So did I. So did everyone in the audience.

The problem is, he isn’t really a song writer. Not a great one anyways, who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as fellow Gershwin Prize awardees Carole King, Stevie Wonder, or even Billy Joel (who Brooks famously, and perhaps ironically, covered). Even “Friends in Low Places” was written by two other guys. And Brooks had the temerity to stand up there and talk about how special it felt to write a sing-along song, one that stands next to “American Pie” or “Piano Man” (both of which he played snippets of).

The worst part is, I actually had a surprisingly great time at the show! I don’t count myself as a country fan so I came in with very low expectations (maybe even lower than the ones I had last year for Emilio and Gloria Estefan). But Keith Urban was great dueting with Brooks on “Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up)” [writers: Blazy, Williams, Brooks], Chris Stapleton managed to top Brooks’ version of (Billy Joel’s) “Shameless”, and Keb’ Mo gave a soulful rendition of “The River” [writers: Shaw, Brooks]. The only dud was Trisha Yearwood, whose tear-jerk ballads [writers: Arata, Tester] did nothing for me.

Brooks himself is a great entertainer. For someone who has been the biggest star in country music for 30 years, it’s no surprise that he knows how to command a stage. He was funny, he was entertaining, he made a fun evening memorable. And of course he got everyone (including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) standing and singing along to “Friends in Low Places.” Best of all was his storytelling, walking us through a musical education that ranged from Merle Haggard to Otis Redding to Cat Stevens to Bob Seger, listing the elements he cribbed from his heroes.

Newton observed that discovery and innovation stand on the shoulders of giants. Wilde noted that “talent borrows, genius steals.” Brooks’ genius is that he has managed to do both.

Set list:

1. Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up) (with Keith Urban)
2. Rodeo (performed by Chris Stapleton)
3. Shameless (Billy Joel cover) (performed by Chris Stapleton)
4. The River (performed by Keb’ Mo)
5. We Shall Be Free (performed by Keith Urban with the Howard University Chorale)
6. What She’s Doing Now (performed by Lee Brice)
7. More Than a Memory (performed by Lee Brice)
8. Callin’ Baton Rouge (The Oak Ridge Boys cover) (performed by Ricky Skaggs)
9. For the Last Time (performed by Trisha Yearwood)
10. The Change (performed by Trisha Yearwood)
11. Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) (Don McLean cover) (solo acoustic)
12. Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels) (Jim Croce cover) (solo acoustic)
13. Unanswered Prayers (solo acoustic)
14. Sing Me Back Home (Merle Haggard cover) (solo acoustic)
15. Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover) (solo acoustic)
16. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding cover) (solo acoustic)
17. Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers cover) (solo acoustic)
18. Wild World (Cat Stevens cover) (solo acoustic)
19. Night Moves (Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band cover) (solo acoustic)
20. That Summer
21. Turn the Page (Bob Seger cover) (portion)
22. The Thunder Rolls
23. Piano Man (Billy Joel cover) (solo acoustic)
24. American Pie (Don McLean cover) (solo acoustic)
25. Friends in Low Places
26. The Dance