Glen Campbell
w/ Special Guests Victoria Ghost
The Goodbye Tour
Paramount Theatre
Seattle, WA, USA
27 November 2012
"I'll get it in a minute..."

Lineage: SP-BMC-2 (OMNI) -> Battery Box -> Tascam DR-1 (44.1/16) -> Soundtrack Pro (Normalise RMS -10) -> CD Wave -> XacT -> DIME

Notes: Victoria Ghost is a band featuring two of Campbell's kids. They played with members of his band during their set and as part of his band during his. Given how much overlap there was, it made sense to me to just post it all in one fileset.

Track List (Total Runtime: 91:30)
VICTORIA GHOST
01. Introduction
02. Down in the Ground
03. Now I Will
04. I Am Just A Man
05. We Called It Love
06. Stand Up
07. Why Didn't I?
08. In My Eyes

GLEN CAMPBELL
09. Intro -> Gentle on my Mind
10. Galveston
11. By the Time I Get to Phoenix
12. Try a Little Kindness
13. Where's the Playground, Susie?
14. Didn't We?
15. I Can't Stop Loving You
16. True Grit
17. Lovesick Blues
18. Duelling Banjos
19. Any Trouble
20. It's Your Amazing Grace
21. The Moon's a Harsh Mistress
22. Wichita Lineman
23. Rhinestone Cowboy
24. Southern Nights
25. A Better Place


This was a weird gig, folks. Between the low turnout (I overheard an usher saying they only sold about 40% of house) and the state of Campbell's Alzheimer's, this really was an evening about faded glories, the irreclaimable past, and the fact that legends aren't infallible after all. Despite being in good spirits, Campbell seemed confused between tracks, trying to introduce the band when his daughter already had, and often being cut off by the start of a song if he spoke past "I'm happy to be here." He took it in stride, but something about it just felt inherently sad, as though he was out there trying to have one last hit, one last big farewell, one last sign of the man he was, rather than the man relying (with varying degrees of success) on teleprompters and handlers to get him through a brief, 63 minute set.

Not to say that he still can't sing his hits and woo an audience - he certainly can, in a way that suggests that a stage is the only place where he can still be himself, wrapped up in the power and the comfort of the music. There was definitely a twinkle to his eye in the more upbeat numbers, and a haunting sing of Wichita Lineman rightly earned a standing O.

Recording-wise, I was in the nosebleeds for Victoria Ghost, then moved down quite a ways for Campbell's set. Some cheers in the latter, a late seating and some talkers in the former, but overall a recording I'm happy with, though one I feel slightly guilty about having made - not for overall taping reasons, but perhaps because we're better off letting the old cowboy fade into the sunset with his glories at the forefront of memory.