Joe Ely Band
Fitzgerald's, Berwyn, Ill.
American Music Fest Day 2
July 2, 2015

Lineage: Master
Hardware: Edirol R09-HR, bass rolloff at 200Hz
Software: Tracked and lightly massaged in Amadeus Pro, then finished off in xAct
Quality: Tasty audience

01: Are You Listenin' Lucky?
02: Don't Put a Lock on my Heart
03: BBQ & Foam
04: Row of Dominoes
05: Dallas
06: Where Is my Love?
07: Boxcars
08: Hard Livin'
09: Letter to L.A.
10: Lord of the Highway
11: All Just to Get to You
12: Road Hawg
13: encore applause
14: Live Forever
15: My Eyes Got Lucky (incomplete)
(missing: extremely extended encore applause, Me and Billy the Kid)

Joe Ely: Guitar and vocals
David Grissom: Guitar and vocals
Jimmy Pettit: Guitar and vocals
Pat Manske: Drums

So it turns out, apparently, that if I turn the bass rolloff on
for the first time ever, I find out that it really seems to be a
battery killer. I reached into my shirt pocket to turn off the
Edirol and found it already off. I know that, fortunately, it
saves the WAV file before it dies, and I'd been checking it every
so often and knew that it made it almost all the way through. But
I didn't know that killing batteries was so easy with the thing. As
an outdoor show, the bass was really heavy, and there was no way I
was going to record without the rolloff -- but here we are. On the
upside, there are aspects here that sound better than the gig did
live; Joe's vocals were sometimes a bit boomy and hollow, but
they're pretty even here.

That said, this is a hell of a year for our heroes, with the Gruene
Hall show posted separately by joeyjay and yours truly kicking the
year off in amazing fashion and this gig continuing to kill it. This
night was 1987 night at Fitzgerald's -- check out that set list; the
only things missing are "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta" (which I'm convinced
we've already heard for the last time) and "Fingernails." The energy
levels around the stage were extraordinary. Because this event is an
outdoor gig in a residential neighborhood with a hard curfew of
midnight, some of the interplay that we caught during the Gruene Hall
gig was dropped here, but not much, and the grins on stage were still
real and still big. Fans know that Joe has tweaked some of the melodies
to rein in some of the high notes in these songs, but although you'll
hear him do that during the first half of the gig, over the second half,
he's going for them. Anyway, along with the scribbled "Billy" in the
second encore (that this recording lacks anyway), we got that entire
typed-out set list and it was probably a great move to stick to that plan.

While I'd hoped for some out-of-state attendees to make an appearance,
it wasn't going to happen, but they were toasted in their absence. And
it was a pleasure to meet DIMEr raysmith (who was taking photos right
next to me and who spotted the Edirol as I slipped it in my pocket) --
and the guy in front of me who ended up with the autographed set list
knew of DIME too; I didn't catch your name, so if you're reading this,
say hello in a comment. And thanks for letting me take the set list pic.

If you're on Facebook, you'll see the best of the photos I took in Joe's
official group, for what it's worth. I used it as an ad hoc poll, and
the shot that was most Liked is the cover shot. Also, one bcstolbach has
uploaded much of this to YouTube, and the fastest way to those videos
seems to be heading to YouTube and searching for Joe Ely 2015 Fitzgerald's.
All of "My Eyes Got Lucky" and "Me and Billy the Kid" are there. Between
that and this, the entire show's out there.

Thanks to Joe and the musicians -- for playing and for appreciating the
fans -- and to Bill Fitzgerald and the team he's assembled at his great
venue, who've made the American Music Fest an annual must-go no matter
who's playing. As hard as he works, Bill always makes a point of catching
some of each performance; he's the fan we all wish we could be.


Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: