Before going to this show, I tried to count the number of times I’ve seen Willie. It must be close to 20. I’ve been to his shows throughout my whole life, I’ve worked the beer ticket stand at his birthday parties in Luckenbach twice, I’ve watched him from backstage at The Backyard and had my picture taken with him, had numerous items signed, been to Luck and hung out at his golf course, with his crazy roadies and Willie Weed.
The fact that Willie is synonymous with home to me is only part of my infatuation. Wilie represents the good part of America to me. He’s part cowboy, part rebel. His music is western, pop, and rock all at once. He’s laid back and a hard worker- we all know Willie likes to have fun, but as he’s about to turn 74 in a few days- he has 6 albums out this year. He writes non stop. America is so divided right now, but I guarantee that one thing you could get everyone to agree on is their shared love of Willie Nelson.
This show was one of the best for me. It was like a greatest hits show- he played almost everything I could have wanted him to: Pancho and Lefty, On the Road Again, Crazy, Georgia, Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys, Blue Eyes Cryin’ In the Rain, Always On My Mind, Skies, Luckenbach, Texas, Whiskey River…you get the point. It’s been two years since I’d seen him, and he looked visibly older, and Trigger had a few more holes. However, we all know Willie can probably out party all of us twenty-somethings. The crowd was crazy- we had one vomiting instance occur in front of us before the show even started, and then we had Willie’s craziest fan next to us screaming ‘WILLIE!!’ every couple of minutes and jumping around like she was having a seizure. It was rather amusing.
I read Willie’s book last year, The Tao of Willie, which I highly recommend. It’s a combination of great jokes, Willie history, and life learnings. And who wouldn’t want to learn something from Willie.
Here is a clip from the show from youtube:
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