Lime Kiln, Lexington, Virginia, July 19, 1998

This review originally appeared on the RT list.


RT at Lime Kiln, Lexington, Virginia, July 19, 1998

OK, you know you've slid too far into Mrs. Millerdom when, at the end of an RT concert, as you're heading for the car, Simon (whom you've barely met) says: "So, I guess we'll be reading your report on the 'net any time now."

I spent the following three hours, driving north, thinking that I wasn't going to bite at this troll. But here I am.

Doesn't it seem like every time I write about an RT show it's either "a little off" or "the best one I've ever attended"? This was the best one I've ever attended. Knock out the bits that made it special to me personally (I was there in a sort of official capacity, interviewing Our Man for my Sandy Denny book) and it's still got to go into the top 5%.

It was a 90-minute concert. I hope to God someone kept a set list. I think there were at least two other list members in the crowd. RT opened with "Valerie," the one that was "too hard" just days ago.

He seemed to be in a generous, ebullient mood, very much in control of his situation, deftly avoiding a couple of potentially grandstanding audience members. Was this his last show for a while? Traveling fans' alert: try to get to the last show in a given tour. You can't lose.

I used to fantasize that each of us was developing a particular request, like a bird call, and that over time, as I attended shows or heard recordings of them, I'd come to recognize my fellow devotees by their cries. I don't think most of us are that faithful to a single tune; we play anti-mockingbirds as we hear the show, pleading for tunes we haven't heard.

Tonight's accepted request was "Banish Misfortune," for some women near the front. I was amazed to hear it. I've often been tempted to request an instrumental, but I've held back for fear that RT would interpret the request as "Stop singing!" OK, call me paranoid.

I'll leave it to a better person, with a clearer head and a shorter drive home, to share the rest of this fantastic event.

Pam Winters