Concert Review--Eleven Hundred Springs

Last Friday, I was back at Dan's Silverleaf, this time to see Dallas' own Eleven Hundred Springs, reputedly a fine country act, who had come highly recommended and, despite the fact that they come up here all the time, I had never even heard a song. I'll probably never miss another of their shows at Dan's, for a number of reasons. A few thoughts:

--They consist of a singer on guitar, drums, bass, fiddle, and steel. Is there a better combination for a country show than this? It's true, they were a very good, very skilled band with a fun onstage act and a lot of energy, but a lot of what worked so well had as much to do with the interaction of these instruments. The drummer and bassist knew they were the rhythm section; they both kept a tight beat and stayed as much in the background as possible. There's only so far out there you can go with a bass solo in a country song. The steel player and fiddler (who also sang a rousing version of "Orange Blossom Special," a big hit with the crowd) worked together really well on the melodies, did the majority of the soloing, and were obviously having a lot of fun. The singer, whose amusing point-and-wink act was a big hit with the ladies, had a good voice, and songs about drinking and fighting work pretty well for a bar band, but his guitar was less of a presence than I would have thought. They felt really natural up there and, given that they are fairly young, will probably continue to improve.

--Speaking of the crowd, this was the most crowded, rowdiest groups I'd seen in a long time. Apparantly, they have a pretty good following both here and Dallas, a lot of whom I met at the show. They all knew the songs and sang along while dancing with drunken abandon through the shoulder to shoulder crowd. It reminded me a lot of what Erik described from the Chris Knight show he saw, although there is absolutely no excuse for a bar to run out of beer for the crowd. The solution to this problem? Stock more beer! In any case, people were having the times of their lives, and that's a fun atmosphere to take part in.

--The one problem with a crowded show like this, though, is getting a drink. The only solution to this problem is to stand at the bar the whole time. Trouble with this, though, is that the other people who have made the same decision are the drunks (and what does that say about me?). One of these drunks, a woman of approximately 55, was apparently being harassed by some guy standing next to her and, after smiling at me, came over to politely ask me to kick his ass, which she assured me I was capable of doing. I politely told her back that, while I mostly agreed with her on that, I didn't want to kick his ass. I hadn't seen him doing anything and, even so.... Anyway, she told me that was ok, but that I should do this for her. Eventually, he wandered off somewhere, at which point she came up to me again. She tells the that, while I didn't want to kick his ass, my aura scared him off, and she just wanted to thank me. For this act of heroism, the damsel in distress gave me a big kiss. You simply cannot beat this kind of entertainment.