LOCATION: Appel Farm, Elmer, NJ
LINEUP: Karin, Linford, Ric, Brian, Mickey Grimm, Jake Bradley, Kenny Hutson
REVIEW BY:
keith from ny:
After working half a day at the office, I set off for Manhattan to
bring Meredith (ahiva80) and long-time OtR fan/Calvin College alumnus Chris
from Michigan and his friend Kenza from Morocco (currently grad students
at Fordham) down to Appel Farm in southern NJ yesterday to see OtR's first
concert there, since that's as close as the band is getting to us for this
tour. After 45 minutes of circling the Madison Square Garden and Herald
Square areas and nearly being arrested for attempting to make illegal turns
trying to get to our rendezvous point with Chris & Kenza, we drove
under the Hudson River and were on our way down the New Jersey Turnpike.
We listened to the 2008 St. E's show on the way down, stopping for an early
dinner at a seafood joint outside of Philly since Carolyn (paintedturtlegirl)
had informed me there is nowhere to eat near the venue. We arrived at Appel
Farm, which truly is in the middle of nowhere, at 6:30 and walked the quarter
mile or so from the parking lot to the theater, a rustic building out in
the middle of the woods with a stage and about 12 long rows of wooden pews.
I had planned to record the show and lugged all my gear down there, but discovered while unpacking I had somehow left the battery cable for my recorder at home (*sigh*), so I decided to make the best of the situation and sit in the front row of pews with the rest of my party. I dropped off the roses and wine I had brought for Karin and Linford backstage and Karin gave me that mischievous smile upon learning of my plight, assuring me they would do the best show of their careers. tongue.gif
While waiting for the show to start, I acquainted myself with the remarkable fellow OtR devotee sitting next to me. I'm guessing Randy is about 65 years of age, and he had driven all the way down from Rhode Island for the show after seeing Over the Rhine play at the Newport Folk Festival last summer and being completely blown away. Like my own, his wife was not interested in making the long trip south for the show, so he came down alone and was planning to drive all the way back home after the show was over. He brought his SLR camera with him and was taking pictures during the show, so I may have some nice photos to share if he emails them to me as he promised. I advised him to buy Good Dog Bad Dog at the merch table since he didn't have it yet (and I really hope he didn't die of ecstasy listening to it on the way back to Rhode Island). I also had a few minutes to catch up with Jimbo and Carolyn, who arrived about half an hour before show time with Carolyn's friend Ellen.
The band sounded great! They seemed a little stiff starting out but quickly built up lots of momentum, culminating in incredible performances of Professional Daydreamer (an unlikely candidate for Jake and Kenny both rocking out on guitar Skynyrd style, but it works fabulously) and B.P.D. I didn't write down the set list, but I think it was exactly the same as what Nelson posted for the night before at Ram's Head, including the encore selections. Kenny pulled out a breathtaking solo for When I Go (which Karin dedicated to me smile.gif ) and they did some very cool things vocally and instrumentally with the end of Cruel and Pretty. Karin was having fun and sounded wonderful and looked suitably casual in jeans and a dark fuschia woolen sweater -- the theater was in fact rather chilly.
Karin and Linford came out and said hi to everyone about half an hour
after the show was over, and then it was time to head back to NY. This
was the first time Kenza had seen Over the Rhine in concert and she really
loved them, despite occasional difficulties with the lyrics (her native
language is French). We listened to the Bloomington 2007 show, GDBD and
some OtR rarities on the long drive home, stopping once for gas and coffee
at a NJT service center. We cruised over the George Washington Bridge around
1:00 AM, and I dropped Chris and Kenza and Meri off at their domiciles
in the Bronx and Queens and got home myself about 2:30, very tired but
very happy.