Homecoming 2019: Feb 13-16 (Thur., Fri, Sat.) Sold Out)

[PeterG]

What a Show! Thanks again Gordon.
Had to miss it for my daughters bands gig last night,
But am blasting it today.
My house is now the ‘40 Watt West’ for tonight’s show.
Thanks again,
one of these years...

[gepman]

Gordon!

You're doing the Lord's work!

Thanks for letting us at home play along...

AHC: great to hear a full band version of "Pollyanna", had no idea it was an AHC era song...

Night 1:
I swear the band sounded "speeded up" a notch or two...

Loved the sing along with "Tornadoes', kudos to those in attendance.

"Wednesday", enough said...

Arguably the most ferocious version of "Ramon Casiano" I can recall.

Full band "Opening Act". Great. I like when Patterson does it solo, but I love it when the band does it.

Cant wait to listen to NIGHT #2 in a few minutes...

[Mundane Mayhem]

Amazing show. Thanks for the Margo & Harold.

Anyone know what Cooley is singing these days instead of "Chinese troops to terrorists" in Ramon Casiano?

“Ebola to caravans,” I think.

[Jack Flash]

The Living Bubba
3 Dimes Down
The 4th Night of My Drinking
Love Like This
Tales Facing Up
A Ghost to Most
Goode’s Field Road
Where the Devil Don’t Stay
Sink Hole
Uncle Frank
Used to Be a Cop
Guitar Man Upstairs
The Company I Keep
Gravity’s Gone
Thoughts and Prayers
Women Without Whiskey
18 Wheels of Love
Marry Me
I’m 18
Zip City
Lookout Mountain
Filthy and Fried
What it Means
Ramon Casiano
The KKK Took My Baby Away
Hell No I Ain’t Happy/Sign O’ the Times/Hell No I Ain’t Happy
Rockin’ In the Free World

[beantownbubba]

They’ve really been extending some of the outro jams lately on songs they didn’t used to have extended outros. I heartedly approve.

Agreed.

AHC: great to hear a full band version of "Pollyanna", had no idea it was an AHC era song...

Thanks for the reminder, I had intended to mention this. It was the first time I had heard a full band rendition of "Pollyanna" and damn, it rocked the fuck out.

[beantownbubba]

I am approaching this post w/ the greatest humility because I feel like even attempting to describe tonite's show will somehow diminish its perfection. But you know that I will in fact bulldoze my way through and hope to catch some of that lightning in this bottle.

I'll start w/ the easy stuff, which is my personal headline: "Bubba Does the Rail." Biggest thanks to Clams for insisting I give it a whirl and acting as my guide. And thanks to the railbird family who welcomed me with open arms and smiles. The 2 songs I spent up front were revelatory. I mean, I know what the rail is like, I've been there for a couple of non HC DBT shows and some other non DBT shows but there's knowing and there's experiencing. No doubt the immediacy and visceral connection can't be beat and if I could just walk up to the rail at showtime I definitely would, especially now that I have my handy dandy first-time-worn ear plugs (thanks BCM). But God bless you full time railbirds who take the time and make the commitment to secure your spots. I can't do that but I'm glad you do. I just wish for your sakes that you started a little bit later in the day, you crazy kids.

It would not have been hard for any semi-serious fan to predict the likely outlines of tonight's show: It was almost certainly going to be rock/loud oriented and was likely to feature some of the many classics/standards that had not been played the first two nights, e.g. Living Bubba, Uncle Frank, etc. But even knowing and expecting that does not begin to describe the show.

It wasn't like Friday night's sort of cosmic feel good trip through the semi-unknown. It was the straight ahead rock show on steroids and informed by what I would call an equally special sense of community. By Saturday night, almost everyone in the audience had been in Athens and at the shows for at least a couple of days, many had circulated at the heAthen events and the band, too, had been a part of the "scene" beyond the shows themselves. And that's what the show felt like: a community of like-minded people having the time of their lives and communicating on multiple levels/wavelengths at all times. The band was clearly having a blast and seemed perhaps a bit awed at this monster they have created. OT1H, they seemed very appreciative of all the attention and love and OTOH they seemed to get that they could do pretty much anything they wanted to try and the crowd would follow them which has to be an awesome sense of power and just a lot of plain ole fun.

The crowd for its part was ON from the first notes. The loudest, singingest, most electric, most connected, most appreciative crowd I can ever recall being a part of. Just standing in the room was an adrenaline rush and electric buzz.

Before I forget, I've said a couple of times over the years that I hope that I don't start taking Jay Of All Trades's multi instrumental virtuosity for granted, but I fear I may have done just that. At the least I haven't given him appropriate props this week for all he adds to the band's sound and live performance and particularly for his ability to play both keys and geetar in the same song. He's been excellent all week but I thought he particularly smoked tonight on all instruments throughout the set.

Tip of the hat to dogstar for predicting "Living Bubba" for the kick off (at least my guess, "Lookout Mountain" was played). This was not one of those "it sometimes takes a few songs for them to find the groove and that extra gear" nights. Things kicked in at 10, ok maybe 9.5, and went straight up from there.

I'm not sure I realized just how popular "4th Night" is but there was no doubt tonight as the crowd ate it up and following it w/ "Love Like This" was perfect.

"Tales Facing Up" may or may not have made the set due to a request by a certain mollusk, but damn did the crowd fall for it hook, line and sinker. I guess I'm not the only one who thinks there's something special about singing "Sometimes I feel like shit" at the top of your lungs.

There wasn't a down moment in the entire set as the band went from high to high. It's hard to pick out individual highlights before the last couple of songs because they were all played at such a high, intense level. Patterson barely spoke, probably the least I can remember at an HC show, so the momentum just kept going and going. If forced to make some picks, I might spotlight "Uncle Frank," "What It Means" and "The Company I Keep." "Goode's Field Road" and "Where the Devil Don't Say" were also undoubtedly highlights but I may have been influenced by being up front for those.

Just as an aside, I had never noticed before what a great segue "Zip City" is from "I'm Eighteen." Very cool stuff.

"Hell No/Sign O the Times" and "Rockin in the Free World" did manage to achieve a level of superlative that outshone even the rest of this incredible show. The three guitar freak out as Sign morphed back into Hell No was completely over the top, controlled chaos that threatened to spin out of control but never did. Matt's bass in "Rockin'" was so driving and seismic that I had to check twice to make sure that Barbe was indeed playing guitar and not a second bass.

But beyond the individual performances, set list and other typical factors, the key to tonight's show was the electricity and energy that was virtually a tangible thing and the sense of shared enterprise (community?) between band and audience that I've never experienced to that degree before. Nobody could have possibly felt cheated by the time the band decided to call it quits, but I have to say that if they had played all night I would have stayed for every single note. I just didn't want it to end. A truly wonderful way to end a spectacular weekend/Homecoming experience. Let's do it again real soon!

Not sure where to put this, so I might as well do it here: Special shout outs and congratulations to jonicont, ramonz and big tom for receiving well deserved recognition for their efforts on behalf of Nuci's Space in the form of "records" w/ their names on them being added to the Nuci's "wall of fame." Great jobs, gentlemen! I'm sure we'll get the official word soon, but based on the preliminary numbers announced at the Nuci's auction, we raised a shit ton of money this year. Congrats and thanks to all who participated in so many different ways.

[John A Arkansawyer]

"Goode's Field Road" and "Where the Devil Don't Say" were also undoubtedly highlights but I may have been influenced by being up front for those.

Or not. I was thinking (to the extent I could) those two were exemplary.

[WarHenRecords]

The Living Bubba
3 Dimes Down
The 4th Night of My Drinking
Love Like This
Tales Facing Up
A Ghost to Most

This is my DBT shit. Wow.

[Slipkid42]

Thanks for the recap, bubba. Succinct and poignant as usual. Glad you got to hug the rail (and when I say hug I mean deathgrip).

[Slipkid42]

Thanks for the recap, bubba. Succinct and poignant as usual. Glad you got to hug the rail (and when I say hug I mean deathgrip).

[Markalanbishop]

1. Thursday night
2. Saturday night
3. Friday night

Splitting hairs, of course. Uniformly excellent performances. I spent a lot of time focusing on Matt's bass lines this weekend. Really cool stuff he's doing--very melodic and interesting ideas. I was also digging Patterson's lead guitar work, for which he doesn't get enough credit, IMO. Finally, I was glad to see Bubba reclaim his rightful position as Mayor of Tiki Bar on Saturday night!

[phungi]

1. Thursday night
2. Saturday night
3. Friday night

Splitting hairs, of course. Uniformly excellent performances.!

Your concert ranking acumen is as spot-on as your sports prognostication skills. Let me correct that for you:

Homecoming = (Night1 + Night2 + Night3)

That said, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts...

[brett27295]

1. Thursday night
2. Saturday night
3. Friday night

Splitting hairs, of course. Uniformly excellent performances. I spent a lot of time focusing on Matt's bass lines this weekend. Really cool stuff he's doing--very melodic and interesting ideas. I was also digging Patterson's lead guitar work, for which he doesn't get enough credit, IMO. Finally, I was glad to see Bubba reclaim his rightful position as Mayor of Tiki Bar on Saturday night!

I’m not sure yet about 2-3 but you’re spot on with #1. We listened to the recording from Thursday on the ride home and my initial thoughts were confirmed, it was the show of the weekend...barely. All were fantastic. Hard to measure against all the other Homecomings but this year’s shows might be my favorite.

[schlanky]

but this year’s shows might be my favorite.

This was only my fifth Homecoming, but this year is solid #1 for me. The setlist, the vibe, and the band were all just on a different plane.

And this was the first time I've ever wondered if the Camp Amped Band had stuff at the merch table. Speaking of openers, I bought Linqua Franqa's album last night and I'm on my fourth play through right now. I woke up this morning and wondered if I'd be disappointed because an album just couldn't catch the energy of her show, but the album is fantastic.

All around a great weekend-----very much enjoyed hanging out with Bob at the beer share, and enjoyed meeting a bunch of new folks and seeing old friends.

[gordonlw]

https://archive.org/details/dbt2019-02-16.m20.flac16


Drive-By Truckers
2019/02/16
40 Watt Club
Athens, GA

source: Microtech Gefell M20 (din) > Nbob KCY > Naiant PFA (60V) > Sound Devices Mixpre-6 @ 24/48
location: directly in front of sbd dfc, stand @ 8'
transfer: SDHC > PC > Wavelab 6.1 (gain, fades) > CD Wave > Wavelab 6.1 (crystal resampler, MBIT+ dither) > THL (flac 8) > Foobar (tags)

*16bit/44.1khz fileset*

recorded and transferred by Gordon Wilson

A Team Dirty South Recording

01. Intro
02. The Living Bubba
03. Three Dimes Down
04. The Fourth Night Of My Drinking
05. Love Like This
06. Tales Facing Up
07. A Ghost To Most
08. Goode's Field Road
09. Where the Devil Don’t Stay
10. Sink Hole
11. Uncle Frank
12. Used To Be a Cop
13. Guitar Man Upstairs
14. The Company I Keep
15. Gravity's Gone
16. Thoughts and Prayers
17. Women Without Whiskey
18. 18 Wheels of Love
19. Marry Me
20. I'm Eighteen
21. Zip City
22. Lookout Mountain
23. Filthy and Fried
24. What it Means
25. Ramon Casiano
26. The KKK Took My Baby Away
27. Hell No, I Ain't Happy >
28. Sign O' the Times >
29. Hell No, I Ain't Happy
30. Rockin' In The Free World

Huge thanks to jbell for the mic loan!

[Smitty]

Not enough time to mention all the highlights right now, but I do want to mention how great it was catching up with everyone and spending the show with the O G contingent up front last night; there was nowhere in the world I'd rather been and no one I'd rather spent it with (although there was a couple missing faces). It really elevated the show from amazing to transcendent when you realize you're completely surrounded by friends (most of whom who qualify as old friends at this point) and they're all on the same wavelength as you. That was exactly what I needed and I'm positive Ladonna would say the same.

[Cole Younger]

Well I've been putting this off because I didn't feel like I could possibly do justice to this weekend. Bubba's late night postmortems on the shows the!selves captured what I saw, experienced, participated in far better than I could have described it and now there literally been a book written on the subject but I still feel compelled to write a few words on the matter.

I left work early Thursday (at lunch), hurried home, waited a bit for my wife to make it home, jumped on the car, went to my daughter's school to be there for her Valentine's party and tell her goodbye, then hauled butt toward Athens. If the Friday night show edged the Thursday night show to me it is only because I was dog tired Thursday night. Both shows were among the best I've seen and Friday night might have been the best ever as far as the vibe in the room. REally, really cool. Friendship, community, family, all of the above. It was palpable Friday night. Nearly a tangible thing. Not that all that wasn't there Thursday night too but I was in a much more receptive frame of mind Frida night as I wasnt nearly as tired. My wife even commented on how special the Friday night show was and she mostly thinks I'm crazy when it comes to all this (Not really but almost).

Too many highlights to name. But I'm sure a lot of y'all can identify with the fact that at this point, the highlights are just as common during other parts of the weekend besides just during the shows.

Big thanks to Dr. John for helping me out. You are a good friend, man, along with being like the Homecoming guru.

My old friend Tequila Cowboy! Very nice to see you and appropriate that you were one of the first 3ddners I ran into.

I finally got to meet Smitty and talk to him in person! Been trying to make that happen for like six years. Really, really great meeting you and talking to you man. A pleasure meeting your wife as well. I know you don't need me to tell you that you done good there.

Got to see my brother LBRod. Wish we could have talked more, man.

Clams! My man Clams was almost like a 3dd group liaison this weekend for me. Hanging out before the show Friday night he came and found me and brought me over to meet pearlbeer. Great meeting you, pearlbeer. Later during the show, Clams found me again and helped me rectify something. I had been at Homecoming a long time and hadn't yet talked with my friend beantownbubba. Great talking to you, bubba. Didn't want to bend your ear too much with the show going on but I was really glad to see you. Thanks again for looking out for Mrs. Younger Thursday night when she decided she had been standing up for as long as she could. Clams also shared a laugh with me and Mike as my wife got dive bombed by birds outside a coffee shop Friday afternoon.

It ain't Homecoming without getting to talk to my man Flea. I hate that we didn't get to hang out more, brother.

Glad I finally got to talk to Uncle Ricky Friday night in front of the tiki bar after missing a chance to at Flicker.

Wolf! Glad I got to see you man even if only briefly.

Dogstar it was great seeing you my man. Always is.

Great seeing you phungi! Wish we could have talked more.

I do have a few regrets.

John A Arkansawyer and I somehow managed to miss each other again. I'm sorry about that.

Didn't get to speak with Cooleygirl. It sure wasn't because I didn't want to.

Somehow I never got to talk to or even see ramonz. I was on the lookout for you man.

My wife remarked on how at ease and happy I was. She said at one point, "I don't think I've ever seen you this at ease and smiling this much in a big crowd like this. And I have never seen you hug this many people."

It's true. As a rule, big crowds aren't my thing. I'm much happier and at ease in the woods, hunting or up on a creek or river fishing or on 're side of a mountain somewhere hiking. But Homecoming and the friendships and music are a special thing.

Can't wait to do it again. It had been three years since my last one and as I told Uncle Ricky, I ain't letting that happen again.

[Tyler]

1. Thursday night
2. Saturday night
3. Friday night

Splitting hairs, of course. Uniformly excellent performances. I spent a lot of time focusing on Matt's bass lines this weekend. Really cool stuff he's doing--very melodic and interesting ideas. I was also digging Patterson's lead guitar work, for which he doesn't get enough credit, IMO. Finally, I was glad to see Bubba reclaim his rightful position as Mayor of Tiki Bar on Saturday night!

Feels about right to me...but damn all 3 were hot...like even Friday was probably like flirting with a top 10 show for me and Thu+Sat were both top 5.

[beantownbubba]

A special run of shows for sure and a truly wonderful long weekend. At this moment, knowing I'll probably change my mind a bunch anyway, the best i can do is

1. Friday
2. Thurs & Sat

All the shows were noticeably different, which is remarkable in itself, but all were truly at the top of the charts in terms of excitement, quality of the music, quality and depth of the set lists, crowd intensity, band intensity, unique/distinctive aspects, etc. I'm not sure that ranking homecomings is either possible or useful but if it were this week would have to be a contender for the top spot.

Cole, damn, I can't believe we came this close to missing each other altogether so I am both relieved that we did get at least a few minutes but disappointed we didn't manage more. I'm blaming clams (see what I did there, turning your well deserved compliment into my diss? hehe). Let's do better next time. As for the lovely Mrs. Younger, it was a treat to meet her and she's on my "next time" list, too. And thanks for the kind words about my posts. Much appreciated.

[LBRod]

This whole weekend was thick with communal joy.

[Clams]

I believe Babies in Cages is the only song Patterson repeated in the 3 dbt shows

[Wolf]

This whole weekend was thick with communal joy.

fuck yeah it was!

[beantownbubba]

Thanks for the recap, bubba. Succinct and poignant as usual. Glad you got to hug the rail (and when I say hug I mean deathgrip).

Thanks, slip. You were greatly missed. I hope you're doing as well as possible in your impossible circumstances.

[chuckrh]

hopefully i'll be able to attend some time. wasn't in the cards this year due to health & finance issues. really major trip to get from seattle to athens. i get a dimmer twins show soon as a consolation prize. looking forward to that.

[brett27295]

I forgot to mention...I have to thank Clams (yes a thank you and not a shred of blaming) for watching over my daughter when Tracy & I "lost" her after Saturday's show. He's a good guy...even though he's from the part of PA that the rest of us PA natives barely acknowledge.

We can now return to blaming Clams for everything. For example, it's Clam's fault I'm at school today catching up with work even though it's a non-required teacher workday.

[phungi]

I believe Babies in Cages is the only song Patterson repeated in the 3 dbt shows

Not counting RITFW or KKK, Patterson played 42 songs, with one repeat. Cooley played 40 songs with 14 repeats, and 2 songs played all 3 nights (Ramon Casiano, WWW)

On Saturday all 13 songs from Patterson were not played the previous 2 nights, and 10 of Cooley's 12 were repeats.

Despite this observation (with a touch of snark), other than "First Air of Autumn" (which I feel sucks the life out of any room it is played in) there was never a song played I didn't want to hear at that moment.

[DD&N 2002]

What a thrill to back to the 40 Watt for DBT for the first time since 2004, and all part of the homecoming weekend. The timing has just never worked out for us with it being a vacation week for the kids from school but now that they are up and out of the house I can't imagine missing another homecoming. One of the hallmarks of DBT is they always bring it live and after so many years damn they still bring it like when I first started going to the Bowery Ballroom in 2002 and fell in love with this incredible band. As reliably great as they are, there is undeniably something very special about seeing them at the 40 Watt in a hometown setting on a tiny stage in a too small club to "contain" them. Thrilled to have made it down and really nothing specific to add to what has already been said and heard. Wonderful to finally visit Nuci's Space after being a happy homecoming contributor for so many years. So very impressive what the DBT/Three Dimes crew have put together and built over all these years. Wow and thank you. Look forward to next year. Going back through my email to see if i might have setlist from a few of my old time shows i could not find one for my last visit to the 40 Watt for DBT but did find the below email i sent to my DBT buddies after attending the Dirty South DVD filming on 8/28/2004:
_________________________________________
8/28/2004 40 Watt Album Release Shows

Hell yes, let there be rock.

Saw the boys last night and waitin on my way too early morning flight on out of here. Athens is a very cool town as I did not realize university of georgia is right smack in the middle of town. When I got to town I stopped at starbucks and REM was blaring so a fitting welcome. The 40 watt is really small;just one level a bit smaller than Bowery though they say they cram 500 people in. I was up real close and fun to watch cooley from up there. I swear that rock attitude pours out of him as naturally as it ever did from keith richards.

Show started at 11:50 and ended at 2:31. Predictably a kick ass show and great to see the rock show since we haven't since Bowery on Halloween 2003 even though the separate recent acoustic Patterson and Jason shows we saw were both really good. And at $12 a ticket about the most underpriced concert there is!

Jason is lookin more and more the rock star having cut his hair and lost all that weight. It's fun to watch Patterson during Jason songs as he sings along to himself away from the mic and has a proud papa sort of look on his face.

They played the whole new album except I don't recall hearing the sands of Iwo Jima. It's nice to have new DBT tunes like when Decoration Day came out but I'm starting to worry I may not get to hear Dead Drunk and Naked any more! I had the new camera phone with me so if anything came out I will forward when I get home.

I really like the new album. I was talking to one fan who thought it was a bit depressing in terms of subject matter but just the stories they tell. Four very strong tracks from Jason for sure (his lyrics sound of someone at least 10 years older and reminds me of the BB King comment about Bono in Rattle and Hum saying pretty heavy lyrics for such a young dude) and as well real fine songs from the dastardly duo. All three are such good songwriters and of course rare to get the great songwriting combined with kick ass live performance a la springsteen and the dead. The latter skill propelled onward and upward by EZB and Shonna as well as I've ever heard the band sound.
A live double album would be a welcome addition to the portfolio.

Patterson was the characteristically charismatic front man we know and love with that PBR JD induced shit eatin grin workin. They should make a bumper sticker quoting from The Buford Stick: Bush, That Son of a Bitch Has Got to Go!

Notable additions to the new album in the set included: let there be rock, steve mcqueen, marry me, people who died, outfit, livin bubba, 72, and sink hole among others. I was also talking to a guy who is a big fan as he was trying to jot down notes for his concert review in Athens' local scene paper called Flagpole.

Irving Plaza will be great and just 3 weeks away; mercifully enough the wee hour rockers are playing Irving on a Friday night. I sure would love to see another in-store set like we saw in Union Square in June of 2003 before the killer Bowery show that night! I think we have no choice but to make plans to see DBT live down in Alabama so long as we new york types remember not to "piss off the boys from Alabama" or we may never make it back to the mason dixon line.
_____________________________________________

[Zip City]

other than "First Air of Autumn" (which I feel sucks the life out of any room it is played in)

Cooley must just really love this song, because I see it on a ton of set lists. I find it an odd choice for live shows, but he must have his reasons

[beantownbubba]

other than "First Air of Autumn" (which I feel sucks the life out of any room it is played in)

Cooley must just really love this song, because I see it on a ton of set lists. I find it an odd choice for live shows, but he must have his reasons

My thoughts exactly.

[beantownbubba]

i might have setlist from a few of my old time shows i could not find one for my last visit to the 40 Watt for DBT

Nice write up from out of the past, DD&N!

As to homecoming setlists, they are completely catalogued in the homecoming book, *The Company We Keep*. If you want one and don't have it yet, please indicate your interest on the thecompanywekeepbook.com website. We're trying to determine whether to do a second run and every name added to the list counts.