litdimly wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 15, 2022 12:15 pm

Hey y’all! I’ve been enjoying all of the setlists and write-ups. Thank you!

I made a last minute decision to go to Patterson’s show in Highlands, NC on Monday, December 12th. So worth the effort, even with the white knuckle NC ride through the clouds home.

The venue was The Ruffed Grouse at Highlander Mountain House. I hadn’t been to Highlands in a couple of decades and wouldn’t have known about this intimate venue but for this show. Yes, it’s a restaurant with the tables moved out and there were chairs and benches and sofas and a long banquette and moody blue-sage paint on the walls and various taxidermy about.

Patterson was in a corner next to a real fireplace and a real fireplace poker. While there was no fire in the fireplace during the show (would’ve been too warm), there was a fantastic candelabra with a lot of candles, enough to make me take note of the exits. The place had a really good vibe, slightly gothic. The room was full, 60 - 80 people (maybe? I’m not good with such estimates).

I apologize for not keeping a setlist. If memory serves, it was similar to others from this tour. He opened with The Monument Valley which was perfect to set the scene. It was so quiet, you could hear… clumps of wax drop from the half-burned candles. (I’m not kidding; granted, it was fairly large clumps.)

He played for over two hours, remarkable and generous. The setlist included (incomplete and unordered): Grand Canyon, Uncle Disney, Tornadoes, Leaving Time (for the wife and kids), Heathens (for Rev. Matt), Sink Hole, Bulldozers and Dirt (sing along), Welcome 2 Club XIII, new song for Wes, The Driver, My Sweet Annette, We will never wake you up in the morning, Shake and Pine, The Righteous Path, White Knuckle WVA.

Random thoughts:

One man, one guitar: the Gene Autry via Baxendale.

Timelessness and longevity and perseverance: Uncle Disney - He mentioned that “40 years of decisions” turned into 50 and is now 60. Later he mentioned that the scene in Leaving Time is as true now as ever (and that Heat Lightning is a decade old). Got me thinking about timelessness and then he hit us with the fact that DBT is closing in on 3000 shows. THREE THOUSAND. And then Tornadoes was there somewhere, the ultimate testament to perseverance. So many times they could have walked away or not have even gotten off the ground, beginning with that first assumed prank phone call.

The encore was audience choice at the end, story or song. Story won by a landslide (surprise!) and I don’t recall a more enjoyable White Knuckle WVA because there hasn’t been one.