Just left John T. Flores Country Store. Great show. Still didn't play The Road Goes on Forever or The Front Porch Sing. Also no Shades of Gray….

Kolache Snob said:

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Just left John T. Flores Country Store. Great show. Still didn't play The Road Goes on Forever or The Front Porch Sing. Also no Shades of Gray….

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Saving them for tomorrow I assume. Can't freaking wait.

Was at the Thursday night show at Floores in VIP, the place was packed.

First time we saw him play there was in '89.

If you have the chance, go see our old boy. As mentioned above, no Shades, no Copenhagen, no 5 lb, no Road.

Lloyd Maines was on hand to play slide. Was hoping Duckworth or Brotherton would show up to jam but no dice.

He did give crusty old McMurtry a bit of good hearted *****

Levalland and Mariano stood out for me personally.

I've learned over the years not to go into a show with any expectations of a particular song being played, but REK not playing The Road Goes on Forever would be disappointing. I'm sure he's tired of playing it every night, but as Ray Wylie Hubbard says whenever he plays Up Against the Wall, if you put a song out there you better make sure it's good enough that you can play it for the rest of your life.

Same here. Great song. Great live. Not even close to my favorite of his though

Aston 91 said:

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I've learned over the years not to go into a show with any expectations of a particular song being played, but REK not playing The Road Goes on Forever would be disappointing. I'm sure he's tired of playing it every night, but as Ray Wylie Hubbard says whenever he plays Up Against the Wall, if you put a song out there you better make sure it's good enough that you can play it for the rest of your life.

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this is kind of the thing that needs to be understood by anyone going to these shows. This last tour is for him, not his fans. He's playing what he wants and will sprinkle in an occasional hit just to satisfy the audience because he'd get destroyed if he didn't

His encore in whitewater started with him letting his daughters boyfriend come out in a pink wig and sing "rebel rebel" by Bowie. I'm a fan of that tune but that's not what we paid to come see. the place cleared out shortly after that.

ElephantRider said:

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Snake Jazz said:

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The REK show tonight was terrible. It felt like he hates his audience. One of his farewell shows was mostly weird b sides and covers that he liked, and he didn't play the best parts of his own catalogue.

He didn't play the Road Goes on Forever. That isn't a type-o. He purposefully didn't play his most well known song..

I don't get it. I missed two days of work to drive across the state and be there for one of his final shows. I felt like he pissed all over me because I had the audacity to love his music.

This show was depressing.

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FIFY. Road Goes on Forever is great, but may not even be top 10 for me. I guess that's a testament to his career

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Ok…his most well known song. Whatever. I've seen him six or seven times over the past twenty years or so. He has never NOT played it. Bury it in the opening if you want, but not playing it all was a mistake.

And it wasn't just that. That was the exclamation point. The set list sucked. Glad he had a good time, but the crowd was bored.

Awful show.

I've loved REK ever since I first heard him in college in the 90's but can I ask a dumb question? Did any of his songs ever get played on country radio stations and become hit singles? Because I grew up in East Texas listening to country music stations from Tyler and Dallas and never heard any of them until I got to A&M. Why is that? Because it was just part of the "Texas music scene"? I also never heard hardly any Jerry Jeff either. Or was that just all mostly in the 1970's when I was a kid so I didn't pay as much attention?

Some people have the unrealistic expectation that his shows should be exactly how they were 20 years ago.

These are the same folks who go home pissed off and disappointed.

No he didn't play Road. Which is fine with me. I've seen him play it live 20 or 30 times before.

In Dallas I'd say not on traditional country (which has been playing crap forever), but he would get played on the more Texas geared stations. And in the late 90s, some of his stuff got some cross-over play. Like Waterfall. If anyone remembers the Zone, I remember him getting a bit of play there. But he never hit that Nashville sweet spot so never really got much mainstream

He's playing a Thursday, Saturday and Sunday show... and a FREE Monday show.

I mean, I get that you want him to play certain songs the night you are there -- but I think it would be a bigger knock on him as a musician if half the setlist each night was the same "hit" everyone wants to hear.

Oh the humanity, such a terrible set list.

SanAntoneAg said:

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Oh the humanity, such a terrible set list.

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What a travesty.

These Years is one of my personal favorites.

Was not my favorite concert of his last night, but had a good time. Glad I got to hear Dreadful Selfish Crime. Agree that the crowd wasn't very into it, at least in GA sections. I was really annoyed at everyone chatting the whole time. Was tough to hear his storytelling.

GreasenUSA said:

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Was not my favorite concert of his last night, but had a good time. Glad I got to hear Dreadful Selfish Crime. Agree that the crowd wasn't very into it, at least in GA sections. I was really annoyed at everyone chatting the whole time. Was tough to hear his storytelling.

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That last part is true of every event now. Concert. Football game. Whatever.

Quote:

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I've loved REK ever since I first heard him in college in the 90's but can I ask a dumb question? Did any of his songs ever get played on country radio stations and become hit singles? Because I grew up in East Texas listening to country music stations from Tyler and Dallas and never heard any of them until I got to A&M.

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Same for most of us, regardless of where we're from. Mainstream radio airplay is determined by a handful of programmers, who follow a handful of record company execs. They're playing the same 20 songs every couple hours in every city in America.

The only people I knew listening to JJW or REK in high school were people who had older siblings in college, or parents that were really into live music.

It was like a miracle when I discovered I could listen to KFAN online, which was the closest most Texas artists got to steady radio play. Other than that, it was just certain shows on community or public radio stations that played folk, American, etc, where you could hear some Lyle Lovett or occasionally REK. I remember when KORA finally got on the bandwagon of Texas country and added "The Front Porch Show," once a week!

SanAntoneAg said:

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Oh the humanity, such a terrible set list.

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No Road. No Front Porch. And, what you're missing is that his storytelling (normally one of his strengths) was bad. Lots of pointless, dull rambling between songs. My wife pointed out that he sounded Biden-ish. He repeated a verse in one of the songs. Didn't seem sharp.

I love Robert Earl Keen's music, but I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in a show. Wasn't just me…I was in GA and everyone seemed turned off by the performance.

For those of you going to the next two shows, I hope he tears it up. My original post was pretty harsh (had quite a few Lone Stars last night when I posted), and I was angry when I posted. A day later I'm just disappointed that that is my final memory of a great performer and songwriter.

I hope he goes out with a bang. Regrettably, last night was a whimper.

JCA1 said:

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Ag CPA said:

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This whole thing kind of feels like the George Strait "final tour", REK is still going to play several times a year at Flores, Gruene, Billy Bobs, etc., he just done "touring".

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What do you base this on? When he announced his farewell tour, he explicitly said he will no longer perform publicly. Now, he wouldn't be the first to change his mind, but as of now, he is absolutely not doing what you suggest.

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He will play "home games" at Flores and Gruene next year, book it. He might not be playing for pay but he will get bored and miss it.

Just heard that 14,000 have RSVP'd for the Aggie Park show.

That new sod is going to be destroyed.

This will be a crap show. I'll be checking the construction camera from the Aggie Park website to see how bad it looks.

Can people bring kayaks to watch from the water?

Gomer95 said:

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I've loved REK ever since I first heard him in college in the 90's but can I ask a dumb question? Did any of his songs ever get played on country radio stations and become hit singles? Because I grew up in East Texas listening to country music stations from Tyler and Dallas and never heard any of them until I got to A&M. Why is that? Because it was just part of the "Texas music scene"? I also never heard hardly any Jerry Jeff either. Or was that just all mostly in the 1970's when I was a kid so I didn't pay as much attention?

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George covered Maria years ago, that may be the only song of his that has been recorded by a mainstream artist over the years (besides Road Goes On of course).

JJW had several songs that were covered over the years but I don't think that he was on mainstream radio much either (if he was it was before my time), maybe Desperados Waiting for a Train or Mr. Bojangles?

Ag CPA said:

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JCA1 said:

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Ag CPA said:

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This whole thing kind of feels like the George Strait "final tour", REK is still going to play several times a year at Flores, Gruene, Billy Bobs, etc., he just done "touring".

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What do you base this on? When he announced his farewell tour, he explicitly said he will no longer perform publicly. Now, he wouldn't be the first to change his mind, but as of now, he is absolutely not doing what you suggest.

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He will play "home games" at Flores and Gruene next year, book it. He might not be playing for pay but he will get bored and miss it.

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I don't necessarily disagree and said as much in a later post. I just didn't want people to get the idea from your post that this was his announced plan.

Ag CPA said:

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Gomer95 said:

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I've loved REK ever since I first heard him in college in the 90's but can I ask a dumb question? Did any of his songs ever get played on country radio stations and become hit singles? Because I grew up in East Texas listening to country music stations from Tyler and Dallas and never heard any of them until I got to A&M. Why is that? Because it was just part of the "Texas music scene"? I also never heard hardly any Jerry Jeff either. Or was that just all mostly in the 1970's when I was a kid so I didn't pay as much attention?

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George covered Maria years ago, that may be the only song of his that has been recorded by a mainstream artist over the years (besides Road Goes On of course).

JJW had several songs that were covered over the years but I don't think that he was on mainstream radio much either (if he was it was before my time), maybe Desperados Waiting for a Train or Mr. Bojangles?

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Desperados waiting for a train was Guy Clark..

Unless I'm forgetting something, Nitty Gritty's Mr Bojangles has to be the most successful JJW cover.

Bummer

Snake Jazz said:

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SanAntoneAg said:

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Oh the humanity, such a terrible set list.

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No Road. No Front Porch. And, what you're missing is that his storytelling (normally one of his strengths) was bad. Lots of pointless, dull rambling between songs. My wife pointed out that he sounded Biden-ish. He repeated a verse in one of the songs. Didn't seem sharp.

I love Robert Earl Keen's music, but I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in a show. Wasn't just me…I was in GA and everyone seemed turned off by the performance.

For those of you going to the next two shows, I hope he tears it up. My original post was pretty harsh (had quite a few Lone Stars last night when I posted), and I was angry when I posted. A day later I'm just disappointed that that is my final memory of a great performer and songwriter.

I hope he goes out with a bang. Regrettably, last night was a whimper.

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I guess you didn't read my post above or conveniently ignored it.

Here it is again.

Some people have the unrealistic expectation that his shows should be exactly how they were 20 years ago.

These are the same folks who go home pissed off and disappointed.

No he didn't play Road. Which is fine with me. I've seen him play it live 20 or 30 times before.

I'm really sorry some folks didn't get the last show they wanted. I wanted Feelin' Good Again going into Gringo Honeymoon and got it in Houston a few weeks ago. Everything else was gravy.

We got dreadful selfish crimes and corpus christi bay so far after about 7 or 8 songs...

Running with the night!

Shades of gray with little energy.