Willie Nelson…Still Wowing Us In Bangor After All These Years

Sorry it took me a day to get to this, but I took a much needed rest after my whirlwind anniversary weekend with my wife. 12 years, and she still likes to go out and do things in public with me. She's a very patient woman.

Anyhow, this past Friday, the Outlaw Music Festival came to town, headlined by the  legendary Willie Nelson. I gotta say, Willie came out that night, and I wasn't 100% sure what to expect from an 86 year old man, still on the road. But I was not quite prepared to be as blown away as I was.

First off, let's just remember for a second, how many hit songs Willie has. His set was pretty much just one big hit parade. And not just his own songs either. He played several covers, including some by the late, great Waylon Jennings!

But what was really getting me, was that he just played one song after another. Literally, before the crowd could stop clapping, the band would launch right into another song. If you felt like you hadn't gotten your money's worth before Willie came on, you sure did by the time he was done.

Because I was at work spinning tunes for you guys right up til showtime, I missed the early sets by The Revivalists, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, and Particle Kid. I got there right before Allison Krauss started. She was amazing. Overall, I felt the mix was a bit on the quiet side. Where I was up on the lawn, I felt like I had a bit of a hard time hearing her.

After that was Phil Lesh, playing a set of mostly Grateful Dead tunes, obviously. He performed well, and his band was super tight. I had to laugh though, because in true Dead fashion, they played for over an hour, but might have played 10 songs. Versus Willie, who played an hour plus, and I lost count of how many songs he played.

All in all, it was an amazing night of music that I was looking forward to for weeks. I figure, we have so many limited chances to see Willie before he shuffles off this mortal coil, and I wasn't going to pass this one up. Good old Willie.... still showing us how it's done.