[seafarer62]

Hello everyone- back home in the northern suburbs of Saint Paul. Oh, my goodness-what a trip down and back to Des Moines. I just drove 9 hours to get here through 18 inches of snow. I-35 in Iowa had only one lane in spots- and that was like driving in a potato field. I am a native son of Northern Minnesota- so bad roads don't scare me off normally. But this was awful. Jack-knifed semis. Dozens of cars in the ditch. The storm set all kinds of state records for the month of May. When I arrived in the southern Twin Cities suburbs, the snow cut off like a light switch. A razor sharp cut-off. Not a flake here at my house. 18 inches about 100 miles away. It was 80 degrees here last weekend, so this is just nuts- think I will retire to Florida when the time comes.

OK- enough griping about what was supposed to be a fun trip on the carefree highway. The Hoyt Sherman Place was really something. I was having a little trouble finding it because I was driving through a residential area. Then suddenly I see a semi-truck and the beige RV. Ola! I found it the place. Hoyt Sherman was an early civic and business leader in Des Moines, and donated his mansion as a museum. His brother was the famous Confederate War General Sherman. The artwork and sculptures went all the way back to the Roman Empire days. And the theatre seemed like a large living room, rather than a concert hall. Very intimate. Almost coffee-house like. I think the place seats a little over 1,000 with the balcony. Seemed pretty full. May be the most interesting venue that I have ever seen Gord. Except for maybe the tent up in Washburn-Bayfield, Wisconsin in 1999.

The set list was very close to the Minneapolis show two nights earlier. 27 of the 28 songs were the same. Only change was the insertion of "In My Fashion" substituting for "Ring Them Bells."

Set List: Des Moines (May 1, 2013)

1) Triangle
2) The Watchman's Gone
3) Don Quixote
4) I'd Rather Press On
5) Wild Strawberries
6) Waiting for You
7) Christian Island
8) Rainy Day People
9) Shadows
10) Beautiful
11) Let It Ride
12) Carefree Highway
13) Cotton Jenny
14) Ribbon of Darkness
15) Sundown
Intermission
16) Drink Yer Glasses Empty
17) Race Among the Ruins
18) Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
19) Never Too Close
20) All the Lovely Ladies
21) Clouds of Loneliness
22) A Painter Passing Through
23) In My Fashion
24) If You Could Read My Mind
25) Baby Step Back
26) Early Morning Rain
27) Song for a Winter's Night
Encore:
28) Cold on the Shoulder

Gordon mentioned that he had not played Des Moines for five years. His voice was perhaps a little more hoarse than what I had heard Monday night, but not too bad. He really strained to hum the ending of Cotton Jenny- it just ain't there anymore.

I was sitting about 6 rows into front of Carter Lancaster.

The lyric rewrites of Drink Yer Glasses Empty are subtle but great. Especially strong is the final verse which has been modified to : I'd like to take life over again/ When olden days won't pass away into the rain.

He sang all four verses of Sundown- verse 3 has been missing for years.

The 12-string work on Race Among the Ruins was fabulous. He had that guitar ringing like a telephone.

Clouds of Loneliness, A Painter Passing Through, and In My Fashion in succession were sobering, but spoke of a man who has seen his share of pain and hard knocks but pressed on despite everything.

So very good concert, in a unique venue. Worth the pain of the trip!

Hope you guys out in Milwaukee don't get this nasty storm on Friday. Look forward to hearing your reviews.

My wife and I are planning to see Gord on June 22 (Wisconsin Dells) and June 23 (Appleton, WI). If we have a snowstorm then, I give up!

John- Minnesota