The Little Willies, Iron Horse Music Hall, Noho, MA

Thursday, May 4th, 2006

Iron Horse Music Hall
Northampton, MA, USA

It was on April 13th that I learned of the Little Willies performing at the Iron Horse in Noho. And obviously the tickets were already sold out!! All that went through my mind was - How in hell did I miss out on this one? I thought I was up to date and all that with the music scene in the valley.. especially for the bands I really enjoy!! Was I pissed!! But.. there was hope, coz this is what the Iron Horse website said...

Advanced ticket sales are sold out, however, a limited number of tickets are available on a first come first serve basis at the door. ($23)

Hmmmmmmmmm.. which meant that I was gonna go down to Noho, rain or shine, and camp out by the Iron Horse at, say, noon.. (the show was for 7pm). I contacted my friends who for some odd reason seemed to show absolutely no enthusiasm for standing in line for the better part of a day to watch the Little Willies.. Even when I informed them that the most famous and talented Norah Jones was in the band they weren't game............. oh well.... I'm on my own!!!

So I count down the days... and finally Thursday, May 4th comes around and MAN, is it a gorgeous day!! Sun is out, spring in full bloom.. awking fawesome!! SO I arm myself with a sharpie and an autographable CD... throw in the Little-Willies into my MP3 player and hook that up to my car stereo and drive down to Northampton, bright and early.. well, at about 1pm. I drive by the Iron Horse and am psyched to see no one else lined up outside.. I'm mentally rubbing my hands in glee... I'm gonna be the first in line.. hehehehe.

I park. I goto the entrance and hang out for about 5 minutes when a guy comes out and says that I should check from the Northampton Box Office (NBO) for tickets and all that. I'd already done that many days ago, but I went by again, you know, jus to check. And there the girl behind the counter gives me the devastating news. She says that there are not gonna be any extra or standing-room only tickets for tonight's show. WHAT?? WHAAT? WHAAAAT?? She was absolutely adamant that there'd be no extra tickets and that it was hopeless standing in line and waiting.

Man, was I pissed.. was I disappointed.. was I devastated.. was I angry.. was I sad!!!!!!!!

Giving up on ever seeing the show that day, I walked around, trying to lift my spirits checking out Digital SLRs and all those goodies.. and then drove up to the Hadley Pier One and picked up a hammock.. just to distract myself from that misery... all that hyped up waiting. :( .... then went home and moped around for a bit. Then realised that I didn't have the hanging fixins' for my new hammock, so decided to go back to Northampton to pick up a tree-friendly "slap-strap" from the "Mountain Goat".

So I drive back down and as usual parking in Noho is a nightmare so I drive in circles and one of those circles take me by the Iron Horse and guess what I see outside?? A bunch of people lined up to get in.. this is about 5:15pm.. So I pull up and roll down my window and ask them what the line is for, Ticket holders? or ticket hopefuls?? Some guy tells me that they MIGHT be HOPEFULLY some "standing-room only" tickets available and they were waitin for those.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man.. was I given some friggin' misinformation by those incompetent, irresponsible people at the Northampton Box Office!!! If I'd stuck around in the afternoon instead of listenin to them, I'd have had a ticket to get in by now!! DAMN!!! There were about 25 people in line hoping to get those "standing-room only" tickets... I figured that I might as well join in.. Nothing ventured nothing gained. So I pulled into the first parking spot I found, ignored the meter and RAN back to the Iron Horse and got into line, hoping and praying, but fully expecting not to get in.

2+ hours pass by... in the meanwhile they've been letting in people in trickles.. 3 or 4 at a time. There are still over 20 folks in front of me... I don't have much hope. But I hang on. We queued up folks get friendly.. can't help but get friendly with musically like-minded people huh? We're hoping they can squeeze more and more people in. The Iron Horse is already filled to capacity and bursting at its seams. Plz plz plz plz..

7:00pm .. I'm still the 15th person or so before I even get to the door..

And we can hear the applause already.. they're on stage!! dammit dammit.. hurry up hurry up.. please let us in .. please please please...

For those of y'all who don't know the Iron Horse.. It is a miniscule bar/music hall and the stage is set up close to the entrance.. so if you're standing outside you can actually hear the performers inside... and that's what we were preparing to do.. there was talk of getting pizza and squatting outside the entrance and enjoy the music from outside!!

We hear the unmistakable voice of Norah Jones say something like - "It's still light outside...What kind of a bar band are we?".. and then they jumped straight into "Roly Poly"... which we enjoyed from the sidewalk.. :)... sometimes even getting more of a "live" feel when someone opened the door. Then they go into Norah Jones' fabulous rendition of "Love Me".. in my opinion the best track in the album!! (depending on my mood)... by then I was 4th in line to get in.. and even though we'd been told that no more would fit.. we still stuck around stubbornly.. Pei had driven down from Amherst and was 5th in line.. and there were another 5 or so behind her. Third song - Hank Williams' I'll Never Get Out (Of This World Alive), to which Richard Julian's lead vocals did absolute justice!

We're still on the sidewalk when the guy comes out and says that he will be able to fit in 4 more, and no more, absolutely no more!! So now that brings me to a dilemma - I'm 4th, Pei is 5th...... I swallow, take a deep breath... and offer her my spot so that she can go in (chivalry is dumb! but whattodowearelikethatonly)...... but she absolutely refuses and says that I'm the one who's been waitin for 2 hours and I deserve to go in! Well, I don't argue... And as I hand out my cash we are told that as soon as the song was done we could go in!! Yippeeee..

Too bad my friend couldn't enter but I did manage to get in.. sheer luck and perseverence. Actually if she'd waited a little longer after I'd gone in, they actually allowed in the rest of the people in line. Too bad she left as soon as I got in. Bad luck. :(

So I'm in!!! Standing room only so I find a spot by the bar and man.. felt blessed to be entertained live by the Little Willies - featuring - Norah Jones with her astonishing vocals and on piano... and I'm glad to report that she is capable of doing more than what she does with her own songs.. she was stronger, sultrier and wonderfully bluesier. Richard Julian - with his great vocals/guitar and his excellent song-writing. Jim Campilongo - playing his telecaster like it was burning up. Why'd I think of Mark Knopfler when I heard him? and Lee Alexander (bass) and Dan Rieser (drums).

I do not have a complete set-list. I am expecting to get one from the Republican's reporter who was there, but am still waiting on him. Will post an update when/if I receive it. But anyway, the band pretty much covered all the tracks from their album and some more orginals including the jaunty "Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves,". Those were great, but what was specially great were the beautiful classic covers: Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues", John Prine's "That's the Way the World Goes 'Round", Lefty Frizzell and Jim Beck's "If You've Got the Money Honey," and a most heartaching version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." They ended the night with their version of Kris Kristofferson's sad sad "For the Good Times."

During the break I managed to waylay the band as they came down, through the audience, into their dressing rooms.I had a 1 minute conversation with Norah Jones and to my credit did not behave like a crazed fan!! Even managed to get an autograph each from Jones and Julian (on my Norah Jones album cover) :D..
Here are some more pictures... as I said, since I was all the way at the back, at the bar and using my point and shoot camera, the quality of the pictures aren't awesome.