Ryman Concert Review, by Joe Hester
well everybody i'm back with the review of the concert and still
shaking i
might add.
unfortunately my wife was ill and was not able to go so my son seth went
instead, we pulled into nashville about 4:00 check into our hotel in
downtown
nashville, and then walked directly to the ryman without hessitation,
when we
got to the back alley where the artist goes in i saw 2 guys sitting
there with
guitars just signed by the man himself ,so i knew he was here, they
said he'd
be back in about a hour or so, and let me in on where i could be a small
guitar around the corner, so i quickly went and got one and with guitar
and
marker in hand there i stood till he came back, while waiting for kris
i got
to meet and got the guitar signed by travis tritt, marty stuart, mark
knopfler
(which was great that night) and mark collie (who performed with the
actual
waylon jennings band the waylers that night, which they said they havnt
been
together for i believe 15 years) ,talked to mark about the fire down
below
movie with kris he said it was fun and would like to do it again. the
guys
said he was in a white limo and it was about time for kris to be back
so i was
on the lookout, waylon and johhny in sepperate cars pull up and i
wanted to
get their autographs and i was going there do do it , when i seen the
limo of
the man himself and stopped in my tracks, they took johnny and waylon
up in
the elevator so no one could get one anyway then i noticed ,(waylon was
using
a cane and they helped johnny walk to the elevator. ok now the
exciting part
(have i made you wait long enough hahaha).
kris gets out of his white limo ,and there standing in my kris
kristofferson
black baseball cap ,i said hi kris how are you , he said great, then i
ask if
he'd sign my guitar, he said sure and then my son seth starting taking
alot of
pictures of us, kris noticed i was shaking ,he asked if i was alright i
said i
don't know, one guy asked if i needed a paper bag or not, kris ask seth
if the
flash was working ok or not cause he wanted these pictures to be good
ones and
laughed. then seth got some pictures taken with him ,i told him he is
the
greatest around and loved all his work, he said thanks alot made sure i
was ok
,then we shook hands i said thanks for everything,he said be good and
enjoy
the show,i said don't worry as long as your here i will, then as soon
as he
walked in the building i fell back into the chair i was sitting in in
the
alley, while my head was clearing up people where asking me if i was
ok, i
guess i looked white they said. then i realized i had 4 questions for
him and
didnt ask him them (movies,austin sessions,another tour,any new
albumns, and
wish him a belated happy birthday), i guess it was just too damn
exciting to
think, my brain went dead. ok now inside the ryman i had seats on the
floor
off to the right off the stage about 5 rows back (good seats i
thought). marty
stuart started things off, then travis tritt, then he introduced the
man KRIS
KRISTOFFERSON he came out and it got crazy people yelling out songs they
wanted to hear, kris said that this is a real emotional time for him
being
here where so many great people have been and witha tribute to johnny
and
waylon, he got real emotional and teary eyed, im gonna sing one of
johnny's
song's right now which is what everybody was doing that night some of
johnny's
and some of waylon's, anyway he went into "i do believe" song off the
highwaymen the road goes on forever cd, then after all the applause he
said
he's gonna do one that when johnny sang it he (kris) about fell outa
his seat
when he was at the ryman along time ago watching johnny ,and he went
into
"sunday mornin' comin' down' and the place went crazy, about halfway
thru
johnny snuck out on stage and started singing with kris ,thats when it
got
real crazy, ( a side note here, everybody there that night sang
johnny's song,
but kris is the only one he came out and sang with) kris lost it,crying
and
almost broke down right there, then they hugged and kris said he
(johnny)
didnt do that at sound check, and had to walk off the stage for a
moment to
get it togher ,then kris read a tribute to johnny and then presented the
"chetty" awards (named after chet atkins) to johnny and waylon, kris
seen
waylon was having trouble walking so he went over and helped him to the
mic,
the place went crazy ,a few others performed then, then kris came back
out and
introduced (a hero to him) he said mark knopfler ,he played forever it
seemed
and was great i must admit, but my eyes where focused on the man
standing by
the curtain (kris) he was realing enjoying mark perform whisteling and
clapping after every song,then i noticed he put a gutair on and then i
knew he
was coming back out on the stage ,when mark finished his set , he said
that he
wanted to bring out a guy he got to work with not to long ago and he
admired,
he said this was kris way of saying goodnite (or goodbye) the place was
crazy
then i really coudnt tell what he really said, so here he came out and
the
place went crazy again ,after the crowd settled down kris said that
mark is a
tough act to follow i yelled out "you are the one that can do it" and
"happy
birthday" then he told someone named ann happy birthday, and then with
mark
knopfler backing him up went into a very emotional "please dont tell me
how
the story ends" and the place went crazy, then chet adkins walked out
(very
bad shape ,didnt look good at all) and thank everybody and sang a song
with
mark knopfler that they wrote together, it was a great night a fun
night, took
alot of pictures of kris ,will let you know how they turn out ,got his
signature on a guitar. all in all it was great, a funny point of the
night was
with brenda lee, they kept having to put a footlocker up at the mic for
here
to stand on, she made a few jokes about it, she did not perform that
night,she
was there to honor the late and great owen bradely.well wish you all
where
there, i was not able to go to the party afterwards so i don't know if
kris
was there or not ,maybe someone else can let us know. well that's my
report
sorry if it was long, but i couldnt leave one kris detail out.have a
good one.
sincerely,
joe hester
dblkfan
"the heart is all that matters in the end" kk
E-mail: gavinlesnick@yahoo.com
