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Lucy In Concert
Roxy Theater
25 & 26 January 2008
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Home
Song List:
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Do You Really Want to Hurt
Me?/Heartache Tonight (medley)
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Walkin' After Midnight
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Superstar
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Sweetheart
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Beautiful Mistake
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Wonderful
▪ Stop
Draggin' My Heart Around
▪ Kiss
You All Over
▪ A
Love Song
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Winner at a Losing Game
▪ New
and Beautiful
▪ Wide
Awake
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Fooled Around and Fell in Love |
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FLAWLESS DIVA - LUCY IN CONCERT
Lucy At The Roxy
25 & 26 January 2008
This site is dedicated to Lucy's second Roxy Concert.
January 2007 she had her solo debut at this venue - this year she's
back
to rock Hollywood with her fantastic show!
Concert Report by Teresa Ortega
www.insequence.org
tortega@gmail.com
Click here for Teresa's Pictures
This past Friday, the Cute Little Red-Headed Girlfriend and
I waited for hours in the cold along with an astoundingly
international crowd to see Lucy Lawless perform at the Roxy
in West Hollywood. Then, on Saturday, we rolled out of bed
and did it again--this time in the pouring rain.
With a sturdy umbrella to shield us, the Girlfriend and I
enjoyed the lively company of our fellow Xena fans as we
waited to be let in to the club. I can't remember precisely
the last time I had to wait for hours outside in torrential
rain--I think it may have been a muddy Lilith Fair in
Scranton, PA--but I'm sure this was the most fun I've ever
had doing so.
In the weeks leading up to the concert Lucy had stated she
would be performing country music and called for people to
show up in country and western clothing. Cat Crimmins, the
evening's MC, gamely arrived on stage looking like she had
raided Jack Palance's wardrobe. In the year since she
appeared as Lucy's MC at the 2007 Roxy show, Cat has
launched a standup career and has appeared at various venues
around Los Angeles.
For this event, Cat drew on her history as a fan to serve up
some Xena - and BSG -based humor, which was warmly received
by the crowd. The Internet has revealed the deep and
passionate feelings people have for series TV, so it seems
entirely natural to me that comics and other performers
should be born out of TV fandom. Of course, Cat does
non-TV-based humor as well. In any case, based on what I
heard the gals in line saying about Cat "Easy on the Eyes"
Crimmins, I'd say she's a rising star in the Xenaverse.
Tig Nataro came back to do her standup routine and as I've
said before, she's fearless and effing brilliant. Tig also
adhered to a country costume, wearing a chambray shirt with
embroidered flowers across the yoke one night and an Ellie
May Clampett styled check shirt the next. As usual, Tig was
amazingly deft at improvising with the audience and had us
gasping for breath between laughs.
Finally, Lucy took the stage, opening with "Do You Really
Want to Hurt Me?" which transitioned into "Heartache
Tonight." The country theme was evident in Lucy's outfit,
which included low-waisted, poured-on dungarees, a white
short-sleeved shirt, a wide belt with a buckle representing
a Maori carving, patent leather heels and 70s retro jewelry.
On the next night, the shirt changed to brown and the jeans
became silver-spangled chaps. The living, breathing,
ever-morphing entity known as Lucy's hair was coiffed in a
hairstyle I call "early dinette."
Most of Lucy's song choices throughout the evening were in
an "Americana" vein and were meant to reflect the cycle of
feelings one experiences in love, from agony to
disillusionment to joy. These included well-known hit songs
like "A Love Song," "Winner at a Losing Game," "Fooled
Around and Fell in Love" and "Kiss You All Over."
There were two women in Lucy's band this time around, a
violinist and a bassist. Overall, the music was much
mellower than in the past, creating an intimate mood.
Although Lucy's energy onstage was lessened, she was able to
offer more direct eye contact with the audience than at
previous concerts. This also enabled her to infuse certain
songs with a more dramatic or narrative element.
The best example of this in my opinion was Lucy's haunting
rendition of "Superstar." When I read, in advance of the
concert, that Lucy was going to be performing this song, I
wondered if her version would veer closer to the Carpenters'
tune or to Sonic Youth's inspired cover. I also wondered how
she was going to make it through "What to say / to make you
come again" without dissolving in laughter.
As it turns out, laughing was not an issue. Lucy's skills as
an actor and singer turned the song into a devastating
tearjerker. I was embarrassed to find my mouth twitching as
I repeated over and over in my head, "You are NOT going to
cry at a Carpenter's song. You are NOT." Then I realized
about three or four people around me were crying. I mean
outright bawling. It was terrifying in a way. I'm going to
assume Michael Orland was responsible for the song's
arrangement; dude: Respect
Lucy also excelled on Tuck & Patti's song, Wide Awake, which
she performed as part of her encore. She performed an
original song called "New and Beautiful" and a song she
recorded as part of a forthcoming soundtrack, called
"Beautiful Mistake." Rounding out the evening were "Walkin'
After Midnight," "Sweetheart" and "Wonderful."
Two interludes broke up the music and provided an
opportunity for fan participation. The first was a Lucy
trivia game called "Friends versus Fans: Who Loves Me More?"
that pitted Lucy's best friend, Marissa Jaret Winokur,
against a fan chosen from the audience. Marissa also wore a
countryish outfit, half Oklahoma! cast member and half
Marianne from Gilligan's Island.
I imagine that if I were a celebrity, this would be a fun
entertainment to stage. As a fan, I felt a bit sorry for
Marissa, as she was obviously about to be trounced. I mean,
Marissa's a busy celebrity herself, and probably has her own
flock of fans she needs to herd and tend and feed and so on.
But if you're just an ordinary schmoe like myself, what else
do I really have to do all day but obsess over details of
Lucy's past and present?
I was certain this was going to be no contest, and that's
exactly what it was. I'm proud to say it was my own Cute
Little Red-Headed Girlfriend who contributed the correct
"lifeline" answer of Yentl to the question, "What does Lucy
think is the greatest movie ever made?" The second interlude
was a joke advice/Q&A session between Lucy and Renee
O'Connor, using questions supposedly submitted by the fans.
The first night was "Dear Gabby" and the second night was
"Ask Xena," with Lucy and Renee taking turns as the one
asking or answering.
The verbal exchange between Lucy and Renee followed one of
the highlights of the evening, Renee's appearance on stage
to sing "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" with Lucy. Renee's
voice was clear and sweet--or at least what could be heard
of it over the screaming of the fans.
On Saturday night Renee sashayed across the stage in a
witchy Stevie Nicks-type outfit, which included heeled
lace-up high boots and a fringed purple dress. The effect it
had was kind of like when you see a long tunnel and at the
end there's this white light and you look around and you go,
"Oh, I must be in heaven now," and then you go back into
your body and you realize that you didn't die, you were just
smushed against the stage awful tight there for a moment and
look, there's Renee again.
Renee has this gentle groove thing she does with her
shoulders onstage, gyrating them forward and down that makes
you think, sweet baby Jesus, this woman is trying to ruin
me. It's just a lot for any lesbian to bear. And it's only
going to get worse, now that we know, via Katherine Fugate
that Renee will be appearing on Army Wives in the future,
apparently in a lesbian role.
One woman in the audience lost restraint and threw her
panties on stage at Lucy. When Renee came on stage Friday
night, she casually picked up the fan's panties and stuffed
them down the back of her black leather pants. I leave you
with that image.
Special thanks to Sharon Delaney of Creation Entertainment
for her assistance in fleshing out Lucy's song list.
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