Lucinda Williams - Nov 21, Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles, CA

It was like a class reunion at the Wiltern last night for the Lucinda Williams show. Musicians - Rich McCulley, Amilia Spicer. Writers - Chris Morris. and writers who play music - Shaun Mason. Lots of enthusiam to see the final show of Luncinda's fall tour in support of the new "Little Honey" record.

In prepping for the show I glanced back through some reviews from September and October and the results were mixed. More than a few dates had to be downsized to smaller venues at the last second due to poor ticket sales. Some fans had complained because the set list was too focused on uptempo numbers and neglectful of her older material.

But these things were not problems last night. The large theater was full of adoring devotees. and the set list was perfect - a mix of old and new with an ample nod to the moody sad tunes that is Lucinda's stock and trade. In fact the hghlight of the evening may have been the slow mournful "Essence". It seemed to benefit from the looser more hard edge feel...guitarist Doug Pettibone grabbed his black custom Les Paul to give it an extra dose of rawk and everybody sang along.

It was clearly a night where almost everything worked. Lucinda's voice was clear and strong. The band seemed inspired, and guest appearance by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs on "Real Love" worked to add a special touch.

The encore consisted of cover tunes - a solo acoustic version of Jimi Hendrix's "Sweet Angel", Buffalo Springfields, "For What It's Worth" and the ACDC tune from Little Honey, "It's a Long Way to the Top If You Wanna Rock and Roll."

My beautiful wife Catie fought her way to the front for this great shot.