ChrisThile's Live From Here Tour

[Peter Barnett]

Caught the Chris Thule Live From Here show at the Keller Auditorium in Portland. Great show!

[goose 2]

details please

[Peter Barnett]

As I understand it, this Tour used to be Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion Tour until he fell from grace for sexual harassment. Chris Thiele took it over. Basically a variety show ala the 50s. The show was broadcast live on NPR from the Keller Auditorium.

Chris did the lead in for the 15 minutes before the show went live. Good time with a mandolin. After the show went live he was part MC, part performer. Actually, his Mandolin was often lost among the other instruments. It was a fun show but Chris was more stage director than musician.

[tiltman]

Hey! I was there too!
When it comes to the mandolin my tastes go strongly towards traditional bluegrass...but when they released a bunch of tickets for $20 each...I jumped at it.
Brittany Haas, Chris Eldridge and others were in the house band. Lots of talent there.
Guests included Willie Watson (formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show) with the Fairfield Four and then the Fairfield Four did some of their own stuff. Really good. I didn't realize who Willie Watson was until I googled him after the show. good stuff! and I love the Fairfield Four. The Lucas Brothers were a funny comedy act. And they had an electronica (?) band called the Tune Yards...not my cup of tea but the good thing about a variety show is that if you don't like something it will only be a few minutes...
I've been a PHC fan for years and saw it live with GK a few years ago so I wasn't sure going into this if it would be ok.
It was great. Chris T. was a fine host, charming, funny, etc. (and I'm not one of his fans).
Hope the show does well and sticks around.

Kirk
Portland, OR

[Jim Imhoff]

Lots of empty seats, I wonder if that's why very cheap tickets went on sale so late. Enjoyed the show (wouldn't have paid the $150 I saw when first posted.) Two disappointments: Oregon Mandolin Orchestra contacted PHC months ago about this show, Thile could have done a little classical concerto (we're invited to International Fest in Germany, been featured in CMSA) or given some recognition, would have been nice. The other is why have a white guy trying to sound like the Fairfield Four (my favorite a cappella Gospel group) with them doing a few backup chords??? They did get to do a couple short numbers on their own, but should have been much more featured. To his credit, Thile has made the show his own, not just continuing GK's shtick.

[Charlieshafer]

I was kind of hoping that by taking the show on the road, Thile would spend more time featuring local musicians/groups of note. I'd like to hear more of a taste of where he is, and there are certainly a lot of very talented groups up in the northwest. I worry about the show just featuring his musical buddies all the time. As good as they are, and they are all exceptional, it becomes less of a variety show and more of a same-old, same-old thing. I.E., hit Ithaca, and feature the Horseflies, Donna The Buffalo, Driftwood, etc, not just the house musicians. And give them plenty of time. Out west, I'm sure the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra would have been fun to hear, as well as some others.

[Marcus CA]

One of my musical buddies (a bass player) caught the show in SF. He said that it was great, although he didn’t say anything about how full the house was. David Crosby was supposed to be in the bill, but got snowed in somewhere. However, I’m With Her was there, in all their musical splendor.