Daniel Lanois at Exit/In: One of the Top 5 Concerts of My Life

Here is a review I wrote on the night of May 14th, 2003. This was one of the best concerts I have ever seen, maybe the most creative musical moment of my lifetime. Funny thing is that this got passed around my office at CAA, and one of the agents insisted I show Billy Bob Thornton when he was in the office that day. So, yes, I talked to Billy Bob about Daniel Lanois and gave him the review, ha.

Above is video from a live radio recording at KCRW in 2003. Not my concert, but still great.

Review of Daniel Lanois - 5/14/03 - Exit/In - Nashville, TN
-rusty

There are some moments in our lives, musical or not, that have some sort of transcendence. It's almost as if there's some kind of mystery in the air that we can feel and encounter, but it alludes to something much bigger than us. Sometimes these moments are encountered outside wading in a river fly-fishing and becoming enveloped in the outdoors, sometimes these moments are encountered with the best of friends, and sometimes we are lucky enough to experience music in such a way that it becomes a full-on assault on all of our senses. It's when our whole spirit opens and layers upon layers of sound are bypassing the ears and going straight to the heart, straight to the soul. It's almost as if it was any stronger, we might pass out from an experiential overload. Ha, now that would be interesting. But the experience was so intense...

Church, I felt like I was at church. Not church as in sing some hymns, hear a sermon, and meddle in religious banter. I mean church as in the Spirit was in the room. There was a feeling that something magical was happening and a concentration on what was happening in the moment... not thinking about tomorrow's work schedule, and not a thought of yesterday's parking ticket. Just the moment, and last night at the Daniel Lanois show, I'm proud to have experienced something bigger than just hearing songs.

Musically, the show was incredible. Lanois pulled luscious tones out of his vintage Gibson guitars. Unlike most experimental guitarists who rely on pedals to constantly tweak and manipulate, Lanois had the tone set where he wanted it and instead of playing with his pedal board, he made the music come out of his fingers. Lanois constantly was changing the pickup settings on his guitar, constantly entwining his pickles fingers with the strings, slamming his open hand energetically across the strings, and essentially doing whatever he could with his body to create the most incredible sonic soundscapes.

This, mixed with his backing band, Mother Superior, was more than enough to make most industry types walk away from the show in complete shell shock. His songs were brilliant, covering old material such as The Maker to most of the new tunes on his latest record, Shine. I felt as if I was in on a historic show, as if I was watching Buffalo Springfield with Neil Young and Steven Stills, or sitting in on a Cream set in the late 60's. And to top things off, Daniel and his band didn't neglect his instrument of his choice since the age of nine, the pedal steel guitar. The richness of the atmospheric and haunting slide ricocheted through Exit/In and hauntingly brought the crowd to an even greater awareness. Nashville might be the home of the pedal steel, but somehow Lanois resurrected it to life. He then capped the night off with the instrument and performed a hymn that he has been writing recently.

With the vocals absent and the story being told on the Nashville-made instrument, it was a timeless and stunning conclusion to the night and a further emphasis on the spiritual nature of his music.

Whatever it was, there was something in the air last night. It was in the music, the vibe, the people, the air. It was just one of those magical moments, and I'm proud to add it to my life experience.