As always, Joe was on fire last night at the Bushnell. The audience was great too and displayed lots of appreciation for Joe and the band throughout the evening.
A few observations to share:
1.) I understand that the Bushnell is an older theater but the seats were very tiny, uncomfortable, and offered very little leg room. I can't imagine being seated for 2+ hours in that theater is a pleasant experience for most attendees. Thankfully, my girlfriend and I had aisle seats and she let me sit in the seat on the aisle so I could at least stretch my legs at times.
2.) Joe started right on time at 8PM so naturally there were a few late arrivals from those who aren't "in the know". I didn't feel that the ushers were particularly helpful in getting people seated in a timely manner once the show started. Many people were in the aisles trying to locate their seats with confused looks on their faces and often times there wasn't an usher around to assist them. Even when an usher was with them, they too seemed confused at times as to where to seat people and there was a lot of shuffling around. One couple near us ended up changing seats at least three times and at least twice they switched to a completely different row. Not sure if it was their own fault, the fault of the ushers, or a little of both. On the brighter side, everyone seemed to be settled by 8:30PM or so and were very appreciative of Joe and the band for the remainder of the set.
3.) As someone who knows Joe's newer material, follows his tours, and has seen him live a few times over the last 2-3 years, I can appreciate that he changes up his setlists and offers fans something different with each tour. That being said, I noticed quite a few people around me didn't seem to know many of the songs that he played last night. Don't get me wrong, Joe always delivers with every live performance and I think almost everyone in attendance walked out last night more than satisfied with the show. Yet I can't help but think that Joe's setlists would have greater appeal to both new/casual fans as well as longtime fans if perhaps he took out 2-3 covers and 1-2 newer songs and replaced them with a few of his hits/more recognizable songs like "Sloe Gin", "John Henry", "Mountain Time", "Dust Bowl", etc. I'm personally not complaining that "Sloe Gin" and "John Henry" were left off the set this tour but they're also arguably his two most recognizable songs and ones that I'm sure many casual fans want to hear him play. Even if Joe wants to give those two songs a rest, why not perform other hits from his back catalog like "Mountain Time" or "Dust Bowl" instead? Just my two cents.
) (and VA on Wed ... where jclark is delegating out Turkey prep so he can go! 
