Murray Wood: Isn't it time for more 'we' than 'oui' in Rideau Hall?
Louise Arbour brings much more than French skills to her role as the king's representative, but she also has taken contr...
Nothing beats live music.
I rediscovered that at the Conexus Arts Centre, where Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt spent two hours capturing an audience that didn’t quite fill all the seats in the auditorium. Two chairs sat in the middle of the stage. Each had three guitars within reaching distance, a table and a microphone. Soft lighting. It felt like somebody’s living room.
On-stage they took turns singing their own songs. “Drive South,” a Hiatt-penned tune made famous by Suzy Bogguss, started the show.
Between tunes the long-time friends would reminisce about past tours, concerts together in places like Kansas City where an aggressive fan popped out his artificial eye after Lovett sang his memorable “One-Eyed Fiona.”
They chatted about laundry and performing with Bonnie Raitt. Hiatt arrived in Nashville in the early 1970s and Lovett joined him in the mid-’80s in the post-“Urban Cowboy” roster of outstanding country performers.
Hiatt sang “Smashing a Perfectly Good Guitar” as Lovett added background vocals. Lovett played his classic “If I Had a Pony” with Hiatt playing background guitar. Suddenly, it was over.
Two hours of pure magic.
