Vince Gill Shares His Love Of Music ‘Gill Phenomenon’ Succeeds On Strength Of Performance Alone, Leaving Smoke And Light Shows To The Others
Vince Gill, Thursday, April 20, at Beasley Coliseum, Pullman
Vince Gill did it again.
With a masterful, two-hour show at the Beasley Coliseum in Pullman last Thursday, the newly goateed Gill proved that last year’s amazing Spokane performance was no fluke.
Gill has it all - a beautiful tenor voice, brilliant guitar technique and a low-key onstage presence that makes a show seem like a personal visit, not an extravaganza.
When he paid tribute to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, his sentiments seemed real, not forced or maudlin. After a few comments, during which he recalled growing up in Oklahoma City, opener Patty Loveless joined him to sing harmonies in a powerful rendition of the old gospel tune “Go Rest High On That Mountain.” A haunting pedal steel solo by John Hughey added an appropriately elegiac tone.
Such moments have integrity in a Gill concert because they’re consistent with his common-sense approach. He rejects the accouterments of the modern county concert - the flash-pots and smoke, booming drums and dazzling light shows borrowed from rock - and succeeds on the strength of his performance alone.
He seems to love to be onstage making music. Except for a couple of brief encore exits, he didn’t leave the stage for the full two hours and, digging deep into a guitar solo, he seemed to lose himself in the music. And what a guitar player: he plays country, rock and blues lines with equal skill and even showed off some jazzy licks during “I Can’t Tell You Why.”
Thursday, Gill introduced an innovative nine-piece lineup anchored by two drum kits. The drummers drove the arrangements with a marvelous, crackling urgency, their snares and cymbals marching brightly beneath the sound of fiddles, keyboards and pedal steel.
Nine pieces allow Gill to explore what seems to be an endless store of influences. His sound is rooted in tradition but not bound by it. Ballads such as “Pocket Full of Gold” feature beautiful hill-country harmonies and Hughey’s crying pedal steel. Swing tunes bounce with the fiddle and pedal-steel insouciance of Bob Wills and the rockers reflect influences ranging from Buddy Holly to the Rolling Stones (he does a great Keith Richards on guitar).
He even slips into blue-eyed soul with an ease that puts Daryl Hall to shame. Gill is a phenomenon, nothing less. You can call him country, but there appear to be no bounds to his abilities or his interests, and in 30 years, when we’ve forgotten today’s transitory country heroes, he will still be making powerful music - there just won’t be a name for it because he will have obliterated all the boundaries.
Patty Loveless opened Thursday’s show with a set of strongly performed material that nonetheless felt unconvincing. Unlike Gill, Loveless appears mannered and distant onstage. She loosened up Thursday long enough to horse around with some exuberant fans, but the stage just doesn’t feel like Loveless’ natural environment.