Warren Zevon with Jill Sobule ~ 2000 March 14 ~ Axis ~ Boston, MA
Warren Zevon, vocals, guitar, keyboard, harmonica; Jill Sobule, vocals, guitar, opening set
Set List
guitar: I Was in the House When the House Burned Down (with harmonica) - Mr. Bad Example - Porcelain Monkey - Detox Mansion (loop repeat foot pedal) - Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Hostage-O - My Shit's Fucked Up - Jackson {Johnny Cash} (with Jill Sobule) - Jeannie Needs a Shooter - piano: Excitable Boy - Seminole Bingo - For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer (with harmonica) introduces it by saying it needs extra concentration to play - snatched my camera - Don't Let Us Get Sick - then he takes self portrait & hands camera back to me - Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Werewolves of London - guitar - If You Don't Love Me I'll Kill Myself {Pete Droge} - Play It All Night Long (loop repeat foot pedal) ... encore ... I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (harmonica) - Lawyers Guns & Money
Setlist also available at setlist.fm.
Concert Review
This was one in a flurry of Warren Zevon shows I was privileged to attend in 1999 and 2000, before his diagnosis of a terminal illness cut his brilliant career far too short. This venue was a dark barroom in the Fenway area of Boston. Warren was in his usual good humor. He talked about the tactical error of playing too many shows in the Boston area in too short a time, referencing the show in Somerville last Halloween, and said his agent warned him no one from Boston would go to Somerville.
Warren used a foot pedal that created a loop repeat on two songs, and went back and forth between electric guitar and piano throughout the show. A highlight of the show was the Johnny Cash song "Jackson," with a co-vocal from the brilliant Jill Sobule, who had opened the show. This was my first time seeing Jill Sobule, whom I have seen quite a few times since.
The following comment on this show was first posted on the usenet group alt.music.zevon, and describes one of the most fun incidents of my concert going career.
I attended the WZ gig at a nightclub called Axis in Boston, Mass. on March 14, 2000. As I usually do at concerts, I arrived early and secured a good standing spot in the front row. I had a point-and-shoot camera with me and took a few pictures as the show went along. Warren sat at his keyboard to perform "For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer," and I took one, or maybe two, pictures as he sang it, and then put the camera down on the edge of the stage in front of me.
At the end of the song he stood up as if he was going to resume standing at the microphone to play a guitar song, but instead he walked over to me, leaned over, picked up my camera, and said to me in a soft voice, "you'll get this back." He said a few things to the audience about the song he had just performed, and then he aimed the camera at me and the person I was with and snapped a picture of us. Then he held the camera at arm's length, pointed it at himself, and took a picture of himself. He then put the camera down on his piano bench, and at the end of the next song, brought it over to me and gave it back to me.
As you can imagine, the audience absolutely cracked up during this incident, and it makes me smile to this day to think of it. Warren truly showed the kind of person he was by taking the trouble to speak to me as he was taking the camera. He didn't want me to think he was stealing my camera, or that he was annoyed at me for taking pictures. He just saw an opportunity for a little fun interaction with the audience.
Needless to say I still have that camera even though I've progressed to other cameras for actual picture taking. The pictures are in the above photo gallery. If you want to download them and use them for any purpose, feel free, but just be sure to give proper credit -- "photo by Warren Zevon"!