Charles Estend celebrated the Thanksgiving Weekend with a traditional Homecoming Show at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. The WEGOTIT NASHVILLE Review:
It has become not only “A Sort Of Homecoming”, to quote the mighty U2, but also a holiday tradition for Charles Esten to spend the Thanksgiving Weekend with his family in Alexandria, VA and to play the legendary Birchmere, which he has done since 2015. And what better way to open to a full house with Back Home. Starting out solo just on acoustic guitar his bandmates from Sixwire joined in by the second song Doesn’t Love Me.
The two-hour-plus show turned out to be a feast for Fans of the acclaimed TV-Series Nashville as Esten not only delivered Fan-Favourites like Itty Bitty Ditty, a rockier presentation of the sing-a-long A Life That’s Good or Face the Sun but also revealed a lot of on-the-set-secrets: „In six years of Deacon I only wore one set of boots – with three sets of soles“
In a very talkative mood Esten also showed his talent as Stand-up Comedian: When a lady in the audience screamed for his sweat-soaked towel he just grinned „Where were you in 10th grade?“ and during the Introduction to Looking For The Light, which was co-written by Dennis Matkosky of Flashdance Maniac fame he noted „This song is nothing like Maniac but at some point they gonna put water over me during it“ which gave him the idea of a fabricated News-Headline: „Charles Esten electrocuted in terrible Maniac prank!“
Mixing the set up with Songs from his record-breaking Every Single Friday Series, which got him an entry into the Guinness Book Of World Records („I was trying to figure out: How can I get into this book: How many pieces of gum would I have to fit in my mouth? How long to I have to ride this pogo-stick? The crazy thing is that I just got in doing what I desperately love doing which is writing music“) , it was the clever mix up of of cover-songs that got everybody screaming and shouting.
From Waylon Jennings’ Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys which he mashed up with Norwegian Wood by The Beatles to Springsteens’s Pink Cadillac and the ever crowd-pleasing Honky Tonk Women from the Stones. The standout moments in a Show full of Highlights were a heartbreaking rendition of the 1979s Blondie New Wave Classic Dreaming („I just realised that this is a country song.“) and the emotional performance of the Kenny Rogers signature tune She Believes In Me which he dedicated to his wife Petty whom he met 27 years ago.
Setlist @ The Birchmere (24-NOV-2018)
Back Home
Doesn’t Love Me
Face the Sun
Playing Tricks
Lonesome, On’ry and Mean (Waylon Jennings Cover)
Dreaming/Free Fallin’ (Blondie Cover/Tom Petty Cover)
Without You
Same Damn Road
Itty Bitty Ditty
A Life That’s Good
Pink Cadillac (Bruce Springsteen Cover)
Honky Tonk Women (Rolling Stones Cover)
Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys/Norwegian Wood
(Waylon Jennings Cover/Beatles Cover)
Bass Solo
Come To The Table
The Lights of Graceland
Looking For The Light
Instead Of Missing You/Missing You (Jon Waite Cover)
She Believes In Me (Kenny Rogers Cover)
I’m Coming Home
Light The Night
Good Rain Or Jesus
Encore:
He Ain’t Me
