WILLIE NELSON
At Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place,at 15th Street; (212)777-6800, tonight at 9.
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BESIDES having one of the truly distinctive voices in American music, war-horse troubadour Willie Nelson’s attitude about performing and his audience is unique. His approach is to give ’em everything he’s got . . . and then toss in another hour of music.
At the first of his three sold-out shows at Irving Plaza, Nelson sang every song he could remember and a couple he forgot he even knew over the course of his three-hour concert.
As the show wound down, his eight-piece band was moving slower and the audience wasn’t quite as spirited as when the curtain rose. Hell, even Nelson’s guitar looked tired. That was when the mischievous 68-year-old singer smiled his toothiest grin, innocently asking, “Do ya have time for a couple more?”
The fans may have been tired. They may have been tipsy. But as sure as San Antonio is in Texas, they had time for a couple more (which actually turned into another eight).
There were the hit songs like “Crazy,” “Whiskey River,” “On the Road Again,” “Goodhearted Woman,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Luckenbach, Texas” and “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”
Laced into that mix were instrumental melodies, such as “Stardust,” that showcased Nelson’s formidable abilities as a guitarist, a set of Hank Williams honky-tonk classics and an end-of-show flurry of tunes from his new “Great Divide” disc.
Nelson is a much-loved figure – the squeals, shouts and screams of joy attested to that – but after the concert passed the two-hour mark, the audience became easily distracted and less attentive.
When Willie worked a quiet, gentle ballad like “All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” or “Always on My Mind,” the crowd chatter rose to an embarrassing volume.
Willie never-minded the din. He didn’t take it as a sign of disrespect, but rather the price of doing business on the road-house circuit.
But when the talk got too loud for even Willie, he smartly countered by getting louder, with a peppy number like “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” which quieted conversation and got the fans clapping along to the beat.