Another fantastic show of songs from the ’70s meticulously covered by Jim Croce-voiced Witter.
Set 1:
“Time in a Bottle”-10/10
“You Don’t Mess with Jim”-10/10
“Operator”-10/10
“I Got a Name”-10/10
“Cats in the Cradle”-10/10
“Taxi” (also by Harry Chapin)–an impromptu excerpt 10/10
“Leavin’ on a Jet Plane”-10/10
“Carefree Highway”-10/10
“If You Could Read My Mind”-9/10 for countryfying “I just don’t git it”
“Forever Young”–sung by his excellent bass player, backup singer, and symphony arrangement writer–the arrangements were uniformly excellent and tasteful–9/10
“Four Strong Winds”-9/10 for Neil Younging the extended D chord
Set 2:
“Moonshadow” 10/10
“Wild World” 10/10
“Father Son”–8/10 for vocals
“Peace Train”-10/10–Witter does Croce doing Stevens
“How Sweet It Is”-9/10
“Sweet Baby James” 9/10
“You’ve Got a Friend”–mediocre audience singalong 6/10
“Long May You Run”–9/10
“The Weight”-8/10
“American Pie”-vocals weaker 8/10
Basically, overall, a strong 9/10.
Witter played good piano, some guitar. He also had a guitarist who played a solo in “How Sweet It Is” which demanded an ESO sax solo, and a laid-back, low-key drummer.
The ESO was in good form; they had better arrangements to play than usual.
I almost used” Operator” in one of my textbooks; easily my favorite song last evening.
Back on Sunday for the “1812” finale ringing bells my wife gave me for Christmas in our first year.