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The hulking Texas flag that spanned nearly the entire length of the stage behind Willie Nelson at the Midland last week aptly figured Nelson's longtime defiance of the mainstream. Over the course of his career, the outlaw troubadour has recorded in genres as far-reaching as jazz, blues and rock, defying expectation at every generational turn. If this performance is any indication, the bandanna-wearing septuagenarian will gladly carry his understated rebellion, along with his acoustic guitar and a tightly rolled spliff, with him to the grave.
Though his midsection and jowls now droop -- evidence that gravity is an indomitable foe for even the toughest of crooning cowboys -- Nelson's vocals were svelte, and he sang with a lithe effortlessness that aspiring frontmen would do well to mimic. From the swinging opening of "Whiskey River" to the apologetic lilt of "On the Road Again," Nelson moved his audience to reverential silence. Age may have been a factor in the sea of meditative calm -- most of Nelson's fans at the Midland seemed to share his gray. (For those interested, only one noticeable cloud of weed-smoke, emanating from a small huddle of silver-streaked helmets, escaped into the open air of the well-policed theater.) Regardless of anyone's age, though, the well-balanced set, which included a rousing cover of Ray Charles's "Georgia on My Mind" that swelled with rural pathos, reminded one that Nelson still personifies a tireless sort of Americana.
"We're just here to waste time before Willie," said Billy Bob Thornton as he introduced himself and his band, the Boxmasters, as the opening act. That ended up being an accurate description of the performance that ensued. Sipping beer, chain-smoking cigarettes and smiling furtively through a grease-slicked pompadour, the actor waltzed and sang his way into self-satisfied mediocrity. Even a creative song with much potential, such as "Shit List," was stilted by a band whose sound was far too robust for such a pedestrian frontman.
Willie Nelson's Set List:
Whiskey River
Still Is Still Moving To Me
Beer for My Horses
Funny How Time Slips Away
Crazy
Night Life
Piano instrumental
Me and Paul
If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time
Help Me Make It through the Night
Me and Bobby McGee
Good Hearted Woman
Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain
Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground
On the Road Again
You Were Always On My Mind
Will the Circle Be Unbroken/I'll Fly Away
Instrumental
Georgia on a Fast Train
Georgia on My Mind
The City of New Orleans
To All the Girls I've Loved Before
Milk Cow Blues
Bloody Mary Morning
Jambalaya (On the Bayou)/Hey, Good Lookin'/Move It On Over
Seven Spanish Angels
Superman
You Don't Think I'm Funny Anymore
I Saw the Light
Let's Take America Back
— Kyle Koch
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