Willie Nelson beats storms to deliver comforting Blossom concert

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — It’s official. Willie Nelson can stop bad weather.

OK, maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement. Physically impossible, you say?

I’m going to need more convincing than that, because what I saw Friday night was bad weather that let up shortly before Nelson started playing and resumed about 10 minutes after he finished.

Playing at Blossom Music Center as part of his Outlaw Music Festival, the 90-year-old music legend fit in more than an hour of classics performed in a way only he can deliver, complete with jazzy, behind-the-beat phrasing and stinging solos played on his signature but beat-up classical guitar Trigger.

Nelson and his Family Band blew through more than 20 songs from his vast catalog that spanned multiple genres, including folk, jazz, blues, gospel and yes, country.

Still the crowd should be grateful the show happened at all, given the 90-minute delay due to lightning during previous performer John Fogerty’s set. The threat loomed over the rest of the night, with many hoping that Nelson could get through the entire show before the storms returned.

Thankfully that was the case, and Nelson treated the crowd to well-worn but never rote versions of classics “Always on My Mind,” “Bloody Mary Morning” and the singalong “On the Road Again.” There were nods to his many sides, including the profane (“Write Your Own Songs”), the humorous (“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”) and the religious (“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “I’ll Fly Away”)

There was something comforting about his performance. It felt like a trip down memory lane, even if you’ve never been there before.

It took on the feel of a basement jam session to which we all happened to be invited.

And maybe there’s a reason for that. Friday’s show came from the same template he has used for his shows for at least two decades, right down to opening with “Whiskey River” and having a huge American flag unfurl behind him right as the song’s first notes ring out. He even has many of the same players in his band, including harmonica player Mickey Raphael.

But Nelson, who now sits when he performs, didn’t appear to be going through the motions. Instead, he seemed to feed off the crowd and use experiences from his long life as fuel.

He has plenty with which to work, including mortality. Some of his closest collaborators, including his piano-playing sister Bobbie Nelson, have passed on.

Having his son Micah Nelson, who performs under the moniker Particle Kid, also livened up the performance. Micah provided a steady rhythm guitar that freed up his father to wander a bit with his own playing. He also took the lead on several songs, with the most memorable being the original “Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven).”

The show concluded with a cover of Mac Davis’ “Hard to Be Humble,” featuring the memorable couplet “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.” Even though the line was delivered in jest, the show came pretty darn close to living up to it.

Fogerty, who preceded Nelson onstage, is in the midst of a protracted celebration of gaining back control of the publishing rights to the music he made with his former band Creedence Clearwater Revival.

”I just got my songs back and I’m very happy about that,” Fogerty told the crowd early in his set. “And I’m going to play all of them.”

He seemed to want to do just that, but Mother Nature was intent on thwarting his plans. Fogerty cut short solo track “Rock and Roll Girls” after a stagehand informed him of lightning in the distance. Perhaps he had tempted fate by playing “Who’ll Stop the Rain” just a couple of songs prior?

When he returned to finish his truncated set, he did the only logical thing: led the crowd in a singalong of Creedence’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”

From there the flannel-clad rocker, still spry at 78 years old, played like someone had lit a rocket underneath him. He and his band ripped through seven additional songs, with Fogerty furiously peeling off one iconic lick and solo after another. He even scoffed at his stormy misfortune by playing “Bad Moon Rising,” which contains the line “looks like we’re in for nasty weather.”

He was right, but luckily it waited until after the concert.

Willie Nelson’s setlist:

1. Whiskey River

2. Stay a Little Longer

3. Still Is Still Moving to Me

4. Bloody Mary Morning

5. I Never Cared for You

6. Die When I’m High (Halfway to Heaven) (Particle Kid on lead vocals)

7. Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys

8. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

9. On the Road Again

10. Always on My Mind

11. Everything Is Bulls–t (Particle Kid on lead vocals)

12. Good Hearted Woman

13. Georgia (On My Mind)

14. I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train

15. Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die

16. Write Your Own Songs

17. Move It on Over

18. We Don’t Run

19. I Thought About You, Lord (Particle Kid on lead vocals)

20. Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (with Myron Elkins and Flatland Cavalry)

21. I’ll Fly Away

22. It’s Hard to Be Humble (with Myron Elkins and Flatland Cavalry)

John Fogerty’s setlist

1. Up Around the Bend

2. Green River

3. Born on the Bayou

4. Who’ll Stop the Rain

5. Lookin’ Out My Back Door

6. Rock and Roll Girls (Partial song, interrupted because of lightning)

7. Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

8. Centerfield

9. Down on the Corner

10. The Old Man Down the Road

11. Fortunate Son

12. Travelin’ Band

13. Bad Moon Rising

14. Proud Mary

Eric Heisig is a freelance writer in Cleveland. He can be reached at eheisig@gmail.com.

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