A Red Headed Stranger

I am not a big concert goer, but I do like Willie Nelson, a singer I have seen perform several times. He was playing at 4th and B a while ago, so my wife and I and two friends decided to go.

I sat next to a very nice man, who seemed enthralled with Willie. He even had a long gray beard tied in a braid like the singer, and he wore a t-shirt with Willie Nelson’s picture on it. He drank black coffee throughout the concert, and my guess was that he had seen some hard times. He brought a friend, but the man didn’t say much.

The warm-up act lasted about a half hour. Then without fanfare, Willie appeared singing his signature song, “Whiskey River”. The crowd loved it. They even loved it more, when a few minutes later the singer threw his expensive leather hat to the people. This act began a love affair between entertainer and audience, which lasted the entire concert. Willie would tie a bandana around his head only to throw it into the audience a few minutes later. The crowd responded by throwing hats to Willie, which he wore for a while before discarding them for new ones.

Along with the hat throwing, Willie would smile and wave to different people in the audience. I suppose good entertainers know how to build excitement in a crowd, and Willie seemed to be a master. After a while the cheers became louder, people danced, and Willie seemed to be having a lot of fun. One woman kept dancing down the aisle until the beefy security people escorted her away from the action.

 Willie performed for two hours and ten minutes without a break. He sang most of his popular songs from “Pancho and Lefty” to “Angels flying too close to the Ground”. After several encores, it was over, though no one seemed to want to leave. The man next to me shook my hand, a gesture, which seemed to reflect the camaraderie the singer had built that night. As we walked to our car, we could hear people humming and laughing. Willie’s bus was visible, and all seemed well in downtown San Diego.