I will apologize to our loyal readership for the belated nature of this story. It’s been a few weeks since the actual concert. I recently got married and went on my Honeymoon. With all of the build-up, planning, and aftershocks, I ‘m still playing catch-up.
This years Lone Star Round-up happened the weekend after my Honeymoon. As it is, I missed the entire first day of the festival due to driving back from New Orleans. Getting back home to Austin, Texas late Friday. My new wife, Jamie Bahr and I woke up the next morning, surprisingly refreshed from our long trek back home. “Wanna go see Wanda Jackson at the Round-up, this afternoon” I mumbled. We were still snuggling at this time. But there wasn’t much of debate on if this was a good idea or not. Pretty soon we were heading out, spirits high
The vibe was a little different when we got there. Even though there was a few hours left in the show, people were pulling down their tents and driving their cars away from the fair grounds. It was hard to blame them. The weather was looking ominous. Black clouds that just screamed “thunder storm” and wind that was threatening to knock the various “pin-up girls” right out of their high heels.
After less than an hour of walking around, it was clear that this wasn’t ideal weather for an out door concert. But none the less, when the time came an announcer came out blurting “Here she is folks, the Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson!” Then Jackson’s band entered into intro music that would have felt home in an old cowboy movie . Followed by “Queen Wanda” sauntering onto stage.
It must be said, at 74 years of age, Jackson is much less of a wuss than former Misfits belter Glenn Danzig. Mere months ago, Danzig quite infamously threw fits on stage while dealing with similar weather at this years “Fun,Fun,Fun Fest.” Wanda however, kept the audience’s attention square on her music and her wonderful stories about the 1950’s and 60’s. Never once losing her cool, even though it looked like the stage could have been blown over by strong gust of Texas wind.
Her backing band was great. Including local favorite Danny B. Harvey, dressed in true Texas fashion with a large cowboy hat that almost kept flying off his head. Jackson’s voice was as strong as ever, ripping through her 50’s era hits. As well as new cuts off her recent collaboration with Jack White.
But what was really great was the crowd. They were just so with her. Singing a long, cheering even louder when mistakes were made, and clapping along. It had a kind of old time, Church revival meeting kind of energy. The fact that the age groups of the crowd made it even better. You had young people, middle aged folk, and people old enough to have seen Jackson in her hay day all front and center.
After the show, the crowd filtered out, as the festival seemed to be blowing away in the wind. But, a very gracious Jackson stuck around to sign autographs. Yours truly even managed to snag a signed concert poster for my wife.
It’s been my experience that many stars from rock’s golden age don’t always bring the goods in concert. I’m happy to report however that Wanda Jackson more than lived up to her legend. I’ve seen shows put on by teenagers that had less energy than this one. Our current generation of rock ‘n’ rollers should take note.
