Something To Crow About

As promised, we went to the California Gold country to see Sheryl Crow. She was appearing at the Ironstone Winery amphitheater, a venue we had never seen before. Here's the best image I could find to give you a sense of the set up:

Ironstone is located in the middle of nowhere in a town (Murphys) with a population much less than the number of folks that fit in the amphitheater (6500). It was hot during the day, but the night cooled nicely and the venue was spaciously laid out, and quite well managed.

We arrived early, having purchased the "platinum" package that included dinner. We were introduced to the winery tasting room for wine and hors d'eouvres. The wines were pretty good, particularly if you like the more fruit forward type of wine. At dinnertime, we entered a large banquet area where we were fed salad, shrimp appetizers, filet mignon and desert. The food was "ok", and the company was terrific. We met quite a few folks from the Sacramento area who were fun concert goers of every strip.

At showtime, we were ushered out to our seats ... fourth row (thanks MsJan!). The opening act was Los Lonely Boys who were quite good.

Their feature musician, guitarist Henry Garza, was awesome. I would describe his style as something that merges Stevie Ray Vaughn with Carlos Santana. The "Boys" as they are known, kicked butt and would get a look-see from me again any ole' time.

Right at the time the sun went down, Sheryl et. al. came on stage and began their show. I'll not give a blow by blow, but it was awesome. MsJan and I both stood and danced through most of the show. I was hoarse the next day from singing. I took some pics. Pictures were not supposed to be taken, but the picture police ultimately gave up because everyone had a camera of some sort and was shooting. I was courteous enough to not use flash, thus the pictures are not all that hot. Here are a few of the best (as usual, click to enlarge):

My hero, Peter Stroud on lead guitar ....

Our vantage point. Left to right Ken Button (in back on bass) Peter Stroud (guitar), , back up singers, Sheryl Crow (guitar), Tim Smith (guitar) and Mike Rowe (keyboards) ...

Artsy fartsy shot of Peter Stroud in a typical facial expression ...

Another shot from our view ....

Henry Garza of Los Lonely Boys ....

We ran into one of our dinner mates on the way out of the concert. I asked her how she liked the concert. She said it was great, but she thought Sheryl would sing "slow songs".

Ahhhh.

No.

You go to see Sheryl Crow because you want rock n' roll played beautifully and flawlessly. They put on the best, most professional, show I've ever seen. We're considering seeing her August where she'll be at the South Lake Tahoe Harvey's amphitheater.

MsJan adds: To get a sense of what we experienced, get the "C'mon America Tour" on DVD from Netflix. This is the concert we saw in 2003. Close the windows and turn up the volume.
It was the best birthday present I've ever had the pleasure of receiving.