The Middle East, Cambridge MA
USA August 8. 2002

Last Update: 13. november 2003

My Little Red Book
Orange Skies
Your Mind and We Belong Together
Live and Let Live
The Red Telephone
7 and 7 Is
Bummer In The Summer
You Set The Scene
Everybody's Gotta Live/Instant Karma
A House Is Not A Motel
Alone Again Or?
You Should Be Through Tuning By Now, Dude* (*Arthur fooling around on harmonica while Mike tunes Arthur's guitar)
Signed D.C.
Andmoreagain
My Flash On You
Hey Joe
Stephanie Knows Who
She Comes In Colors
Ain't Too Proud To Beg* (*Arthur sings the first line, and the audience continues singing it)
Singing Cowboy

The Boston show kicked of with a tight version of My Little Red Book, after which Arthur welcome everyone to the Middle East by joking that it was originally called "Northeast Africa". Orange Skies was nice and tight, followed by one my all-time favorites, Your Mind And We Belong Together. A quick word of praise here for Mike Randle, whose playing combines skill, feel, and an obvious love of Arthur and his music.

The show got a bit ragged as the evening wore on, though. Arthur seemed a bit out of it at times although he was in great spirits. Mike spent much of the evening tuning Arthur's guitar for him, setting his mike stand back up, untangling his cords, and fixing his own foot pedals after Arthur either stepped on them or spilled water on them. Arthur rambled on for quite a bit between songs, but after reading reviews of the other shows this is apparently not unusual!

Alone Again Or? was fabulous, with some really nice lead playing from Mike. As Mike tuned Arthur's guitar, we were treated to Arthur's impromptu three-minute harmonica solo. A ten minutes of Signed D.C. was next, as Arthur tested the audience's (and the band's!) limits with a full two minutes of false endings. ("Thank you for being so patient", he said in apology afterward.) Yes, Arthur really did do Hey Joe. It was a very slow, Hendrix-ish version that lasted for a good eight or nine minutes. Mike played some blistering lead.

Several times throughout the evening, Arthur sang the first line of Ain't Too Proud To Beg between songs. Near the end of the show, the audience picked up on it and a sing-along ensued. The evening ended with another of my favorites, Singing Cowboy. Arthur took an extended stroll through the packed crowd during the song, with several hundred voices punctuating each "you-hoo".

After the show I got a chance to speak with Arthur briefly, and at one point he asked: "So tell me the truth, did I make a complete fool of myself onstage tonight?" No worry, Arthur.

Justin Purington

Photos by Justin Purington and Lisa Rosenberg