“Blue Mountain Sat. night! Hope ya’ll can be there!”
My phone lit up early in the morning last week with that text flashing across it. My friend April sent me three similar texts the week before, each one excitedly encouraging me to attend the show.
Blue Mountain formed in Oxford in 1991, separated a few years ago, and are now touring together again as Blue Mountain. They were recently voted “Oxford’s Most Legendary Band” by the readers of The Local Voice, and the buzz was that their homecoming was going to be fantastic.
So, Saturday night we met up, had dinner on the Square, and walked over to Proud Larry’s around 8:30. A friendly, bearded giant of a man was selling wristbands for ten bucks on the patio, and I bought one and settled into a rocking chair for some pre-show beers. By quarter after nine the crowd was swollen and rowdy, concertgoers bumping up against fans cheering on the Ole Miss baseball team during a game still playing on the screens inside.
It was hot. Oh, man, it was hot. The kind of hot that makes you want to lick the condensation off your Budweiser bottle. I had my hair pulled up off my sticky neck within five minutes of walking in off of the patio. I got lucky and managed to grab a stool at the bar near the front door. This did not keep me from getting elbowed in the nose no less than three times by anxious folks as they reached for their drinks. Sometimes you just have to smile and take the beating.
When Blue Mountain took the stage, a roar started up front by the stage and spread like wildfire. I could feel the guitar in my bones, shaking all of my senses until they were standing on end. I climbed up on my stool for a better view and was briefly rewarded before being politely tapped by a bartender and told to get down. I then had to resort to protecting tender areas of my body while shoving myself through the throng. Cary Hudson and Laurie Stirrat were mutually amazing, sometimes dueling on guitar, some times breaking off into enthusiastic solos. Tyler Keith (Preacher’s Kids) joined in on a cover of Rolling Stones “Miss You.” And George Sheldon jumped in on “From One Son of a Bitch to Another.”
When the set ended, I was swept outside by a tide of smokers and deposited on the curb. Everyone was smiling and laughing, and agreeing that the high energy show definitely did not disappoint.
On Monday I introduced myself to Laurie on the balcony at Square Books, where she was enjoying some coffee and a little conversation. I told her the show was great, and she thanked me for coming. I grabbed a pen and paper for her and she did her best to write me out a set list, but warned me that she wouldn’t remember them all and that the songs wouldn’t be in order.
Yeah, it was that kind of show.
