In the past, Ellis has spoke of taking the stage with a case of butterflies. Not cold feet, exactly, just nervous energy. I think that's all behind him. He took the stage tonight, asking if anyone else was as cold as he was as he rubbed his hands together in a "man, it's cold up in here" kind of way. Don Conoscenti had hinted at the very same thing 20 minutes earlier at the back bar. How cold it was during sound check. Ellis said he was going to try and get through this for us. He began alone onstage on a piano in a corner of the too small Tin Angel stage. Guitars are hung on walls floor space is so limited. Ellis begins Once Upon A Summertime.
By the time he's nailed that one, then brought the guys, Don Conoscenti and Mike Clem, up onstage to help nail Maria's Beautiful Mess, I almost shouted from our stage side barstools: Warm now, aren't you?!?!
Ellis and the guys spent the next 90 minutes giving the sold-out and sro crowd at Tin Angel what it had come for. Well, almost everything. I'm not sure we were expecting Sweet Home Alabama. Fitting since "Bama" just won the BCS......and an abrreviated hoot!
Great singalongs, we had the guy's backs with the na na na na na's for Lights of Vegas and the do doo do do doo do doo do do do doo's for The Day After Everything Changed. The crowd's 3000 miles echoed thru the room as Ellis once again took that bus trip across the country. I was standing at the back bar, a long long way from the stage, Amos Lee is in the audience with friends, when the guys, joined by opener Chris O'Brien, nailed Dragonfly. A woman sitting on a stool next to me said that's new, isn't it? I don't have that one! We all nodded yes, it's new. Moments later Ellis and Don and Mike and Chris had the crowd singing with them. What most in the house wouldn't know, is that the woman who barely knew the song, sang out from her spot in the far reaches of Tin Angel, a vocal performance worthy of being onstage with the Ellis Paul Band. I guess, in a way, she was. Not lost on me was the incredible smile on Ellis' face every time the audience sang his music, or the word "beautiful" he uttered each time.
I don't know why you
I don't know why you
I don't know why you
Came to me
"Are you Ellis Paul?"
Nah, that's him over there.
