Lucinda Williams is not a natural in Vegas. Her first appearance here was a disaster at the Hard Rock, aborted a few songs into the concert when the tumultuous songwriter made a diva-like exit from the stage. She fared better there as an opener for Neil Young. But, this appearance at the House of Blues showed that Williams, on a good night, isn't afraid to face the brutal indifference which Las Vegas audiences can give to performers with more critical raves than hits.
Though a small core of loyal fans were up front, Williams was forced to gamely perform while a number of uninterested audience members, presumably comped into the show, continued conversations by trying to talk over the music. They should have given her a chance, because straight from her opener "Drunken Angel," with its burning lines, "Blood spilled out from the hole in your heart / Over the strings of your guitar," Williams seemed intent on demonstrating why she gathers so many accolades. Of course, this may not be what many tourists want to hear about during their Vegas vacations.
But, to those who paid attention, on new songs like "Righteously" and "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings," Williams' voice took on a more gruff and noticeable country twang than on disc, balanced by her band rocking far harder live than on the studio versions. Williams' songs swung between tales of love gone wrong ("Those Three Days") to accounts of emotional devastation ("Blue"). But, as bleak as Williams' music often can be, optimism and beautiful moments are never totally banished ("Right in Time").
Her set mostly ignored her early work, instead blending songs from her last three discs, starting with her 1998 Grammy-winning masterpiece, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. If the audience seemed too eager to talk, Williams kept her comments to a minimum, introducing her band, a few of the songs, and offering only one "Hey, Vegas," which she delivered with a half-raised fist and a self conscious smile.
Near the end of the night, Williams sang "Concrete and Barbed Wire," in which she complains about the metaphoric and literal walls that keep us apart. This night proved that while Las Vegas and Lucinda Williams may no longer be on opposite sides, there is still a ways to go to traverse the divide.