#tab laven

This is  my attempt at a more comprehensive review of Artie’s Atlanta concert.

I was front row and about 6 feet away from Artie! The concert got off to a late start, not sure why though. At about 8:15pm Tab Laven walks out on stage to applause, Artie immediately follows him. Artie started the show with April Come She Will, followed by The Boxer. He was in a great mood and playful and funny and snarky. At one point a couple came in late and he said, “Go ahead find your seats but we’re not doing The Boxer again. Everyone laughed. He only did part of A Heart In New York and then immediately went into All I Know and did all of that song.

He mentioned many times how happy he was to be there and a few times he mentioned how happy he was that the theater was sold out. There was a lot of love in that theater last nite. Artie was loving the audience and they were loving him. It was great.

He looked great too, low rise black skinny jeans, a white button shirt, vest and a purple tie. The black low rise skinny jeans looked better from the front than the back.

There was one WTF moment. I don’t know what he heard or saw or what was going through his mind but he said, “Do I hear a little puppy? Oh puppy don’t do Bridge Over Troubled Water.” I have no idea what that was about and the rest of the audience seemed just as confused.

He said that his autobiography should be out by autumn of 2017.

After Scarborough Fair he was talking about recording it and said the first thing they did was put down the guitar track and he said Paul Simon’s playing was pretty much as good as Tab’s! I have to say Tab’s guitar playing was excellent. It totally made the show.

The highlight of the concert for me was 99 Miles From LA. He didn’t do that at the 2014 concert I went to.  99 Miles From LA  is my favorite Artie song and its the one that first got me interested in him.

I was also very pleased when he did For Emily Whenever I May Find Her. There are just some songs you want to hear live and that is one of them. I could have done without Kathy’s Song. I have never liked that song. At one point after talking about singing in the synagogue as a child he sang Vee Mah Lay and it was the most beautiful thing to come out of his mouth.

As usual he only did part of BOTW. He received a standing ovation after that and seemed very pleased with it! I thought the show was over after that because  he and Tab disappeared from the stage, but a few seconds later they reappeared and did Now I Lay Me Down which was very sweet.

At the end of the show he took his bows and blew a kiss to the audience. He also put his arms out and kind of encircled the audience then hugged himself as if he were hugging the audience. He then put his hand over his heart and smiled. It was really sweet.

Some man, after the show was over, asked Artie’s assistant/tour manager for the set-list. Once the man had the set list he let those of us who wanted to take a picture of it do so. Sorry its not the best picture, I had to take it at a weird angle. And despite what the set-list says he did not do Someone To Watch Over Me.

Released on October 1, 2011, Cranberry Red Balloon is the debut children's album with original compositions by Tab Laven; one of Art Garfunkel's touring band members. Art Garfunkel lends his "sublime" background vocals for the title track, which follows the journey of a red balloon and the child chasing after it.

From the album's Web site:

Art Garfunkel (Simon & Garfunkel), Bruce Johnston (Beach Boys), Vicki Peterson (the Bangles), John Cowsill (the Cowsills) and Nashville's A-list studio musicians lend their extraordinary talents to Tab Laven's acoustic guitar driven and magically written family songs.

Prior to the recording session of his vocal tracks, Garfunkel beautifully hand-wrote the lyrics of the song, as seen below.

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Additional links

More about the Cranberry Red Balloon album

Tab Laven on Facebook