Lucinda Williams @ The Greek

Lucinda Williams had the hard task of opening for Elvis Costello. Her show was very early, but people seemed to show up early. It was a busy week, with Flaming Lips and Depeche Mode also in town. Lucinda, who was lauded by Elvis Costello himself, as "The best songwriter in America" and "The best singer who isn't my wife." Williams brought her brand of rock and country to the stage. She was wearing bright red pants, and seemed to have a lot of presence onstage. She mixed it up: old songs and new. Her show was steady, interesting, and provocative. It was far too short. Luckily she came back onstage with Elvis to do "Jailhouse Tears." This funny and sad song was almost the highlight of the night. The reaction was amazing to this song, and everyone felt the emotion of this song. They did a second song: this was a cover of Rolling Stones "Happy." They plodded along and it was okay. Williams is definitely an interesting songwriter and a provocative performer. Hopefully people will check her out later this year when she does some 30 year anniversary shows.