The Rialto Theater

Sunday night, Susie and I were invited to go to see Son Volt and the Cowboy Junkies perform at the Rialto Theater. Since we've arrived in Tucson, we've only seen one other concert and that was at the Centenial Hall on campus. I was excited to go as I've been by the Rialto many times and seen the names of several fine bands on the marquee: Franz Ferdinand, Opeth, De La Soul. The Cowboy Junkies were a perfect reason to go. It's an old theater; it opened across from the Hotel Congress in 1920. The acoustics were great. I closed my eyes during Son Volt's performance and heard every note of the singer's guitar and his sideman's keyboard (The band is actually bigger but the rest of them got stuck in Utah). The Cowboy Junkies were the best. Margo Timmons has a perfect voice. She never hit a flat note and neither did the band. After a couple of songs, I realized that the mandolin player, Jeff Bird, played his axe like he was playing a leader guitar, drenched in thick distortion, reverb and wah effects. I've got a lot more respect for the mandolin as I've only thought of it as a bluegrass instrument. Not anymore.