I saw Arlo Guthrie last Thursday, performing at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. My parents had seen him there almost a decade ago, and had a great time, so I went with my mother this time around. The large concert hall was about half-full, mostly of long-haired hippie types and their kids. The concert was definitely a nostalgia trip for most of the audience, and while I may not be able to reflect wistfully on the '60s, I heard "Alice's Restaurant" quite a bit growing up, so I was able to get as excited as everyone else there at the thought of hearing "Alice's Restaurant" on this, the occasion of its 40th anniversary.

Guthrie played two sets over two hours, opening the second set with "Alice's Restaurant." In fact, he saved most of his own hits for the second set, but the first set was solid, too, even if I didn't know most of the songs. He played some jazz from New Orleans, and talked about his train tour to New Orleans after Katrina (though he saved "The City of New Orleans" for the second half). He talked a lot, telling stories which were fun to hear, even if you could tell he was telling them for the millionth time (which is fine, but his attempts to make as though thoughts just randomly pop into his head seemed a bit tiresome to me). After playing "Coming into Los Angeles," he recounted a somewhat recent airport run-in with the Secret Service, which concluded with him awkwardly realizing that the officers approaching him were no there to hassle him, but were greeting him as fans.

My understanding is that Guthrie retired "Alice's Restaurant" a few years ago, but this being the 40th anniversary tour, he brought it back, opening the second set. He added some asides about the draft not being as far away as some would have us think, but basically it was the same song we've heard on the radio every Thanksgiving. He also performed "The Motorcycle Song," "City of New Orleans," and other hits, along with some new stuff. For an encore, he performed a "new" Woody Guthrie song, "My Peace," which Arlo had set to music, and which he explained was one of the last songs Woody had written while his handwriting was still legible. To paraphrase Arlo's explanation, the song is about the little peace that we all can have inside of us, which makes kids and dogs like to be around us, and if we all cultivate that peace, the big peace will work itself out. Earlier, he also performed another of his dad's songs, "This Land is Your Land," including a verse I wasn't familiar with, and rather liked: "Nobody living/can ever stop me/as I go walking/by the freedom highway/nobody living/can make me turn back/this land is made for you and me." He interrupted himself repeated during that tune, telling a circuitous story which turned into a retelling of the story of Joseph, a sort of watered-down version of Lord Buckly's schtick, which actually worked pretty well.

Overall, it was a great show. I was surprised that Guthrie had such a strong stage presence. The crowd seemed to love him, and he really fed off that positive energy. One other nice thing to note, my mom and I had great seats. Her knee had been bothering her, and luckily we had requested box seats, and received them, so the two of us had our own box, so she could turn her chair to the side and have all the leg room she could want. Me, I found the leg room nice, but the chairs weren't quite as comfortable as the normal theater seats. Moreover, being right up against the edge, I felt a touch of vertigo sitting there (though being so high, and almost over the stage, I sort of felt like some omniscient being looking down on Arlo, which was kind of cool). Still, I think I will request box seats the next time I go to a show there; several boxes looked empty, so I don't think there's a huge demand for them.