For an hour and 40 minutes on a Wednesday night in Green Bay, Bonnie Raitt made the world slip away.
Hardly an easy lift these days given the weight of news headlines, but in the darkened comfort of The Weidner’s inviting Cofrin Family Hall, with its flawless acoustics and a hushed crowd, there was a warmth, stillness and calm that you wished you could have slipped in your pocket and taken with you on your way out the door.
Against the backdrop of a sprawling painted canvas of a tranquil lake and setting sun that changed colors throughout the night, the 13-time Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer whisked away an audience to places of gratitude and back through the decades to the friendships and inspirations of such musical giants as John Prine and “little Bobby Dylan.”
“It’s time for me to sing you a John Prine song,” she said before performing the late singer-songwriter’s “Angel From Montgomery.” “Let’s just keep John Prine alive forever.”
When she sang the iconic opening lyrics she’s been singing since the 1970s — “I am an old woman, named after my mother” — solo with acoustic guitar in a single spotlight onstage, it was almost as if you could feel the words flutter by you as they took flight through the hall. It was a goosebumps moment that would repeat itself with a gorgeous rendition of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” that brought the crowd to its feet during the encore. And again with “Just Like That,” a heartwrenching story song of redemption and grace about a mother meeting the recipient of her son’s heart.
That’s the kind of night it was.
Raitt and her band, who played the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee the evening before, are in their fourth year touring in support of 2022’s “Just Like That,” an album that added three Grammys to her stash. Many of the dates on the summer trek have been outdoors, and The Weidner stop, Raitt’s first Green Bay visit since a 2018 date with James Taylor at the Resch Center, had her basking in the deep attentiveness and quiet of the room.
“This is like church in here tonight. I’m gonna change that,” she said, before diving into “Something to Talk About.”
The crowd was asked in advance to turn off phones to enjoy the show in present time, and photos and videos were prohibited. There wasn’t a rogue lit screen to be spotted all night, not with a woman as charming and an act as respected as Raitt.
At 75, her voice is as strong and soulful as ever, with the blues guitar chops to match. She sounded lovely on “Blame It on Me,” a lush, deep cut off “Just Like That” she said the band hadn’t done yet on tour. She played Dylan’s “Million Miles” on acoustic, and let ‘er rip on electric for a rollicking “Thing Called Love” and a smokin’ cover of the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House.”
Her old pal Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band opened the night with a tight 45-minute set. Raitt said she’s been waiting for 40 years to tour with the Texas blues guitar master (he soloed by playing behind his head at The Weidner) who she has known since his days with The Fabulous Thunderbirds. She brought him, along with his three-piece horn section, back out to trade licks on “The Pleasure’s All Mine” and his rockin’ “Boom Bapa Boom” to close the show.
They were having such fun it made you wish for a whole other set still to come, but that would’ve just been incredibly selfish on a night that already delivered so much.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Review: Bonnie Raitt and her fans share a warm and soulful night together at The Weidner
Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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