JOHN HIATT
& THE GONERS

w/JEFFREY HATCHER & THE BIG BEAT
December 2, 1988
Le Rendezvous

PROMOTER:
Devonside Productions

11 x 17, black & red on white
Reproduction available: $20

The best part of this night for me happened at the soundcheck that I was able to witness. Besides a solo piano version of "Love Like Blood" that he didn't do that night, he and the Goners ripped through the ol' Sun Records chestnut, "Mystery Train" with Sonny Landreth gettin' legendary on guitar. When they were done, my mouth dropped open and I wanted to scream in appreciation but the few people milling about were silent and it just didn't seem the right thing to do. The band put down their instruments and left, barely acknowledging each other. Weirdest musical moment of my life. I figured it would be the encore later that night, but they didn't do that one either. So for years afterward, I was in search of a bootleg of a show that included that song - surely they did it regularly, they knew it so well and it was clearly a band highlight. Never found one. At a show in Alberta decades later, I got the chance to talk with John a bit and I asked him about the band's version of "Mystery Train". He said he couldn't remember ever playing it in his life. I SWEAR IT HAPPENED!

LEFT: Handbill
Jeffrey Hatcher & the Big Beat didn't get confirmed as opener until after the poster was printed but they did make it to the handbill.