{image1}Minutes after the final firework display fizzled out over the lake, Lucinda Williams strutted on stage. Dressed in a tight black tank top, sparkly belt and blue jeans, Williams, 52, looked decades younger from a dozen rows back, but her experienced, deeply inspired lyrics unveiled a woman who has been through it all.
Williams kick-started with the heart wrenching "Drunken Angel," a tribute to a past boyfriend who committed suicide and an anthem for anyone who has loved a destructive person. She continued the creepy country vibe with the intoxicating "Ventura" but then infused the set with the fiery "Fruits of My Labor" and the more-upbeat "I Lost It."
The slightly pigeon-toed, gritty-voiced Williams looked like a countrified Courtney Love and had the attitude of a blonde Joan Jett. Neil Young's passionate energy and his signature harmonica style were also in the mix.
While Moby belted out Led Zeppelin covers at the Miller Oasis next door, Williams told the crowd she recently wrote 23 new songs and wanted to try out a few new ones. "I just wanna see if you like them," she said in her thick Louisiana accent.
Williams, the prolific daughter of an English professor and poet, stormed the country scene in the late 70s, but didn't nab recognition until her 1998 release, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road." She recently released her first live album, a double-CD masterpiece recorded live at the Filmore in San Francisco.
Other highpoints of Sunday night's show included the clap-along "Out of Touch," red-hot versions of "Righteously" and "Essence," and "Change My Locks," once recorded by Tom Petty.
Although hellbent on keeping banter to a minimum -- "I don't want to ramble on because I want to play as many songs as possible" -- Williams ended the evening with a smoking version of "Get right with God" and, minutes before midnight, dished up an Independence Day thought.
"A patriot is a person who questions authority," she said.
Great sentiment, but we couldn't help snickering about it on the way out of the Summerfest grounds which were pocked with barking police officers.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
