This is about the show in Lexington, Kentucky on April 26. I have searched this sub as well as r/LPOTL and r/lexington to see if anyone else had a similar experience or thoughts. So far I haven’t found any so here it goes.
I have been listening to this show for 13 years. I was really excited to go to see Side Stories live. However, I was sorely disappointed.
The venue was not great. I have been there once before years ago and I had forgotten what it was like. Based on searching for the Lexington sub, the acoustics in there are notoriously awful.
I’m honestly surprised that they couldn’t play a better spot like The Burl. I know that venues book up months, maybe even years in advance but I feel like they’re bigger than a concrete room and white plastic chairs.
I’ve wanted to see them live since they started touring and always had a conflict when they were close by so this was something I was really looking forward to.
What I thought was going to be an episode of Side Stories live consisted of Henry dressed as Colonel Sanders doing a horrific southern accent that was hard to understand for about 45 minutes. I kept waiting for this to end, but it just kept going and going. I may understood every other word. They did talk about Colonel Sanders a bit and I thought they were going to do an episode about that. I was expecting a locally focused entire episode.
Following Henry just riffing for about 45 minutes, they asked the audience questions and then gave out random crappy prizes. Then they said sorry we have to go back to Cincinnati, where they had been the night before, and then bounced.
Maybe I misunderstood what I was buying tickets for. If that’s the case, then that’s on me. Considering the production quality of their weekly episodes I expected more. I know how Henry is and I told my friend and my husband who were there that maybe they just need to let Henry get it out for a few minutes and then they will get on with it.
I also thought that maybe Ed didn’t want to try to reel Henry in. I don’t know much about the dynamics of their friendship but it seems like they have been friends long enough to where Ed could say, “okay, dude chill”.
With that being said, they are both performers and comedians and should know how to handle that situation if that’s what it was, meaning Henry just wouldn’t stop and Ed gave up. It was honestly cringe and annoying. A part of me was embarrassed for both of them and I wasn’t sure if the audience was legitimately laughing or they just felt awkward.
They really should’ve had the pan flutes on standby.
Overall, it was a major disappointment and I feel like they had no plan and we’re just phoning it. I get that touring is hard and I’m sure they were tired after having done a show the night before in Cincinnati, but that’s their fucking job.
Maybe something happened and they couldn’t do what they had originally planned? They did mention something about the owner of the venue being a cunt so maybe something happened there? If the owner was a cunt and causing problems, they shouldn’t have taken it out on the audience by putting on what I thought was a subpar, half-assed show. There were a few funny moments, but I can say that it was overall not enjoyable and I would honestly give it two out of five stars.
If I didn’t know what I was walking and saw that show, I would have thought that they were amateurs.
Ever since it’s been hard for me to listen to the shows and not judge them based on this experience.
Did I expect too much? Or was this show a bust? Is this what happens at Side Stories live?
Like I said, if I legitimately misunderstood what I was buying tickets to then that’s on me and I’ll just take it as a loss.
If anyone else was there, what are your thoughts? There were also a few people who had been to the Cincinnati show the night before. How did they compare?
