Dolly's annual concerts at Dollywood had, for the first time in a number of years, changed from December to September. There were four shows in two days, all of which featured the same set list, but of course Dolly being Dolly, we did have different outfits. Myself and Doyle were lucky enough to have tickets for three show and the review below covers all of them.
The show started with Those Were The Days, the first of 8 new songs from her upcoming CD of the same title. It was an energetic start, with Dolly covering the length of the stage and encouraging the audience to sing along with her during the chorus. The fans at the front by Sunday night had scarves which they were waving in time along with Dolly, which was very impressive.
Dolly chatted a little here, aided by the teleprompter, about the upcoming CD and the hippie era the songs were chosen from. She joked that she wanted to protest about something and she thought about burning her bra, “but it’d need a water dropping helicopter to put the fire out”. Before 9 to 5 we got the story of whether the joint smoked in the 9 to 5 movie was actually dope. It apparently was dried lettuce leaves, but that still gave Dolly the munchies causing her to start eating the fruit on set which had been treated with chemicals to preserve them. 9 to 5 was next, quickly followed by Jolene. After this song Dolly told the old story of Jolene, adding that she saw Jolene recently and that she "looked uglier than a mud fence". She continued by saying, "I wanted to take a picture, so i could hang it over the couch where Carl was sleeping and say to him, 'Look at what you could have had!'" This drew a great laugh from the audience.
 Dolly looking a little mad!
Crimson and Clover was next up and I have to say after hearing it several times now, it is my favourite track from the upcoming CD that Dolly performed over the weekend. Incidentally Dolly’s family were there Saturday night and Judy Ogle and Dolly’s husband Carl’s family there Sunday. She joked about the recent trash magazine story about her getting a divorce, joking that Carl gave her the ultimatum, it was either him or Judy. Dolly continued, “I choose Judy, cos Carl does the worst makeup and he can’t zip up my dresses either”.
Me and Bobby McGee was next up and again it was another great cut. At this point Dolly’s microphone on the Saturday night show got knocked out from her backpack inside her wig when she was putting her guitar on. This meant her leaving the stage for a few minutes whilst the band played Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Dolly made several jokes over the weekend about how many microphones she did have. She even had one in her bra, to which Dolly looked down and said with echo, “Hello, anyone down there?” which brought a hilarious reaction from the audience.
It was back to the old favourites next with Tennessee Mountain Home and Coat of Many Colors. After these and still sat down with her dulcimer she surprised the hardcore fans with a first time outing of These Old Bones, which was a very welcome addition and this drew a huge reaction and this grew with each performance over the weekend. Some fans at the front had bought mini skeletons which they waved around during the chorus and Dolly was duly touched that they had gone out in town and bought them especially for that particular song. Dolly also acknowledged the travelling legion of female fans who go to every show and how she was very touched by their support. She added, “I wonder how they can afford to go to every show… hey are you girls hookers, cos you sure never work!” Again this line brought the house down and was a classic Dolly comment.
 Singing These Old Bones
Smokey Mountain Memories came next, followed by Dolly preceding a medley of Marry Me and Applejack by talking about her dating in her childhood years. “Where I came from everyone accuses us of dating our kinfolk, well its so remote where we lived, everyone is related to someone. Now this guy I liked might have been a cousin, but I prefer to call him a kissing cousin”.
If I Were a Carpenter came next and this was a duet with Richard Dennison, her long time backing vocalist, again very nice and that was followed by another newie, Where Have All theFlowers Gone which Dolly played a blue acoustic guitar. It was back to a more lighthearted tone next with PMS Blues, which first featured on the 1994 album Heartsongs, with a slightly reworked ending. Her two females backing vocalists came up front and helped her out on this one.
 Dolly with Richard Dennison
Dolly announced Here You Come Again as her first million selling single, which was a welcome addition as was an abbreviated version of Two Doors Down. With the show coming to an end it was the usual I Will Always Love You to finish, before the encore, that is.
 Singing PMS Blues
For the encore we had another 3 songs off the new CD, Turn Turn Turn, Blowin’ in the Wind and Imagine. Dolly joked that she asked Dylan to play with her on his song but he said no. She continued by saying to him, “Well fine, I was going to a whole album of your songs and call it Dolly does Dylan, but I won’t now”. Imagine proved a rousing finish, which just seemed to get a better reaction, as the weekend progressed. Sunday’s night the whole crowd were on their feet mid way through the song, cheering along. It really was a great finish to a great series of shows.
Thoughts About the Shows
As has been the case since Dolly went back on the road in 2002, the teleprompter was employed to help Dolly not just with the songs, but also with the in-between song patter. I’m sure it must be used for her as a comfort blanket, but hearing the same stories in between songs, show after show became quite staged and frankly not very funny. The funny bits were when Dolly was just being herself and not reading from the teleprompter.
What I found interesting were the audiences for the three shows I attended. The Saturday afternoon show was generally made up of families and the more casual fan. I found it very disheartening to see whole sections not even bothering to applaud after songs and worse still, hoards of them exiting even before I Will Always Love You. This really put a dampener on the show for me and I thought the prospect of the evening shows was not going to be much better. Thankfully I was wrong, both the Saturday and Sunday crowds were very lively and contributed a lot to the atmosphere. I just wonder though, why the a lot of the Friday crowd even bothered going to see Dolly, which is a rare event at Dollywood and pay so little respect to her and her band.
Another criticism I have to make is that Dolly didn’t change the set list at all for all four shows. She obviously knew a lot of fans would have come to see more than one show and just one or two changes would have made all the difference to her fans. If I was being very fussy I would have liked to have seen her drop some of the old songs which she does at every show without fail and substitute them with any of her other old hits. Hearing not only the usual songs like Coat of Many Colours and Smokey Mountain Memories countless times, but also the stories behind them for what seems a hundred times, it can become quite predictable for the fans. On the plus side Dolly did change the arrangements slightly on these songs, but she has a hundred other quality songs the fans would love to hear.
After the shows I was talking to Doyle about the idea of Dolly putting together a “Dolly by Request” show where fans vote for their 20 best tracks which she then has to perform. Don’t you think that’d make a great TV Special or CD?
Set List for all 4 Shows:
Those Were the Days
9 to 5
Jolene
Crimson & Clover
Me and Bobby McGee
Tennessee Mountain Home
Coat of Many Colors
These Old Bones
Smokey Mountain Memories
Marry Me
Applejack
If I Were a Carpenter
Where Have all the Flowers Gone
PMS Blues
Here you Come Again
2 Doors Down
I Will always Love You
Turn Turn Turn
Blowin' in the Wind
Imagine
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