Another photograph of Paul from the side of the stage. He amazed the crowd and then closed his set with the “Mission Temple Fireworks Stand.” I was waiting for this.
He came to the center of the stage with a microphone in hand, his guitar slung over his shoulder. His band started a low instrumental that sounded like a Sunday morning sermon warm-up. As he told the story of growing up as the son of a preacher many years ago you could sense the crowd was being drawn to his every word. He ended his story and the band ripped into the song. After about three notes the hillside emptied to the dance floor in front of the stage. Hands in the air it did indeed remind me of a tent revival or that scene in the Blues Brothers movie with James Brown as Reverend Cleophus.
After Paul ended the song and left the stage I thought this guy just added a large list of fans to his already large list of followers. A final note. The headliner, Jimmy Hall who Greg Allman once called the hardest man in the business to follow on stage said as he took the stage “Thanks Paul Thorn, now I have to follow that?” ‘Nuff said.