Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers rock Puerto Peņasco

By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out
May 15, 2005

Seeing Tempe's Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers play in Mexico is like seeing Jimmy Buffett in Key West, Fla.

Both songwriters paint their songs with a sense of place, and Roger Clyne's tunes, going back to his days with The Refreshments, are filled with references to a mythical Mexico, a land of beaches and hardscrabble desert that offers his characters tranquility.

Saturday night, Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers played a marathon four-hour, 39-song set in the outdoor dirt lot next to the Sunset Cantina in Puerto Peñasco, and 3,000-plus fans from all over the country made the trek to the small beachside town south of the border to revel in music, tequila and the balmy ocean air.

“I'm a Peacemakers virgin,” said Kay Wallace, of Tucson, before the show. “I've heard the CDs, but this is the first time I am going to see them. I can't wait.”

Kicking the show off with “Mexico" from his Refreshments days, Clyne and The Peacemakers — who include P.H. Naffa on drums, Nick Scropos on bass and guitarist Steve Larson — were treated as conquering heroes, with the large crowd singing along with Clyne's every note and kicking up dust with their dancing shoes.

Dressed in white with brown sandals, Clyne offered fans a mix of Peacemakers and Refreshments material, a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Sweet Home Alabama” with Steve Larson on lead vocals and a few Cracker tunes with Cracker guitarist Johnny Hickman, who opened the show with a well-received set of Cracker tunes and songs from his new solo CD “Palmhenge.”

Highlights from the long set included rare Refreshments tunes like “Feeling” and “Dolly,” a solo version of “Green and Dumb” with Hickman on mandolin and Refreshments staples like “Banditos,” “Mekong,” “Nada” and “Down Together,” before which Clyne told the crowd that the band would be playing at Willie Nelson's Fourth of July picnic in Texas this year.

The band's die-hard audience included fans who traveled from Nebraska, California, Massachusetts, Texas and Colorado, and the fans said the trip was worth it.

“Two words: Roger Clyne,” said Shelby Kotinek, 30, of Omaha, Neb., when asked why she made the trip. “His passion and energy — I'd go a lot further to see him than this.”

SET LIST

"Mexico"
"Counter Clockwise"
"Banditos"
"I Don't Need Another Thrill"
"Beautiful Disaster"
"Down Together"
"Your Name on a Grain of Rice"
"Easy"
"Love Come Lighten My Load"
"Switchblade"
"Wanted"
"West Texas Moon"
"Buy American"
"Honky Tonk Union"
"Dolly"
"Leave an Open Door"
"Sonoran Hope and Madness"
"Mexican Moonshine"
"Interstate"
(Intermission)
"Bury My Heart at the Trailer Park"
"Preacher's Daughter"
"Broken Record"
"Lonesome Johnny Blues"
"What the World Needs Now"
"Tell Your Momma"
"Loco to Stay Sane"
"Blue Collar Suicide"
"Feeling"
"Horses"
"Little Hung Over You"
"Better Beautiful Than Perfect"
"Jack vs. Jose"
"Girly"
"Green and Dumb"
"Sweet Home Alabama"
"Low"

ENCORE
"Mekong"
"Leaky Little Boat"

SECOND ENCORE
"Nada"