DENVER'S SWEETNESS SUITS HIS FANS
by Laura Fissinger
Review of a Concert at the St. Paul Civic Center
June 16, 1982

St. Paul Dispatch
June 17, 1982

      As John Denver reminded the thousands of listeners in 
the St. Paul Civic Center Wednesday Night, these are hard 
times. Whereas his messages of love and humanism may have 
sounded a bit flaccid and rhetorical during the calm of the 
'70's, it's a safe bet that most of Wednesday's crowd felt 
comforted by Denver's concert. But for detractors Denver is 
still a disappointment.
      Certainly no fan felt cheated by paying a double digit 
price for a ticket. Denver and his nine piece ensemble played 
for about 2 1/2 hours and while the band left the stage for a 
break, Denver carried on alone. By the end of the concert he 
had delivered 31 songs and a few well placed stories and 
poems.
      Kudos must go to Denver's stage and lighting designers, 
who managed to make the cavernous Civic Center into a 
relatively intimate concert hall. The soft, simple lighting 
was a metaphor for the band's sound - clear, uncluttered, 
without abrasion or flash.
      Nearly all the requisite favorites were played, and 
since most of those are ballads, Denver took great care in 
placing the livelier songs, such as "Thank God I'm a Country 
Boy" in the spots where the pacing needed it.
      He has a fine voice, as well. That clarion tenor simply 
sailed all evening, propelled by Denver's impeccable diction 
and lovely, if rudimentary, sense of phrasing.  The 
uncomplicated love songs such as "Today", "Relatively 
Speaking", "Dreams", "Fly Away" and "Annie's Song" crystalized 
into moving music.
      Denver's primary shortcoming Wednesday night then had 
nothing to do with the relationship between him and the 
legions that already like his music. Apparently, his fans 
don't notice the lack of artistic and emotional counterpoint, 
but casual listeners find it a nearly insurmountable obstacle.  

Only once did Denver share stories about the source of his 
optimism and positive attitude, and the mid-show solo section 
was the highlight of his performance. He told about an 
alcoholic friend who had had a heart attack, and read a poem 
(not his own) about how individuals and societies use their 
energies to cope with disasters instead of protecting life and 
beauty.
      Denver's fans get angry when others call him treacly and 
sentimental, and it's understandable.  The world desperately 
needs to act on the things he sings about.  But Denver's 
writing is so unrelentingly chipper and cliched that he too 
frequently becomes a parody of himself, taking all those 
worthwhile messages into cartoon land with him.

Copyright 1982 St. Paul Dispatch