Haggard, Kristofferson's beautiful mess

Unfortunately, the teleprompter wasn't ready for him.

It wouldn't be the first time he forgot the lyrics, or the last, as the Okie from Muskogee and his adoring sidekick, Kris Kristofferson, occasionally stumbled over their lines, kicking off a three-night tour Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa.

Was it a mess? At times. But it was a beautiful mess, littered with age-old nuggets of existential barroom poetry and 143 years of combined outlaw mastery.

Billed as "Two Legends, Two Guitars," the concept quickly multiplied over the past few days as Haggard added a four-piece backup band for security. After soundcheck earlier in the day, Kristofferson admitted, "He would have hated it if it was just me and him up there."

The truth is that Haggard, who is still recovering from lung surgery, hardly ever plays alone with just a guitar in his hands.

It took about five songs before the vocal crowd (which included Cher and her 38-year-old biker boyfriend, Tim Medvetz, who's a huge Haggard fan) started clapping along. Haggard's "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" was the honky-tonk cue. After that, everyone sang along to "Folsom Prison Blues." By then Haggard had put on his hat and Kristofferson was still grinning, just happy to be on stage with one of his icons -- surprisingly the first time they'd ever shared a stage together.

As the night wore on, time-tested classics fell over the room like haunted shadows and bottled memories of old girlfriends: "Make It Through the Night" gave way to "If I Could Only Fly," "Rainbow Stew," "If We Make It Through December," "Okie from Muskogee," "Jodie and the Kid," "Sing Me Back Home" and on and on and on as Haggard pointed to Kristofferson after each number, upping the ante in a friendly songwriter's chess game of oneupsmanship.

But the most obvious missing ingredient of the night was harmony -- the simple chemistry of two legends sharing a chorus together. In fact, they rarely took on a full chorus together the entire night.

As they travel together up the coast to Portland and on to Seattle you have to think it's only going to get better.

-- To read John Beck's full review, go to pop.pressdemocrat.com.