Blues
legend rocks Carpenter Center
By Austin Lewis
Online Forty-Niner
Managing Editor
Blues fans were in for a treat Friday night as they got to see John Mayall & the
Bluesbreakers, one of the most influential blues bands from the 1960s, playing
at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.
Musicians ranging from guitarist Peter
Green and other founding members of Fleetwood Mac to guitarists Eric Clapton
and Mick Taylor, formerly of the Rolling Stones, owe at least some of their success
to playing with Mayall early in their careers.
Eric Bibb opened the show with a short set of solo acoustic songs. Though he
is relatively unknown when compared to the other musicians who would take the
stage later that night, the crowd still appreciated his set.
Bibb began the show
with a cover of “Stagger Lee,” a 1959 Lloyd Price hit based on a
traditional blues song, which immediately became a crowd favorite.
Another was “Connected,” a
song from Bibb’s 2000 album, “Friends.” “Connected” is
a slow blues song, but Bibb’s soulful, honest voice gives it a bit of a
cheerful quality.
“A Ship Called Love,” the title track from Bibb’s newest album,
was one of his strongest performances of the night.
Shouts of disappointment
came from the audience when Bibb told them he was about to play his last song,
although they quickly subsided when Bibb invited Robben Ford to the stage to
play guitar on it.
The Bluesbreakers — the latest incarnation of which features guitarist
Buddy Whittington, bassist Hank Van Sickle and Mayall’s longtime drummer
Joe Yuele — joined Ford on stage as Bibb left.
Ford played several original
compositions, but also took time to pay tribute to past blues legends during
his set. Early on, Ford played “Cannonball Shuffle,” an instrumental
tribute to Freddie King from the 2003 album, “Keep On Running.”
He
also played a strong cover of Willie Dixon’s “It Don’t Make
Sense (You Can’t Make Peace).” While Ford’s Les Paul guitar
solos were impressive—he was clearly the night’s best guitarist—the
Bluesbreakers did not seem to be as into Ford’s songs as they were with
Mayall’s later in the night.
After a short intermission, the second half of the show began with the Bluesbreakers
playing a two-song introduction before Mayall took the stage. Mayall was the
oldest musician on stage, but he clearly had more energy than anyone else who
played that night.
Mayall played keyboard and some guitar throughout the night,
but his best performances were on harmonica. The best example of this was during
the song “Burned Bridges,” from Mayall’s 2005 album, “Road
Dogs,” which featured a long solo at the beginning of the song.
Ford joined Mayall and the Bluesbreakers toward the end of his set, and Bibb
came back out to join everyone for the last song of the evening.
Mayall and the
Bluesbreakers came back for an encore, where Mayall walked to the front of the
stage and played one of his best harmonica solos of the night.
One of the night’s biggest disappointments was the length of the concert
as a whole. The concert was over in about 2.5 hours, which was not nearly enough
time for three different performers and a 20-minute intermission.
In the end, it was great to see a blues legend such as Mayall, and newer guitarists
such as Ford and Bibb play in such an intimate setting.
Mayall and Ford played
great sets and met the audience’s already high expectations of them. After
all, both guitarists have been in the music business for years.
Everyone seemed
to have the most interest in Bibbs’ performance. He is not as popular as
the other performers on the bill, and it was apparent many people in the audience
didn’t know what to expect from him.
However, he won over the audience
quickly, leaving little doubt in anyone’s mind about his spot on a bill
with other blues greats.
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