marnold
March 9th, 2009, 09:41 AM
We fought a winter storm warning to make the trek down to Green Bay to see Buddy Guy last night. Much to my surprise, there weren't many people who stayed away because of the snow.
There were some cool parts to the show. I enjoyed Buddy's playing. He has a certain violence in his attack that made me wonder how many strings he was going to break that night. He had one of the ballsiest Strat tones I've heard. He even busted out a sitar for one song off one of his recent albums. But even more than his playing I enjoyed his singing. Just a great blues voice. At one point he wandered through the whole crowd. We were towards the back but he ended up right next to us. I could have reached out and detuned his guitar. Actually, I was waiting for some idiot to do that, but no one did, thankfully. There can be no doubt that the man is a showman. Even at 72, he can still bring it.
The bad part is that even though he played for almost an hour and a half, I think they played about six songs. At least that's what it felt like. They seemed to be more extended jam sessions than actually playing the songs. Not that that's inherently a bad thing but I was hoping he'd cover more of his catalog. He didn't even play his more well-known tunes like his cover of the ubiquitous "Mustang Sally" or "Damn Right I've Got the Blues." He did seem like he was losing his voice a bit, a fact he apologized for, so that may have played into it. It's just that for a man with as impressive of a catalog as he has, I would have liked to have heard more of it. Despite everyone standing and clapping for some time, there was no encore.
So I guess I have mixed emotions about the concert. I'm very glad I got to see him. What he did sing and play was inspiring. If anyone wanted to learn how to work a crowd, they could learn a thing or three from him. I guess at the end I was just left wanting more.
FWIW, he did play "She's Nineteen Years Old," "Someone Else Is Steppin' In (Slippin' Out, Slippin' In)," "Skin Deep," "Feels Like Rain," and a very long version of "Hoochie Coochie Man" including extended solos by him, his keyboard player, and his rhythm guitarist.
There were some cool parts to the show. I enjoyed Buddy's playing. He has a certain violence in his attack that made me wonder how many strings he was going to break that night. He had one of the ballsiest Strat tones I've heard. He even busted out a sitar for one song off one of his recent albums. But even more than his playing I enjoyed his singing. Just a great blues voice. At one point he wandered through the whole crowd. We were towards the back but he ended up right next to us. I could have reached out and detuned his guitar. Actually, I was waiting for some idiot to do that, but no one did, thankfully. There can be no doubt that the man is a showman. Even at 72, he can still bring it.
The bad part is that even though he played for almost an hour and a half, I think they played about six songs. At least that's what it felt like. They seemed to be more extended jam sessions than actually playing the songs. Not that that's inherently a bad thing but I was hoping he'd cover more of his catalog. He didn't even play his more well-known tunes like his cover of the ubiquitous "Mustang Sally" or "Damn Right I've Got the Blues." He did seem like he was losing his voice a bit, a fact he apologized for, so that may have played into it. It's just that for a man with as impressive of a catalog as he has, I would have liked to have heard more of it. Despite everyone standing and clapping for some time, there was no encore.
So I guess I have mixed emotions about the concert. I'm very glad I got to see him. What he did sing and play was inspiring. If anyone wanted to learn how to work a crowd, they could learn a thing or three from him. I guess at the end I was just left wanting more.
FWIW, he did play "She's Nineteen Years Old," "Someone Else Is Steppin' In (Slippin' Out, Slippin' In)," "Skin Deep," "Feels Like Rain," and a very long version of "Hoochie Coochie Man" including extended solos by him, his keyboard player, and his rhythm guitarist.