Flying solo tonight and it’s an early start with support act Ida Mae on stage at 7.30pm. I was glad I made the effort to get there early as they delivered a great thirty minute set of quality blues. British husband and wife duo now residents of Nashville were joined tonight by an upright bassist that provided some great rhythm behind the stunning electric guitar. Some lovely harmonies too with vocals shared between the two just polish off this excellent set.
After delivering a couple of scorching, Dan Auerbach produced, albums this was a must see for me. Part blues guitar virtuoso and part soul singer Marcus blends both to perfect effect in this two hour show. He is backed by a seven piece band tonight including horn sections who are just superb. They are quickly into their groove and once the sound guy had found the fader to bring the horns up it was a spectacular sounding show. It was a throwback of sorts to my early gig going ventures with each band member having time for a solo in amongst the extended jams on many of the songs.
The set is an interesting blend of King originals plus covers by everyone from The Rolling Stones, Bobby Bland, Delaney and Bonnie, Marvin Gaye and Jimmy Cliff to name a few. Each is given a blues twist that showcases the many talents of the whole band wandering off into jam territory before being brought back around to the usual structure of the song.
This works in the main exceptionally well although I will be honest there is a jazz improve section that went on for ten minutes that left me a bit cold. That’s on me and many of my gig going mates will attest to my dislike of this type of unstructured noodling.
Small gripe aside the finale from Wildflowers onwards was a stunning example of contemporary blues at its best and he is achieving all of this in his twenties. A stunning guitarist with a voice that has a vast range that can turn his style to anything he wants.
Keep on blues rock n rollin’ y’all