What the last couple of gigs and this one has shown me is that I don’t go to enough rock and blues concerts. I have tended to lean massively to Americana and Country over the past few years with some power pop and other guitar led music thrown in. But these recent shows have whetted my appetite again for the louder, rockier shows.
Tonight though it’s a full on blues show with the inimitable prodigy that is Kingfish. At only twenty four years old it feels like he has been playing this for fifty years. Gifted doesn’t even touch it. Tonight’s show is being recorded for an upcoming live album and let’s hope the odd technical issue with Ingram’s guitar gets airbrushed out of the mix and if it captures half of the energy, dexterity and skill on show it will be worth a buy.
He is supported tonight by an amazing backing band with a superb understated rhythm section but the standout member is the guy on Hofner organ, wow. He provides the perfect foil, contrast and depth to the sound supporting Ingram’s guitar and boy does he bring the funk.
With most guitarists they have a signature style and stick to it but with Ingram he moves freely from the very Robert Cray like clean picking and vocals with his Telecaster tonight, hits a pedal and it’s a full on raucous guitar masterclass but can then switch it down to a lesson in acoustic blues too.
There’s no three minute pop songs on offer tonight just pure classic blues with elongated solos, his fingers moving so fast at times it’s almost a blur. There’s a real connection with the crowd tonight and he takes this a stage further coming into the crowd to perform a five minute guitar solo in the middle of the floor to a rapt and appreciative audience.
The show clocks in at over two hours with half of the cuts from his latest album the most excellent ‘662’. Like Chuck the other night it’s not about individual songs but the overall concert package and the high standards throughout although a special mention to a great version of ‘Hey Joe’ that Hendrix would have been proud of to close the set. It won’t be on the live album due to excessive rights demands from the song’s owners but I was glad I was there to witness it.
The blues is alive and well in this young man who pays respect to the history of the genre but also brings a freshness to the sound too.
Keep on blues rockin’ y’all