B.B. King Concert Review
The B.B. King concert was quite a night, even though it got off to a shaky start. The first thing was that I forgot my change of clothes at home, so I had to go to home first to change. I wasn’t going to a concert in my work duds.
The concert was at the Convocation Center at NIU in DeKalb. It only took me 45 minutes to get there, so I stopped to get something to eat to kill time. I stopped at a place called Pizza Villa. This place had the weirdest process. You order and pay for your food, get a receipt, and then find a seat. Now the waitress comes by, takes your receipt, and gets your drinks. You pay her for the drinks. What’s great is as the waitress took my receipt she tells me its 15-20 minutes for the pan pizza ordered. Nice to find that out after I order it. At least I was there to just kill time.
After eating I found my seat, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and was an aisle seat. Next to me was a large, older lady, and in front were a woman and a young boy, who is best described as Timmy from South Park.
Before the show starts Timmy is flailing around, and I’m thinking to myself “man, that is gonna be so distracting.” Ok, so maybe I’m a jerk, but I’m very picky about concerts, and the littlest things can ruin the whole night.
Luckily, the opening act was Joe Bonamassa, whose yawningly good performance calmed the little guy right down. Unfortunately though, the large woman is now bouncing in her seat to the music, which is causing my chair to shake too. I’m not sure if it was the pan pizza, or Joe Bonamassa’s playing, but I’m starting to feel queasy.
Since the stage was to my left, I could see that the large lady kept staring at Timmy. Personally, I think it is rude to stare at those that are “alternately enabled”, and a woman of her age ought to know better. I realized though, that he was much more entertaining than Joe Bossanova.
I would like to tell any young, white, blues guitarists that happen to be reading this to go listen to someone other than Stevie Ray Vaughn. Please, for the love of God and everything holy, you are not SRV reincarnate. Stop acting like it. Blues is about the notes you DON’T play! Also this Joe Bono-SOMA opened his mouth so wide when he sang it made me think of the previews for that Exorcism of Emily Rose movie.
What really upset me was that the crowd actually encouraged this guy. When he was done the large lady turns to me and says “He was good, wasn’t he?” I though “Are you related to him somehow?” I was just glad when his soulless, heartless, gutless performance was over.
Thankfully the next act was Kenny Wayne shepherd. I wanted to see him at Rib Fest this year but I had something else scheduled. He was the polar opposite of Joe Bagodonuts. He played tastefully, and put on quite a good show. He had Noah Hunt on lead vocals, and the only problem was sometimes his guitar sometimes got lost in the mix.
Shepherd played one of the best versions of Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile I’ve ever seen or heard. He had the crowd eating it up! After his set I noticed he had several female roadies. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. His mellower playing stopped the large woman from bouncing so my stomach was finally settling down.
Now after another mad dash off to the restroom the lights go down again and B.B. King’s band takes the stage. They played a song with each musician taking a lead. In the band was a big, older black guy playing guitar and I wondered how many people there thought this was actually B.B. King.
When he took the stage the crowd went nuts. It must be a great feeling to get a standing ovation just for walking onto a stage and sitting down! After introduction of the band he opened with Why I Sing the Blues. The set included When Love Comes to Town, Wille Nelson’s Night Life, Nobody Loves Me But My Mother which carried into How Blue Can You Get, All Over Again and several others. When he played Rock Me Baby and The Thrill Is Gone I knew the show was coming to an end, and he finished the evening with Please Accept My Love .
The entire show he had the crowd laughing and singing along. There are probably only a handful people that can work a crowd like B.B. King, I guess when you’ve been doing it as long as he has, you know a few tricks. Hopefully he will keep doing it for a long time to come too!
The concert was at the Convocation Center at NIU in DeKalb. It only took me 45 minutes to get there, so I stopped to get something to eat to kill time. I stopped at a place called Pizza Villa. This place had the weirdest process. You order and pay for your food, get a receipt, and then find a seat. Now the waitress comes by, takes your receipt, and gets your drinks. You pay her for the drinks. What’s great is as the waitress took my receipt she tells me its 15-20 minutes for the pan pizza ordered. Nice to find that out after I order it. At least I was there to just kill time.
After eating I found my seat, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and was an aisle seat. Next to me was a large, older lady, and in front were a woman and a young boy, who is best described as Timmy from South Park.
Before the show starts Timmy is flailing around, and I’m thinking to myself “man, that is gonna be so distracting.” Ok, so maybe I’m a jerk, but I’m very picky about concerts, and the littlest things can ruin the whole night.
Luckily, the opening act was Joe Bonamassa, whose yawningly good performance calmed the little guy right down. Unfortunately though, the large woman is now bouncing in her seat to the music, which is causing my chair to shake too. I’m not sure if it was the pan pizza, or Joe Bonamassa’s playing, but I’m starting to feel queasy.
Since the stage was to my left, I could see that the large lady kept staring at Timmy. Personally, I think it is rude to stare at those that are “alternately enabled”, and a woman of her age ought to know better. I realized though, that he was much more entertaining than Joe Bossanova.
I would like to tell any young, white, blues guitarists that happen to be reading this to go listen to someone other than Stevie Ray Vaughn. Please, for the love of God and everything holy, you are not SRV reincarnate. Stop acting like it. Blues is about the notes you DON’T play! Also this Joe Bono-SOMA opened his mouth so wide when he sang it made me think of the previews for that Exorcism of Emily Rose movie.
What really upset me was that the crowd actually encouraged this guy. When he was done the large lady turns to me and says “He was good, wasn’t he?” I though “Are you related to him somehow?” I was just glad when his soulless, heartless, gutless performance was over.
Thankfully the next act was Kenny Wayne shepherd. I wanted to see him at Rib Fest this year but I had something else scheduled. He was the polar opposite of Joe Bagodonuts. He played tastefully, and put on quite a good show. He had Noah Hunt on lead vocals, and the only problem was sometimes his guitar sometimes got lost in the mix.
Shepherd played one of the best versions of Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile I’ve ever seen or heard. He had the crowd eating it up! After his set I noticed he had several female roadies. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. His mellower playing stopped the large woman from bouncing so my stomach was finally settling down.
Now after another mad dash off to the restroom the lights go down again and B.B. King’s band takes the stage. They played a song with each musician taking a lead. In the band was a big, older black guy playing guitar and I wondered how many people there thought this was actually B.B. King.
When he took the stage the crowd went nuts. It must be a great feeling to get a standing ovation just for walking onto a stage and sitting down! After introduction of the band he opened with Why I Sing the Blues. The set included When Love Comes to Town, Wille Nelson’s Night Life, Nobody Loves Me But My Mother which carried into How Blue Can You Get, All Over Again and several others. When he played Rock Me Baby and The Thrill Is Gone I knew the show was coming to an end, and he finished the evening with Please Accept My Love .
The entire show he had the crowd laughing and singing along. There are probably only a handful people that can work a crowd like B.B. King, I guess when you’ve been doing it as long as he has, you know a few tricks. Hopefully he will keep doing it for a long time to come too!
posted by DumbAscii at
9/23/2005
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