Title:Concert By: Guy, Buddy Released by: Cajun House Released on: 2001 Rating (out of 10): 10 Date: 10/26/2001
Buddy Guy in Concert
Whenever you hear that Buddy Guy is in town, cancel everything else on the calendar and see him. Can you imagine an evening with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert King, and Muddy Waters? What a rocking guitar heaven that would be! Buddy Guy comes as close to fulfilling that ultimate guitar concert as anyone.
Eric Clapton calls Buddy Guy the “best guitar player alive,” and Guy continues to support Clapton’s statement with each live performance. He put on another incredible performance on March 21, 2001 at the Cajun House in Scottsdale. This blues and rock club is a little larger than Guy’s own Legends blues club in the South Loop of Chicago, but he settled in quickly and made the place feel like home.
And when Buddy Guy feels comfortable, he lets loose with the most incredible guitar improvisations. I’m not talking about the standard tricks that pretenders to the throne attempt, like playing the guitar behind the back or with the tongue. Guy doesn’t have to dazzle us with trickery like that. He still may throw in a few quirks—he used a drumstick to beat out a few riffs, later used the guitar cord like a whip across the strings, and other times would switch hand positions while playing—but he lets his guitar mastery speak for itself and lets it all loose.
That’s the coolest thing about seeing and hearing Buddy Guy in concert, especially in a more club-like setting. If you’ve heard his CD releases, you have not experienced the Real Deal yet (though the CD by that name comes closer to a live performance than the studio versions).
Though many of the studio versions take 5 to 7 minutes, the live Buddy (complete with the famous smile and “fucking” with the audience and band) will take 15 minutes or so per song and you’ll never get tired of it.
The improvisations often occur right at the moment, and you can tell Buddy and his band are just jamming and having fun.
The opening act was by a local kid who works at a Fender dealership, and he was right near the stage in awe of his idol when Buddy strolled over during an extended riff towards him and shouted out “Get a guitar!”
Soon the kid was on stage, plugged in, and jamming while Buddy smiled away and improvised some more with him. He did much the same with his saxophone player, playing “dueling instrumentals” with him.
Of course, Buddy did his traditional walk through the crowd after being hooked up with an extension cord, and his “Feels Like Rain” never sounded better or more alive than it did when he was out in the middle of the crowd.
Buddy knows how to work an audience, and it’s gratifying to see him get more recognition in recent years and be able to fill larger venues. He is well aware of his blues roots, and mentioned the pioneers who would play for a juke joint to a crowd of 35 and come home talking about “packing the house.”
If you think the blues is “sad,” you simply must check Buddy Guy’s music out to get re-educated. No one bridges the blues and solid rock music more definitively, and Buddy can play most anything.
Indeed, every concert he pays tribute to past and current guitar masters and plays samples in their style before launching into his own variations. I’ve seen him honor the legendary Jimi Hendrix, and often pay tribute to his friend Stevie Ray Vaughn.
He showed a little John Lee Hooker “Boom Boom” action, did a quiet sampling of Clapton with “Strange Brew,” got down and raunchy with an extended Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man,” and finished with a long tribute to the late great Albert King.
Before leaving the stage, he signed autographs to CDs, posters, and shirts, and ticket stubs.
His hour-and-a-half set flew by and wasn’t nearly enough, but I’ll come back for more whenever I discover that Buddy Guy is in town. This was the sixth time I’ve seen him. No concert has duplicated any previous ones, but that’s the nature of the blues. Certain patterns will recur at each performance—Buddy will smile a lot and have fun, the place will rock, Buddy will capture the audience, and you’ll want more than the schedule allows.
For pictures of the concert: http://www.angelfire.com/az/jnesbit/buddy.html
