Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang @ UB Center for the Arts, Amherst, New York 6-12-12

The young guitarist from Fargo, North Dakota and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Buddy Guy brought a full capacity crowd to their feet at the UB Center for the Arts last Tuesday night. While the atmosphere of the venue emulated the experience of a calm night at the theatre, with ushers in white button down shirts leading you to your seats and bartenders in black bowties, the bands brought a high energy, personal performance that ended in a standing ovation.

Jonny Lang, who recently performed in Buffalo before with Herbie Hancock back in 2010, returned to center stage with a mix of newer material, old originals like “Rack Em”, and popular classic hits like Bob Marley’s “Everything’s Gonna be Alright”, which got the crowd involved in singing along. Throughout his performance, Lang impressed the audience with his guitar solos and musical interactions with other members of his band. The band created improvised musical conversations with their back and forth instrument rhetoric. Lang ended his set with his multi-platinum single “Lie to me” and enthusiastically handed the spotlight to over Buddy Guy for the rest of the nights festivities.

Guy, the six time Grammy award winner, showed that he is not just an artist or an entertainer, but that he is also a musical historian and student. His nearly two hour set ran the gamut from Willie Dixon’s Hoochie Coochie man, to Muddy Waters She’s 19 Years Old, to John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom Boom, then sprinkling in the R & B of Ray Charles (What I Say) and Marvin Gaye (Ain’t that Peculiar). There was also a little bit of his latest project; the 2010 release “Living Proof,” added to the mix.

Guy spoke of his life in the music industry and shared memories of his friendships with music legends like Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters. Guy spoke of importance of passing music down to the next generation, as Muddy Waters did for him. That was one reason that Buddy brought a Buffalo native guitar player of the next generation on stage. Twelve-year-old musician named Hayden, performed one song with Buddy and displayed musical maturity beyond his years. This act fit in with Guy’s focus on demonstrating his passion for spreading his love of music for music’s sake and not for profit. Guy genuinely believes in spreading music to all who want to hear and walked through the crowd, up to the balcony seats, allowing everyone to experience a front row seat to a Buddy Guy show. He suggested the idea of opening a Blue’s club in Buffalo, which was answered by a chorus of support from the audience. He answered the audience by saying “I want it so funky you can smell it”. I have a feeling that if Guy were not given a set amount of time to perform he would have continued playing all night. His energy level proved that he really plays like a 40 year old man in his prime and not the 75 year old he currently is.

Nothing shook Guy or his highly skilled band mates from performing their task at hand. As Guy related musically and socially with the audience, his band of Ric Hall on guitar, Marty Simmons on keyboards, Bassist Orlando Wright, and Tim Austin on drums, laid down a steady drum and bass line to keep the master moving forward. As he said throughout his set “I’m going to keep playing ‘til ya’ll get sick of me.”At this rate, it doesn’t look like the audience ever will!

Buddy Guy Set List:

Nobody Understands Me But my Guitar
Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon cover)
She’s 19 Years Old (Muddy Waters cover)
Someone Else is Steppin’ in (Slippin’ Out)
74 Years Young
Boom Boom (Johnny Lee Hooker cover)
Down Don’t Bother Me (Derek Trucks Band cover)
Feels Like Rain
Born Under a Bad Sign (Albert King cover)
Fever (Peggy Lee cover)
Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)
What I Say/Ain’t that Peculiar (medlies- Ray Charles covers)
Jam with Hayden
Let the Door Knob Hit You