One of last year tours that proved a great bill, yet seemed to produce no buzz as “must see show” was the Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang tour. Well, unfortunately, I missed this when it came to my town last year but as luck had it, the tour came back again due to an overwhelming demand and I was not about to miss it again. Playing to a capacity crowd of 1700, both blues guitarist extraordinaires gave a memorable performance all around.
Jonny Lang opened the show and once celebrated as a guitar prodigy at the age of 15, he is now 32 years young. I haven’t seen Jonny do a solo gig outside of his participation in the Hendrix Experience gigs since 1997. So I was excited to say the least.
Jonny opened up with “Don’t Stop (For Anything)” off of his last solo release “Turn Around.” He changed guitars for every song and played an acoustic for “That Great Day.” He constantly thanked the crowd for coming and acknowledged his band anytime he got the opportunity. I might be willing to say that Lang is probably the most intense performer I have seen live. He truly leaves it all out there on the stage.
Even though Jonny played 7 songs, his set lasted for an hour and 25 minutes. Surely you can say quality or over quantity was the perfect moniker for his set.
Next up was buddy Guy. This is the first time seeing him since the release of his autobiography last summer titled “When I Left Home: My Story.” Reading this I found an even greater appreciation for one of the last living men connected to the original blues player’s most classic rock is derived from.
Buddy is such a showman and interjected many jokes, almost making his set an impromptu storytelling show. What separates Buddy is sincerity in his playing. He goes by the feel and even quipped “I don’t ever do sound check. If I did, that’s when I would probably fu*k it up. I play by feel.”
Buddy made a comment that a woman in the audience was about to get married, and offered to play the song that she will be getting married to. Buddy said he always makes a good on a promise so he went into “Feels Like Rain.”
Buddy went into the crowd while playing “74 Years Young” and stopped at a few people to sing and talk to them directly. One was a young kid who he had up on stage the year previous. Hayden Fogle helped Buddy finish up the song and matched him note for note to even Buddy’s amazement. Buddy thanked him and told the audience how important it was to showcase the talents of such kids like Hayden. He also wants to help him record. What story that would be huh? Good luck with that Hayden! Buddy always delivers a quality show and at 76 years old, it doesn’t look as if at any point he might be slowing down. Judging by the audience response, I hope that’s the case!
Jonny Lang Set List:
Don’t Stop (For Anything)
A Quitter Never Wins
Turn Around
Red Light
Living for the City (Stevie Wonder cover)
That Great Day
Angel of Mercy
Buddy Guy Set List:
Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues
Hoochie Coochie Man (Muddy Waters cover)
She’s Nineteen Years Old (Muddy Waters cover)
Hoodoo Man (Junior Wells cover)
Feels Like Rain
Slippin’ In
Let the Door Knob Hit Ya
Sunshine of Your Love (Cream cover)
Strange Brew (Cream cover)
Fever (Peggy Lee cover)
We would like to thank Dave Wedekindt for the credentials so BackstageAxxess could cover the show.
