1kidc
10-31-2008, 10:14 AM
What a perfect night!
First off - I didn't have a ticket to the sold out show. Decided yesterday afternoon that it was too good a lineup to miss. Snagged a $90 floor seat on CL for $55! Things started off well....
Eric Gales Billy Cox and Chris Layton opened up with Purple Haze, Foxy Lady etc. I have never heard Eric Gales live and MAN, was I pleasantly surprised! Of all the players he came the closest style wise to Jimi. Great tone from a Modern Marshall and a pedalboard full of 80's DOD pedals. Played a Tele & Strat. The guy from Indigenous came out and played rhythm on a few tunes w/ Gales as well.
Eric Johnson came out next. He played a lot of the tougher tunes including Are You Experienced and Up from the Skies. While his playing was great he seemed hamstrung by having his Marshall stack on the far side of the stage from the rest of the rhythm section. There was also a keyboard rig set up right in front of it which made it difficult for EJ to get back there to play feedback. Also, EJ seemed to be overcompensating for the distance problem by playing really on top of the beat. While it was great seeing him again it wasn't the best situation imho...
Went outside for a bit during the Los Lobos set. The show was well over 3 hours and I needed a break from the volume. Rosas & Hidalgo always play great and I could hear Little Wing from the sidewalk.
Came back in to a blistering set of Kenny Wayne Sheppard. The highlight was a fantastic VooDoo Chile. Of all the players last night he was the one who really left it all on the stage. Jimi and James Brown would have been proud. He had a really great singer who's name I didn't catch.
Buddy Guy closed the show with his own band and a lot of guests. Hubert Summlin (who I love) was hard to hear. Brad Whitford was plenty loud - though it was really fun to hear him play lead. But all these folks have a tough time jamming with Buddy. He's just such a presence!
I've heard Buddy play better many times in New Orleans. He seemed to be having trouble getting his distortion together. He just kept turning up but it didn't seem to help much. Buddy sort of did the Buddy Guy show. It seemed to me like such a great oppertunity for him to make the connection with the audience regarding the historic Jimi/Buddy connection but it wasn't the case last night. He played a number of blues ending with Red House. He then went into a version of Who Knows which sort of fell apart. Then the Los Lobos guys came back out and closed the show with Hey Joe.
It was great to see Mitch Mitchell & Billy Cox having so much fun and really enjoying themselves. Chris Layton played drums most of the night - Mitch has slowed down a lot and kind of played along with Chris for the most part. Billy played well and really sang great. He played about 1/3 the night - I couldn't tell you who the other younger bassist was.
It's really interesting that there seems to be a revolving door of guitarists playing thru the Experience Hendrix gig. I've heard that Robby Krieger and others have played as well. Kind of a moden take on Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic series in the late 40's and early 50's. Really fun night - I wish I has run into more Colorado TGPers there. Where were you guys??
First off - I didn't have a ticket to the sold out show. Decided yesterday afternoon that it was too good a lineup to miss. Snagged a $90 floor seat on CL for $55! Things started off well....
Eric Gales Billy Cox and Chris Layton opened up with Purple Haze, Foxy Lady etc. I have never heard Eric Gales live and MAN, was I pleasantly surprised! Of all the players he came the closest style wise to Jimi. Great tone from a Modern Marshall and a pedalboard full of 80's DOD pedals. Played a Tele & Strat. The guy from Indigenous came out and played rhythm on a few tunes w/ Gales as well.
Eric Johnson came out next. He played a lot of the tougher tunes including Are You Experienced and Up from the Skies. While his playing was great he seemed hamstrung by having his Marshall stack on the far side of the stage from the rest of the rhythm section. There was also a keyboard rig set up right in front of it which made it difficult for EJ to get back there to play feedback. Also, EJ seemed to be overcompensating for the distance problem by playing really on top of the beat. While it was great seeing him again it wasn't the best situation imho...
Went outside for a bit during the Los Lobos set. The show was well over 3 hours and I needed a break from the volume. Rosas & Hidalgo always play great and I could hear Little Wing from the sidewalk.
Came back in to a blistering set of Kenny Wayne Sheppard. The highlight was a fantastic VooDoo Chile. Of all the players last night he was the one who really left it all on the stage. Jimi and James Brown would have been proud. He had a really great singer who's name I didn't catch.
Buddy Guy closed the show with his own band and a lot of guests. Hubert Summlin (who I love) was hard to hear. Brad Whitford was plenty loud - though it was really fun to hear him play lead. But all these folks have a tough time jamming with Buddy. He's just such a presence!
I've heard Buddy play better many times in New Orleans. He seemed to be having trouble getting his distortion together. He just kept turning up but it didn't seem to help much. Buddy sort of did the Buddy Guy show. It seemed to me like such a great oppertunity for him to make the connection with the audience regarding the historic Jimi/Buddy connection but it wasn't the case last night. He played a number of blues ending with Red House. He then went into a version of Who Knows which sort of fell apart. Then the Los Lobos guys came back out and closed the show with Hey Joe.
It was great to see Mitch Mitchell & Billy Cox having so much fun and really enjoying themselves. Chris Layton played drums most of the night - Mitch has slowed down a lot and kind of played along with Chris for the most part. Billy played well and really sang great. He played about 1/3 the night - I couldn't tell you who the other younger bassist was.
It's really interesting that there seems to be a revolving door of guitarists playing thru the Experience Hendrix gig. I've heard that Robby Krieger and others have played as well. Kind of a moden take on Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic series in the late 40's and early 50's. Really fun night - I wish I has run into more Colorado TGPers there. Where were you guys??