BUDDY GUY CONCERT REVIEW ON ROCK N ROLL UNIVERSE

It was a little before 7:30 P.M. when the man himself, Mr. Buddy Guy, rightly considered one of the most incredible guitarists ever to pick up the instrument, strolled onto the stage at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Immediately launching into a blistering version of Don Nix's "Going Down," most notably done previously by the late Freddie King, and in rock circles by The Jeff Beck Group, it was quite apparent that Guy, at the age of 69, still has what it takes to put lesser players 1/3 his age to shame. Peeling off gritty, heartfelt, slashing solos, the recently inducted Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer amply showed why he was hailed by none other than Eric Clapton as the best guitarist in the world. While that bestowment might be disputed by some, it's quite evident that at the very least, in terms of blues guitarists, he has few peers. Jovial, and in a ribald mood, Guy demonstrated to the sold out audience from the get go the same chops that inspired Jimi Hendrix to skip out on some of his own gigs in order to catch the mercurial axeman when their paths happened to cross in the same city. Dressed simply in a dark blue, striped long sleeve shirt and overalls, presumably to represent the embodiment of the blues, he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand from the very start, never letting go until the ending notes of the night.

Backed by an extremely tight quintet, The Damn Right Blues Band, who laid down a strong back beat over which the Chicago based musician began to thrash his guitar, putting forth incendiary, frenzied solos effortlessly from his polka dot adorned Stat. Smoking solos that no doubt many times throughout his long, illustrious career, have most likely inspired countless budding blues guitarists either to seriously hone their craft, or to put the instrument down in defeat. No one trick pony however is Guy, as he proved he still has a robust voice, which he used to good advantage on Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally" and an amazing version of Albert King's "Drowning On Dry Land," during which he left the stage, walking out among st the crowd whilst soloing with abandon, moving through the aisles, up to the balcony, all the while reeling off some of the most hair raising, scintillating blues licks one is likely to hear this side of The Delta. Which inspired his first standing ovation of the evening, during which Guy gave instructions to turn up the house lights, saying he wanted to see this "as this doesn't happen very often." Which, based on the performance, I'd venture that's hardly true, but it was nevertheless a nice touch. A master showman, even though this has been done by others, Guy's been doing this since the 50's, so he can be excused, as he was one of the first to popularize the practice damn near 50 years ago. Whether it was playing behind his back, using a drumstick to play in a manner akin to Jimmy Page's violin bow, or interacting with the audience, he still knows how to pull out all the stops certain to please.

As Guy and band settled into the middle portion of the show, he began to play snippets of various songs which at the very least were inspired by Guy's seminal early to mid 60's work, such as Cream's "Strange Brew" and Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), which during the first, after playfully kidding his dear friend Clapton, exclaiming "See? I can play that Sh*t too." and moving into the latter, which was punctuated by Buddy playing with his teeth, then a tease of Guitar Slim's "Things I Used To Do," proceeding into John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" before ending with a down and dirty, extended version of the Muddy Waters classic " Hoochie Coochie Man," which elicited a thunderous response. Paying tribute to, as well as bringing the blues back to where it began. In the process reclaiming what the British blues guitarists of the 60's such as Clapton, Beck and Page copped and built extremely lucrative careers from. Along the way, the entire band cooked on inspired covers of Issac Hayes' "Do Your Thing" and Otis Reading's "I've Got Dreams To Remember" before ending it all with Guy's own "Damn Right I've Got The Blues." After the guitarist left the stage, the band stayed on to conclude with an instrumental version of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water," and that was it. No encore on this night, which slightly disappointed those in attendance, but as the house lights were brought up, seemed content to exit the venue in an orderly, civilized manner. Perhaps they were just saving their energy for the impending possible Guns N' Roses tour.

One thing that was noticeable though was the fact that there were few, precious original trademark Buddy Guy songs to be had this night, instead sticking to predominately cover versions. With such classics as "First Time I Met The Blues," "My Time After Awhile," "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Let Me Love You" to be chosen from, why he felt the need to pick other's songs is somewhat of a mystery. That being said however, what was played was for the most part, brilliant, and with so many artists his age and younger putting on lackluster, uninspired performances, one shouldn't complain. Although there's no doubt that any of the aforementioned songs would've been met with a rapturous reception to be sure. All in all though, despite a relatively short 90 minute set, this was a highly enjoyable evening of fantastic blues played by a true master, and in such context was one that is sure to be a treasured memory for many in attendance for years to come.