I saw Buddy Guy last night

He played at the Sheraton in Reading PA as part of the Reading Jazz Fest. My mom bought me the tickets for my birthday. Yay, Mom!!!

The short version: Go and see Buddy Guy.

The long version:

First, his band - these guys were about the tightest backing band I'd ever seen. The feel was loose but, man, they had to be on their toes. Buddy would stop songs at any point, start new ones in the middle of other songs, ramble on, rip it up, etc. He threw these guys a million curve balls and they expertly fielded every single one. Amazing stuff.

I didn't care for the second guitarist all that much. He was great when laying back and grooving but when he took a solo it was long on flash, short on feel. My girlfriend commented that his tone was lousy and sadly, I have to agree. But that's nitpicking. He was fine and the rest of the band was superb.

Buddy played an Olympic White Strat all night. At one point he broke a string and swapped out for a black Strat with the polka dots. But as soon as the string was replaced on the white Strat he took that one bac k.

I couldn't tell from where I was what he had for amp or pedals. He did use a wah pedal at one point briefly. Otherwise, I believe his tone was entirely from the amp and the guitar's volume knob. He may have kicked on an overdrive at one point, I dunno.

The venue was a hotel conference room so the floor was flat. I was toward the back and didn't have a great view of the stage area. At one point Buddy started wandering through the crowd with his wireless setup. Some guy trailed along behind him with a wireless mic and Buddy occasionally took the mic and sang, then he'd hand it back and play again as he strolled. He was out in the crowd for about 15-20 minutes altogether. He even left the room entirely and played out in the lobby for a little while before coming back in via a different door.

Okay, the best - WHAT A SHOWMAN!!! Seriously, you could put together a textbook with how this man just had the audience in the palm of his hand from the first moment to the last. What charisma! It was just incredible. His facial expressions alone were worth the price of admission (they had a couple cameras and some giant TVs so I could actually see Buddy).

His playing - when Buddy was playing quieter, slow, and sweet it was just awesome. He gets so much mileage out of one note with bending, vibrato, tone, etc. Gorgeous stuff. I honestly didn't care for it so much when he cranked it and burned. I thought it got a bit shrill and there was so much clipping it got muddy. That may have been a problem with the sound in that place. Still, the man can still play at his age so that's impressive right there.

Songs? Buddy was all over the freaking map. He'd do a verse of this, a verse of that, make stuff up on the spot, always shifting gears. I'm not sure that he even played a single song from start to finish. He tipped his hat to Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, and a host of others by playing little snippets from song of their works.

I think Buddy was onstage about 70 minutes altogether. But it was a GREAT show. I learned a lot. If you get a chance, get to a show.

Next show... Tuesday night with Victor Wooten! :D Then we've got tickets to Mike Doughty in two weeks and Mark Knopfler later in the summer. My girlfriend totally rocks. I've seen more awesome live music in the last couple months than in the last ten years.

There aren't a lot of the 2nd generation originals left these days -- very few of the legends you could catch most nights of the week in Chicago twenty years ago are still with us. Be very glad you caught one in the 21st century. Buddy on a good night can be sublime.

Great report C.S.

Thanks for the review...

Sounds like a great show... and I concur 110% - both times I've seen Buddy were just about as you described. I think he has the whole show down to a finely tuned machine (super tight but with a nice funky laid back feel). You are right about his playing, facial expressions, everything!

p.s. I too am going to Knopfler later this summer (but first it's BB King again on May 2 - have lost track of how many times I've seen him, but always a fine show). It will be my first time seeing Mark and I'm very excited. We'll have to compare notes after that show as well.

"when Buddy was playing quieter, slow, and sweet it was just awesome. He gets so much mileage out of one note with bending, vibrato, tone, etc. Gorgeous stuff. I honestly didn't care for it so much when he cranked it and burned. I thought it got a bit shrill and there was so much clipping it got muddy. That may have been a problem with the sound in that place"


I totally agree with you! His show here in Rio led me to the same conclusion.