Posted on 04/07/2014 8:35:15 AM PDT by raccoonradio
B.B. King has spent decades singing “The Thrill Is Gone.” Perhaps at long last it actually is. Make no mistake: King is a living legend, a national treasure, and the sobriquet “king of the blues” is not mere wordplay, but a title earned. To be in the same room as him and breathe the same air is an honor and a privilege.
But for the majority of King’s concert at the Peabody Opera House on Friday night, the sizeable crowd could have been excused for thinking that’s all they were going to get.
King’s shows in recent years have featured as much talk as playing, and the 88-year-old musician is obviously slowing down, just as anyone would. But the balance slipped way out of proportion at this show. King sat center stage and spoke, sometimes in non sequiturs, sometimes inaudibly. He flirted with women in the first few rows and made a few ribald comments, without apology. “I like to have fun,” he said. “I love who I am and what I do.”
For a while, the audience was with him, laughing at his jokes and asides. But it was 45 minutes into the show before King performed anything resembling a song. Even then, his playing was shaky. He explained that he and the band had been off for two months, causing him to lose confidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
The man is a helluva blues guitarist.
His performance was just awful at that time.
Spent more time talking, if one could call his verbal ramblings, talking, than playing a single note. His "band" were not too concerned about needing to play a single note either!
I was both embarrassed for him but also steamed to have paid for a couple of tickets plus parking for this event.
Some in the audience quietly mumbled and muttered their disgust at what was being foisted at us, in the name of a "musical performance, but there was no heckling going on in Kansas City. We're far more polite than St. Louis (who must be getting audience participation hints from Chicago.)
Smile.....
Ditto on that. I saw him there, too, on three separate occasions while visiting my parents in Bullhead City.
Also, I recall an interview he gave in 1987 (if memory serves me) where he recalled that there was a period in time when his music was no longer mainstream or appreciated and he was struggling financially until several bands (particularly English bands like U2) began performing covers of his music in the mid 80’s which created a new appreciation for his music, as well as nice financial windfall for him.
Always liked him, and have no issue with anything he may say or do now in the final years of his life.
Sounds about right and rings true to my ears. See my previous post on this thread.
awww... this makes me sad... but all-in-all, it seems the crowd just yelled out songs they wanted to hear...
“...music critics ...”
“Music Critics” are typically people who can’t or didn’t cut it in the real world, so they spend their times ripping apart people who can.
If I want to hear someone’s music, I’ll buy it and make my own mind up on it. Something either sings to your heart, or it doesn’t - and you know which is which. The way a particular phrasing on a guitar, a vocal, the rhythm of a drummer’s beat, or a violin solo grabs you is unique to every person’s soul and it moves them differently.
No one needs a “music critic” to tell them which way the wind blows.
Pretty much, no one needs a “music critic” for anything.
“...The nicest guy you would ever meet in the music industry...”
I’ve heard that about him too.
Fred Welsey, my mistake. Fred Cole was a white rock guitarist who had heart surgery recently...
“Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.” - Frank Zappa
different quote but quite appropriate!
King isn’t my favorite blues musician but his quest to die while playing the guitar is admirable.
Zappa also said the worst thing that happened to music was when the young guys started running the record companies, because they thought that because they were young, they better knew what young people wanted to hear, as opposed to the old cigar-chomping guys who said, “Who knows what it is, put it out there and see if it sells.”
Yep. I've seen Chuck in concert twice, the last time he got some verses jumbled and was clearly struggling. However, *nobody* jeered or heckled the man. It was the same with Dylan, who I saw in concert last year (mostly because Mark Knopfler was touring with him as a warm-up prior to his Privateering tour). Bob's voice is just about gone; if you didn't already know the songs there's no way you could make out the lyrics based on his current performances. Again, he got only applause.
It’s like seeing The Who...you know you’re not going to get the 70s version of the band, but it’s still part of rock history.
That doesn't give them the right to act like drunken boars. Even if B.B. King lip-syncs and manages to make it out on stage, he is entitled to some polite applause for what he's accomplished in the past.
We have a nice little restored old-fashioned 400 seat theater in town where some of the past greats perform for $15 or less tickets.
It is a nice way for the elder generation to show the younger generation some past entertainment greats and a way for some of the past entertainment greats to enjoy a little limelight and make a little pocket money for a quiet, respectful crowd.
If you want to act like a drunken boar, there are rock concerts and NHL games for that.
I decided to see Merle Haggard while he was still touring. I made the mistake of buying a general admission ticket to a performance at Billy Bob's Texas. I was too far away to really see him and the drunks screamed every time he started to play a song. After three songs, I left. Don't know if he was any good or not that night.
I saw Junior Brown there and bought a good seat up front. It was great. That guy is an awesome guitar player.
There are a lot of jag-offs in show biz that don't deserve even that, but B.B.King is definitely not one of that crowd. I'll bet your patrons will talk about this once in a lifetime opportunity for a long, long time.
I’ve seen that clip from Frank on youtube.
The tastemakers repeatedly pounded their heavy first on the industry. ASCAP wouldn’t publish hillbilly, race records, or the hybrid known as rock and roll (BMI would).
The tastemakers repeatedly told the Beatles and those American acts who’d gigged in Europe with them (and thought they’d be a smash over here) that “the guitar group sound is OUT”.
After Woodstock, the hipsters became the “tastemakers” and said “that sucks, nope, I don’t like that, wrong image, etc.”.
At least before that era, the suits were older and saw it as a business, rather than entertainment. They knew that they didn’t understand WHY something was a hit, knew that if it BECAME a hit, they could reap rewards, and generally were smart enough to stay out of the way (don’t try MAKING something a trend). Seizing upon a trend/fad wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Trying to predict it (or steer it) causes problems.
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