Buddy Guy with Quinn Sullivan and Robert Cray, Youngstown, Ohio

6/25/11

Buddy Guy at the Bluesfest in Youngstown, Ohio.

I got up the courage to make my first trip to downtown Youngstown Saturday night (after living in the area for 13 years) to see Robert Cray and Buddy Guy in a concert outside the Covelli Center. Buddy Guy is now 74 years old and I have been trying to see him for several years so I could check him off the list of great living guitarists I have seen, (Let's face it. He's 74. How many more chances am I going to get.) I expected a competent, generic concert. What I got was one of the top 10 live performances I have ever seen. Guy proved to be a phenomenal guitarist (which wasn't that much of a surprise) but he also was a great vocalist and consummate entertainer It is almost impossible to believe that this man is 74 years old but I know it is true because he sang a song about it and no one lies in a song--right? Anyway, this first clip is the first song of a Muddy Waters medley that Guy did. His command of the audience in this clip is incredible.

At about the half-way point of the concert Guy jumped into the audience and played his guitar while walking through the crowd. This is an old blues artist crowd pleasing trick but I have to say that Buddy did it better than any other artist I have seen. As you can tell from this video I had seats in the front row and because of that got some great video of Buddy soloing.

Toward the end of the concert Guy brought out his protege, 12 year old Quinn Sullivan. I had heard of Sullivan before as Guy has been using him in his concerts since Quinn was about eight years old. Sullivan is one of a series of young guitar hotshots that have been introduced over the last few years as the youthful savior of the blues. I am not sure what kind of career Sullivan will have but on this night he played some great guitar and proved to be almost the equal of Guy in guitar licks.

The official opening act for Guy was blues guitarist/vocalist Robert Cray. I have been attempting to see Cray for about 20 years so I was happy to see him on the line-up for this concert. I have to say that I was slightly disappointed with his performance. He was slick and competent but I felt he leaned too heavily on his recent attempts at pop crossover songs. I would have preferred to hear more from his break out period of the early '80s or more blues-oriented material. It was also amusing when Buddy Guy called Cray up for the encore of his set only to find that Cray had left the venue. The look of annoyance on Guy's face was priceless.

The unofficial opening act for the concert was a duo from Youngstown. I only know the singer's name is Hoss. He did a great job in a tough situation singing some old Blood, Sweat and Tears. I hope I can catch him again sometime in the future.

All in all this was one of the best concert experiences I have had in the last few years. I would advise everyone to see Buddy Guy at your earliest opportunity while you still can.

Huckin' Fillbillys and Rock Steady, Conneaut Lake, PA

6/18/2011
I've always had good luck with classic rock cover bands at The Beach Club at Conneaut Lake and last night proved to be no major exception. The first video is of a band called Hucking Fillbillys (how clever) out of Youngstown, Ohio. I have to give this band credit for bringing a huge support crew and putting on a show with all the gadgets (dry ice, laser lights, etc.) that  have become associated with "rock" shows. The band is actually pretty effective although a whole night of this kind of posturing could become annoying.

After the Fillbillys decided to take a break I ventured down the road to Fairway 12 where much to my surprise they had  a stripped down power trio holding court. I found this group interesting simply because the lead singer was also the drummer. I can't imagine the physical dexterity it must take to do both things at the same time. But maybe that is because I am a clumsy idiot. Speaking of idiots, you will notice one jump up on the bandstand about halfway through this video. It got worse later as four or five of these guys jumped up on the bandstand and started picking up random guitars that weren't being used. If it was me I would have kicked them in the gonads but this band was surprisingly cool about it all.

All in all this was a pretty typical night of rock, rowdiness and rednecks at Conneaut Lake.

Elvis Costello, Pittsburgh, PA

6/17/2011
After a long musical break I had the opportunity last night to see Elvis Costello for the second time at Trib Total Media Amphitheatre in Station Square. On this tour Costello is using the gimmick of featuring a large wheel on stage with various "hits" from various points in his career. Audience members were asked on stage to spin the wheel and then whatever song came up, the band was supposed to perform the song. An interesting idea and it let Elvis flirt with some pretty girls that were brought up on stage although I noticed that he tended to ignore the results from the wheel and find a reason to play pretty much whatever song he wanted. In the end this was a solid concert although not as strong as his "greatest hits" tour of a few years ago which I caught in Baltimore. This clip features Costello's "Watching The Detectives." You will notice at the beginning of the clip that the show featured a go-go cage at the left of the stage which usually contained a dancing girl.