B. B. King - September 8th, 2005

September 8th, 2005
Mullins Center,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

B. B. King, on his 80th birthday tour, proved that age is no factor when it comes to singin' the blues. Here's how it happened...

Kenny Wayne Shepherd started off the night on the right note, just whetting the audience's appetite. Kenny and his band played a long set of a great mix of rock and blues. (Sorry, no complete set list ). His guitar finely honed guitar playing was a fantastic experience and the lead singer, Noah Hunt, did justice to the rest of the band with his strong vocals. The band's one hour set included the excellent numbers like "Shame, Shame, Shame" which was immaculately delivered by Noah Hunt, "Deja Voodoo"and an awesome cover of Voodoo Child. It could have been Jimi Hendrix right up there on stage with his axe! Kenny Wayne Shepherd is definitely a guitarist and a performer to keep an eye on. As B. B. King said, these are the youngers that will keep the blues going. But I'm getting ahead myself here..

I'm glad they had the half hour or so of a gap after the opening show. We definitely needed the time to digest the music and clear our heads for the main act! :) .. First on stage was his band, or should I call it his Jazz orchestra? We had four wind instrumentalists, two guitarists, a drummer and a mean pianist first walk onto the stage and give a rousing jazz intro to herald the arrival of...
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Blues Master, The Man Himself, The King of the Blues, Misterrrrrrr....
B. B. King....

80 years old, and he walks onto the stage like he's still a sprightly 50. Other than being seated centerstage throughout the performance (coz of his diabetes) no one would have guessed that his man had been playing the blues for the past 70 odd years. His voice is a roar when he needs to and he can make his guitar, Lucille, wail like the banshee she sometimes is. His performance was the best I've ever seen from a musician. Just by looking at him, his expressions and his movements, one knows that he feels the music, he is the music. His face screws up with his guitar notes and his shoulders are dancing while he's seated. Makes you feel that, if not for his knees, he'd be up on stage giving Mick Jagger a serious run for his money! And the best part of the concert, by far, was the rapport that he develops with the audience. He loves his audience and his audience adores him. It was like being in a room with him, and like we were a small group of people seated around him with him telling us his stories and singing to us. Or it could have been around a campfire.

I could go on forever trying to describe the experience. But no words can describe a B. B. King concert. I'll just try to tell ya'll the highlights as I remember them...

So he comes on stage, waves, bows, sits, and hammers out some instrumentals... I guess he wants to get our attention - as if he needs to!!!!
Then he speaks -

"Thank you for sticking around for an old man..."

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa.. cheeers from the audience..

"They tell me this is my 80th year.
Some say it's my last."

Boos and "NOOOOs" from the audience.. and he says -

"That's what I told them too!"

That basically set the trend for the evening. I think it'd be fair to say that he spoke more than he sang! But what a speaking it was, and when he sang.. what a singing it was!!



I couldn't get the entire set list.. coz there were obviously songs I didn't know, but more so coz of the fact that many of them were just pure blues instrumentals.. which gave me Goosebumps!! However here is a sampling of the songs in the (rough) order it was played.. again, there are some gaps in this list.. so if anyone stumbles onto this and wants to fill in the gaps, please do so.

• Why I Sing The Blues
• Nightlife ------He starts off by talking about Willie Nelson and how his favourite song by him is "Always On My Mind". So we all expected him to sing that, but instead he played Nightlife. Which was very very cool also!
• All Over Again
• Love Comes To Town ------ He got a good laugh out of the meager audience response the first time he started to sing this song, and then with his encouragement, he had us all bellowing along with him to this one. BTW, It was a really small audience surprisingly. I'd say about 3000 people tops!! But that didn't faze B B King at all..
• Ain't That Just Like A Woman ----- So he starts off with his love for women and all that... about how he'd sit in the street in Memphis, playing his guitar and looking at the pretty ladies. And he goes "I've got two doctors and a nurse to take care of me.. Dr. Viagra, Dr. Cialis and Nurse Levitra". Then for the song, he asked the men to take permission from their significant others to sing along with him.. :D.. but with the caveat that they'd have to go without supper that night if they were brave along to actually sing along..Wow, did he stretch this one out! But it was hilarious and worth every stretching. What an entertainer.
• You Are My Sunshine ----- Followed up the last song with this one being "... for the ladies". This was so slow and nice and mellow .. Goosebumps again..
• Key To The Highway ----- He talks about Eric Clapton at this point. Talks about Ridin' With The King.
• The Thrill is Gone ---- sighhhhhhhhhh
• Please Accept My Love
• I Know

I've got only 10 of the many other songs that he played here. These are the songs I recognized.. there were a bunch of instrumentals and numbers which I had no idea about. So if anyone has a more complete set-list from that night, I'd sure appreciate any inputs.

Nidhi, Lava, Razvan & Fransesc were the company I had.. and it was a terrific show. Worth every cent of that arm and leg that I had to shell out for prime seats. :D

I think he created a few new blues fans that night! I did overhear someone saying that she was a convert.. and then some people I know personally! ;)

p.s. sorry about the poor pictures, my camera couldn't deal with the low lights..