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karohemdManaged to wangle myself out of work by 4, drove to the station and just missed the 16:15 train so had to wait for half an hour. Not too bad as I had a big book to read. Having been rather hot during the day, it started to rain, too, but I had packed hat and rainjacket (standard open air gear). Beat rush hour and got to the North Gate at 6:20 not quite knowing if I was at the right spot because nobody else was there (gate open was supposed to be 6:30). I guess because the weather wasn't brilliant (it had stopped raining, though) and there were allocated seats, people took their time arriving.
Anyway, they opened on time so I wandered around the moat for a bit, wished I could have brought a camera because there was a cool Beefeater (neatly trimmed white beard, in his traditional hat and tabard but with a secret agent style earpiece ;o) I would have loved taking a few portraits of.
The audience was mostly settled middle-aged and older people with very few people in their twenties (and most of those looked like musicians) so I felt young again.
Good thing you were allowed to bring in food and drink because the bar prices were outrageous (7 quid for a burger!)
After sitting and reading in the marquee for a while I found my seat (Block B, not too far away from the stage but outside the prestigious roofed front bit (150+ quid, yeah right, I wish they wouldn't do shit like that because it was half empty).
Buddy Guy
Anyway, they started on time (being introduced by a Beefeater, how cool is that?) and Buddy Guy came on stage. He's 70 this year and it doesn't show a single bit. OK, he doesn't run or jump around the stage like a madman but he definitely has a massive presence, singing, playing, gestures, every single bit conveying emotion and dedication. He played a variety of blues numbers, a few from his new album and an absolutely awesome 20 minute version of Hoochie Coochie Man. Well, it started and ended as that but had loads of extra bits in between including one of the best verses ever:
One leg was in the East
One leg was in the West
I was right down in the middle
And tryyyyyying my very best
I think only Robert Johnson's "Baby, squeeze my lemons until the juice runs down my legs" (Travelling Riverside Blues) beats that one. ;o)
Then came the best bit: He said something along the lines of "Do you mind if I come down for a bit?". Obviously nobody did, so he went backstage and came out to the front and wandered around the audience for at least 10 minutes, singing and playing and having a great time enjoying the attention. That was the one point in my life where I wished I had a camera phone (or brought my pocket digicam) as he was about 2m away at one point. He looks a bit older close up but definitely not 70. Ace.
Was it worth spending around 75 quid for not quite an hour of Buddy Guy? Hell yeah! It was an opportunity not to be missed and I'm glad I didn't. He was the last great bluesmen I hadn't seen (and who are still alive, I've missed the Alberts, for example)
I guess he was the reason most people had come (mine was Buddy Guy) and, well, he was OK.
Obviously, he was technically brilliant but I simply can't stand self-referential fretboard wankers. Buddy Guy has more stage presence in the button of his denim dungarees than this bloke in his whole body. The fact that it was purely instrumental and that he basically didn't interact with the audience at all (I think he said thank you three times in total). The rest of his band were equally technically brilliant but just as emotionless. It was all too clean, too perfect, too boring.
I kept checking my watch and planned to leave by 10:15 to beat the rush to the exit when he picked that time to finish his main set, anyway so I left with no regret that I would miss the encore. Shame, really but he didn't do anything for me.
Made it to KingsX in good time (caught the 10:5x) but obviously had the engineering works to contend with which meant getting off at Stevenage, taking a coach to Royston (which was quick and not too bad) but then having to wait almost 40 minutes for the train to leave from there which meant I was finally in Cambridge at 0:30. :o(
In closing, to repeat what I said last night:
Ticket for Buddy Guy and some unknown white guitarist called Jeff Beck at the Tower Festival - £60
One Day Travelcard - £15
Seeing Buddy Guy sing and play from two metres away - priceless
Anyway, they opened on time so I wandered around the moat for a bit, wished I could have brought a camera because there was a cool Beefeater (neatly trimmed white beard, in his traditional hat and tabard but with a secret agent style earpiece ;o) I would have loved taking a few portraits of.
The audience was mostly settled middle-aged and older people with very few people in their twenties (and most of those looked like musicians) so I felt young again.
Good thing you were allowed to bring in food and drink because the bar prices were outrageous (7 quid for a burger!)
After sitting and reading in the marquee for a while I found my seat (Block B, not too far away from the stage but outside the prestigious roofed front bit (150+ quid, yeah right, I wish they wouldn't do shit like that because it was half empty).
Buddy Guy
Anyway, they started on time (being introduced by a Beefeater, how cool is that?) and Buddy Guy came on stage. He's 70 this year and it doesn't show a single bit. OK, he doesn't run or jump around the stage like a madman but he definitely has a massive presence, singing, playing, gestures, every single bit conveying emotion and dedication. He played a variety of blues numbers, a few from his new album and an absolutely awesome 20 minute version of Hoochie Coochie Man. Well, it started and ended as that but had loads of extra bits in between including one of the best verses ever:
One leg was in the West
I was right down in the middle
And tryyyyyying my very best
I think only Robert Johnson's "Baby, squeeze my lemons until the juice runs down my legs" (Travelling Riverside Blues) beats that one. ;o)
Then came the best bit: He said something along the lines of "Do you mind if I come down for a bit?". Obviously nobody did, so he went backstage and came out to the front and wandered around the audience for at least 10 minutes, singing and playing and having a great time enjoying the attention. That was the one point in my life where I wished I had a camera phone (or brought my pocket digicam) as he was about 2m away at one point. He looks a bit older close up but definitely not 70. Ace.
Was it worth spending around 75 quid for not quite an hour of Buddy Guy? Hell yeah! It was an opportunity not to be missed and I'm glad I didn't. He was the last great bluesmen I hadn't seen (and who are still alive, I've missed the Alberts, for example)
I guess he was the reason most people had come (mine was Buddy Guy) and, well, he was OK.
Obviously, he was technically brilliant but I simply can't stand self-referential fretboard wankers. Buddy Guy has more stage presence in the button of his denim dungarees than this bloke in his whole body. The fact that it was purely instrumental and that he basically didn't interact with the audience at all (I think he said thank you three times in total). The rest of his band were equally technically brilliant but just as emotionless. It was all too clean, too perfect, too boring.
I kept checking my watch and planned to leave by 10:15 to beat the rush to the exit when he picked that time to finish his main set, anyway so I left with no regret that I would miss the encore. Shame, really but he didn't do anything for me.
Made it to KingsX in good time (caught the 10:5x) but obviously had the engineering works to contend with which meant getting off at Stevenage, taking a coach to Royston (which was quick and not too bad) but then having to wait almost 40 minutes for the train to leave from there which meant I was finally in Cambridge at 0:30. :o(
In closing, to repeat what I said last night:
Ticket for Buddy Guy and some unknown white guitarist called Jeff Beck at the Tower Festival - £60
One Day Travelcard - £15
Seeing Buddy Guy sing and play from two metres away - priceless
