It’s pretty rare to go to a concert and like both the opening act and the main performer, and even less likely when there are three bands. But the September 21, 1999 B.B. King Blues Festival at the Greensboro Coliseum showcased three top-notch blues acts, spanning generations of blues.

B.B. King, the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band and Indigenous made up the 1999 B.B. King Blues Fesitval. Tower of Power and Buddy Guy also performed at some dates.
The first act, Indigenous, was an unknown to me, but they were by far, one of the best openers I’ve seen in a long time. The group’s lead singer had a strong voice that bellowed out the blues with power, but his real talent was with the electric guitar he attacked throughout their one hour set.

His guitar whined, wailed and wowed me with a combination of upbeat blues and slower held-out notes a la the evening’s headliner, B.B. King. Several times, the lead singer introduced songs as being from their new album, yet the songs I enjoyed the most weren’t the album tracks.

The second act was a personal favorite of mine, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band. KWS had opened for Van Halen during their III tour, turning me on to Shepherd’s Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque rock/blues. Shepherd’s set consisted of an intro instrumental and the expected hits “Blue on Black” and “Slow Ride.”

Both are phenomenal live, especially “Slow Ride’s” tapping and wah-heavy solo. The highlight of his set though was his instrumental from his debut album entitled, “While We Cry.” The four-piece all sat on the drum riser, playing through the slow emotional piece that rocks in a live setting. Shepherd also covered Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile,” also sneaking in little pieces of Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” “Hey Joe” and “Third Rock From the Sun.”

If the night had ended right there, the concert would have already been satisfying. But B.B. King’s 14-song set was also thoroughly enjoyable. While I’m not as familiar with his music track by track, even at 74 years old, King still knows how to coax sweet sounds out of his vocal chords and his guitar, Lucille. The highlight of his set was when the band performed “The Thrill is Gone,” with its long held out accompaniment by the band that greatly contrasted King’s own short notes on the guitar.

Throughout his set, King talked to the audience a lot and talked personally to the people on the floor during several songs. After his set, he stayed out for a few minutes to throw guitar picks into the audience and to sign a few autographs.

King’s backing band also was exceptional, consisting of two sax players, a trumpet player, a bassist, a guitarist, a pianist and a percussionist. The band meshed well with King’s vocals and guitar licks, without overpowering King’s lead.

The B.B. King Blues Festival tour is over, though all three are still on the road, doing solo dates. If you have the chance to even see one of these acts live, do it. All three are exceptionally skilled live and have great interaction with the audience.

They’re obviously all in it for the music.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 23rd, 1999 at 8:27 pm and is filed under Music, Music Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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