It was a warm night outside but everything was cool inside the Beachland Ballroom. The Beachland Ballroom is such a gem of a concert hall for Cleveland to have. I keep preaching the gospel of Paul Thorn and followers keep being converted. Hoss and Basha are two new Paul Thorn believers. Paul Thorn converted the Beachland into his own church for the evening. With his songs of twisted faith, good and evil, trailer parks and being a long way from Tupelo.
He starts out the night with a rocking, gospel tinged, sing along "Promised Land".
He moves into a bluesy "Walk Without My Crutches".
Of course there has to be a cheating woman with Aqua Velva on her breath, "Burn Down The Trailer Park".
Paul does a cover of the Elvin Bishop tune "What The Hell Is Going On?", which is also the name of the Paul Thorn Band's new album. He tells the crowd you are going to hell if you don't buy a CD after the show.
He gets a little moody in "Mood Ring".
And keeps it slow with "Love Scar" about a tattoo that was gotten when a girl was in love and then finds out it was only a one night stand.
Paul covers a Lindsey Buckingham song "Don't Let Me Down Again".
Swings into a sexy song "Walk In The Shadow".
He sings a song that reveals how he grew up with a father who was a preacher and an uncle who is a pimp in the delightful song "Pimps and Preachers".
Paul now goes acoustic solo on "He Knows When I'm On Your Mind".
He covers a Donnie Fritts song "She's Got A Crush On You".
Still going it alone acoustically he wonderfully sings "Lift Somebody Up".
The full band joins Paul again in a swampy song called "Snake Farm", which had a real nice fade out at the end.
He gets the crowd revved up with "I Don't Like Half The Folks I Love".
He Keeps rolling with bring me a hoe there's "Weeds In Your Roses".
The band gets a little bluesy on an Allen Toussaint song "Wrong Number".
He sings of throwing a man off a bridge into the river on a Wild Bill Emerson song "Bull Mountain Bridge". Great harmonies with the whole band on vocals.
They get Funky on "Ain't Love Strange".
A crowd favorite, a song of hope "I Have A Good Day Every Now And Then"
Paul will only tell his wife when he comes home late one night that he was "A Long Way From Tupelo". This is one of Paul Thorn's best songs.
After lying and cheating in the last song he wants us all to "Rise Up".
The Encore is a 50's style rocker where Paul ends up walking through the crowd shaking hands and kissing women "Take My Love With You".
Paul Thorn is one of the great story teller, song writers of our time. We need to get more converts coming to his shows. When you leave a Paul Thorn show you have a smile on your face because you have truly been entertained for the past two hours. I must say that his band seems to have stepped up their game some. Billy Hinds is definitely a great mood setting guitarist. Michael Graham may sit in the back of the stage but his keyboards are right out front on many songs. Ralph Friedrichsen can be bluesy or funky or country on his bass. Jeffry Perkins keeps the whole band together with a good back beat.
As always Paul Thorn puts out a 5 twirl show.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Walter Trout Canton Blues Fest. 6/8/12
I got a call from my friend Nob who lives in Canton telling me to come on down to Canton for the Blues Fest. This is a free event held in down town Canton featuring two days of music. Nob was very excited because Walter Trout was going to be head lining on Friday night and Coco Montoya was head lining Saturday night. I have heard of Walter Trout from my friend Bri Boy so I decided to take the ride to Canton and check Walter out. Man was I glad I went.
It was a beautiful summer night in the high 70's not a cloud in the sky. An older crowd sat in lawn chairs or on blankets. Nob and I stood off to the side of the stage.
Walter Trout is a middle aged Blues guitarist that has played with Canned Heat and John Mayall's Blues Breakers. He plays a rocking white mans blues which is a cross over between blues and rock and roll. Walter likes playing the high notes on his Fender guitar which made most of thee night just scream with excitement. The crowd danced and swayed on the grassy square between the down town Canton buildings.
Half way through his set Walter Trout plugs tomorrow nights headliner Coco Montoya, who also played with the Blues Breakers, and who just joined band on the stage to play two songs with Walter Trout. Coco just didn't play he also sang. Seeing these two great guitarists on stage trading licks back and forth will be one of my concert highlights for years to come.
Walter finishes out the night with a rousing rendition of Freddie Kings "Going Down" which left everyone in attendance dancing and cheering for more.
If you get a chance next year check out the Canton Blues Fest it is a well kept secret that everyone should become a part of.
I give this show 5 twirls with some moth catcher hand moves thrown in. I was wowed.
My rating system is based on Grateful Dead dance moves 5 twirls being the highest and Moth Catcher Hand Moves are like adding another half of point on.
It was a beautiful summer night in the high 70's not a cloud in the sky. An older crowd sat in lawn chairs or on blankets. Nob and I stood off to the side of the stage.
Walter Trout is a middle aged Blues guitarist that has played with Canned Heat and John Mayall's Blues Breakers. He plays a rocking white mans blues which is a cross over between blues and rock and roll. Walter likes playing the high notes on his Fender guitar which made most of thee night just scream with excitement. The crowd danced and swayed on the grassy square between the down town Canton buildings.
Half way through his set Walter Trout plugs tomorrow nights headliner Coco Montoya, who also played with the Blues Breakers, and who just joined band on the stage to play two songs with Walter Trout. Coco just didn't play he also sang. Seeing these two great guitarists on stage trading licks back and forth will be one of my concert highlights for years to come.
Walter finishes out the night with a rousing rendition of Freddie Kings "Going Down" which left everyone in attendance dancing and cheering for more.
If you get a chance next year check out the Canton Blues Fest it is a well kept secret that everyone should become a part of.
I give this show 5 twirls with some moth catcher hand moves thrown in. I was wowed.
My rating system is based on Grateful Dead dance moves 5 twirls being the highest and Moth Catcher Hand Moves are like adding another half of point on.
Steve Kimock 5/18/12 Beachland Ballroom
I have seen Steve Kimock before but always playing in some one Else's band, Rat Dog, The Dead. I was really looking forward to tonight seeing Steve perform his own music with the star studded group of musicians that he surrounded himself with. Steve has 10 guitars on stage and through out the night will use them all. Other than Steve Kimock, also on the stage was Bernie Worrel one of the best on keyboards in the industry hailing from Parliment Funkadelic and the Talking Heads. Bernie adds a bit of music royalty to any band he decides to sit in with. Bernie does know how to Jam and this was going to be a Jam Band night. Andy Hess on Bass from Gov't Mule and the Black Crows really fits in better with this type of music format than he did with Gov't Mule. The free form Jazz lets him play to his potential. Wally Ingram from Sheryl Crow on drums, army helmet wood blocks, cymbals with beads that make a swooshing sound and other fun little doo dads to beat on.
The night starts out with "Congo Man Chant" with hints of "Get Up Stand Up" we are jamming.
the sing along song "Whack" is next which had the whole crowd sounding like a bunch of ducks. Whack...Whack Whack. This was a fun song.
The rest of the first set ranged from Jazz based songs to rock and roll, to Jerry Garcia sounding jams with songs such as "Thing One", "One For Brother Mike", "High and Lonesome" and "You're The One".
The band takes a break and starts out with "Space" then drifts into a wonderful version of "Stella Blue". They then drift in and out of "Its Up To You" "Better Get In Your Soul","Its Up To You". They finish on a high note with "Take Me To The River".
This was not a show for everyone. There was some very good moments of Jamming and musical playing where the crowd is dancing. BUT, there were long periods where the crowd was just standing and staring at the stage. These periods are when the band is playing what I call experimental music. This might be fun for the musicians but it loses me and obviously the rest most of the rest of the crowd. I don't mind a little of the experimental noise making but the second set just had a bit too much. For me the experiment failed. Steve Kimock is a wonderful guitarist, Bernie Worrel as I said is royalty on keyboards, Andy Hess is a very accomplished Bass player and Wally Ingram is fun on the drums but while they are having fun doing there experiment the crowd just stares. Sorry but I give this show only 3 twirls.
The night starts out with "Congo Man Chant" with hints of "Get Up Stand Up" we are jamming.
the sing along song "Whack" is next which had the whole crowd sounding like a bunch of ducks. Whack...Whack Whack. This was a fun song.
The rest of the first set ranged from Jazz based songs to rock and roll, to Jerry Garcia sounding jams with songs such as "Thing One", "One For Brother Mike", "High and Lonesome" and "You're The One".
The band takes a break and starts out with "Space" then drifts into a wonderful version of "Stella Blue". They then drift in and out of "Its Up To You" "Better Get In Your Soul","Its Up To You". They finish on a high note with "Take Me To The River".
This was not a show for everyone. There was some very good moments of Jamming and musical playing where the crowd is dancing. BUT, there were long periods where the crowd was just standing and staring at the stage. These periods are when the band is playing what I call experimental music. This might be fun for the musicians but it loses me and obviously the rest most of the rest of the crowd. I don't mind a little of the experimental noise making but the second set just had a bit too much. For me the experiment failed. Steve Kimock is a wonderful guitarist, Bernie Worrel as I said is royalty on keyboards, Andy Hess is a very accomplished Bass player and Wally Ingram is fun on the drums but while they are having fun doing there experiment the crowd just stares. Sorry but I give this show only 3 twirls.
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