King Of The Blues Still Has the Thrill

B.B. King’s tight eight-piece band, complete with piano, bass, drums, guitar and a four piece horn section, opens the performance with a fast, rocking blues. All the musicians get a chance to stretch out on long, soulful solos and get a feel for the crowd.

We’re ready and we let them know. One more number, and the man we’ve all come to hear is helped out to his chair. At 85, B.B. King sits center stage for his entire performance and needs help to get there. He’s handed “Lucille”, his famous Gibson guitar named for a woman who caused a fight that burned down a place he was playing at some fifty years ago, and begins. He needs no help with Lucille.

B.B. (short for Blues Boy) explains that he went to the doctor earlier that day and had two shots, and that he was told not to do the show that night, but nothing was going to stop him from playing. We cheer him on.

As the band plays softly behind him, he begins to apologize for his voice, and that he’ll do his best. Kind of like if Picasso had apologized for one of his works of art. The apology was of course completely unnecessary; he had us at hello. A fan in attendance affirmed that by shouting “We love you B.B!” Mr. King smiled and told us he loves us too. He says he and the band will “Try to sound as good as the man the theater is named for” but he doesn’t think they will. He asks his pianist to “Give us a little Basie on the keys” and he gladly obliges. Mr. King begins the first lyric, “Have you ever loved a woman?” answers the question with a few sweet, sharp notes on the guitar, and it’s on.

As King explains on his website “When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.” And sing he and Lucille do: slow blues, medium tempo, faster numbers, a Latin thing, the now softer, but still vital voice speaking eloquently the language of the blues.

As the king of the blues has gotten older, his performances have relied on him speaking with the audience maybe as much as he sings to it, and he does love to talk! The best blues, the best music is really a conversation and the humor and easy rapport between the performer and audience make for a special night as B.B. shares stories of love gone wrong, losing his mother at an early age, the trials and tribulations of being on the road, his favorite song (Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind”) and being awarded the Presidential Peace Prize, a medal he wears proudly on his jacket, and anything else that pops into his playful mind.

There is a constant, gentle dialogue between King and the members of his band as well, and as he announces each member, he kids them about their age, or height, or weight, or in the case of his excellent guitarist, Dennis James, how profusely he was sweating. A highlight of the performance comes on an up tempo number where the entire band drops out, B.B. unleashes some fire from Lucille, and Tony Coleman, the drummer responds, as they go back and forth in call and response. B.B. shakes his fist at Tony as they “do battle” and continue to trade phrases. He jokes that he has a knife and then smiles as the band comes back in to finish the number out.

A swinging version of “Rock Me Baby” gets us tapping our feet and singing along to the familiar chorus “Rock me baby, Rock me all night long” as the band contributes strong solos all around. “Keys To The Highway”, an early hit for King, is another favorite. The penultimate piece is a long, crowd pleasing take on “You Are My Sunshine”, a song we used to sing to our children at bed time. King explains “This one’s for the ladies” and tells them to “Kiss your guy on the count of four”, and they do.

He also shares that he has played in ninety countries and that everywhere he has ever been, no matter what language the people speak, they know the words to that song. The power of music!  

He closes the show with his trademark song, his biggest hit “The Thrill Is Gone” and as the band continues to vamp on the funky minor key groove, King throws guitar picks and necklaces to the crowd. Then, to the audience’s surprise, he begins to sign Lucille and hands her to a fan in the front row! He reads a letter of deep appreciation from “Robert” who was inspired to play the guitar from hearing King’s music, and how he has started his own band and is on his way to a career in music, as his band’s first CD is coming out. I can only imagine this was a night Robert will never, ever forget as he starts his own relationship with Lucille.  

When you see or hear an artist who is, and has for a long time been the best at what he does, an iconic figure who is synonymous with the medium he works in, you feel lucky just to be there, just to be in the same room. From the look on everyone’s face and the words I heard exiting the theater, everyone in attendance Friday night felt the same way.  

For more information, videos, music or upcoming concert dates visit www.bbking.com.