Joanne Shaw Taylor has been on my ‘must see live’ list for too long – the penultimate gig of her UK tour came to Bury St Edmunds last night and that was too close to home for me not to make the journey.
I was not alone, the Apex was full of keen fans eager to see the woman from Solihull who, at the age of thirteen, told her parents that her plan was to move to the USA and play blues guitar. As teenage plans go, that one seems to have worked out just fine for her.
As a genre The Blues can be like a fine sippin’ whiskey, something to be savored sitting next to a glowing fire on a winter’s evening, or The Blues can be like a bucket of ice cold water thrown at your naked body: awakening every fibre of your flesh and invigorating your soul. With Joanne Shaw Taylor and her excellent band you get the latter – a high energy show that never really slowed down – apart from ‘Fade Away’ – a heartfelt tribute to Joanne’s late Mum.
As if proving my whiskey analogy I almost didn’t recognise ‘Keep on Lovin’ Me’ (an Otis Rush cover) from its recording on the album ‘Blues From The Heart’. Recordings, by their nature, are sanitized things, live music is raw and, in your face, none more so than the blues. I’ve been covering too many folk gigs of late – you forget the basics!
‘Dyin’ to Know’ has a tribal rhythm, awash with riffs – I defy you to listen to it and keep your toes from tapping. Joanne took time out to tell a story about ‘Wild Love’, her deliberately cheesy 80s style number and the story behind the video that goes with it. Let’s just say shooting a music video isn’t all you might think it’s cracked up to be. As I understand it, no cowboys were hurt in the shooting of this video.
In any set, at any show, there will be a number that gets you for whatever reason, for me last night that was ‘Watch ‘em Burn’ – I just didn’t want it to end, of all the numbers in the set it is the one that allows Joanne to showcase her not inconsiderable talent as a guitarist. That and the fact that she and the band seemed to be having so much fun. When the band are enjoying a show, the audience can’t be far behind.
‘Runaway’ and ‘Sweet ‘Lil Lies’ finished off the set before the encore. Many bands are self-conscious about ‘the encore’. Perceived as a cheesy, self-indulgent, contrived thing. However, from the audience’s perspective, even though we know what’s going on, those few minutes spent clapping and staring at a quiet, empty stage – so recently the source of a wall of sound – hoping for just one more song is a very special sensation.
A great evening’s entertainment by and artist and band excelling at what they do and enjoying themselves. I will make sure I catch her next UK tour without doubt.
Joanne’s dog Hank has as big a following as the lady herself, but he pooed on the stage during soundcheck and was banished to the tour bus!
Opening for Joanne was Connor Selby, another performer on my ‘must see live’ list, so this show ticked two boxes in one. I had heard a lot about this young guitarist who grew up in Essex. Not least the recent announcement that he will feature on Mark Knopfler’s new charity single ‘Going Home’ alongside Bruce Springsteen, Brian May, Sam Fender, Slash and Eric Clapton, to name but a few!
Connor was playing solo so what we got were his songs just as they were written, with just him and his guitar. It takes guts to play solo when you normally have a band to back you up. But Connor is a confident young man as well as a talented guitarist and these raw blues numbers were a fitting prelude to the rest of the show. It was instantly obvious why he won ‘Young Artist of The Year’ for three consecutive years at the UK Blues Awards. Of all the numbers he played last night it was ‘Love Letter to the Blues’ that hit the mark with me, it really worked as a solo piece just oozing with his passion for the blues.
Having ticked two boxes on my ‘must see live’ list I now must add another box – to see Connor Selby with his band!
(First published on GrapevineLIVE.co.uk)
