B.B. KING BLUES FESTIVAL, featuring B.B. KING, KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD and TOWER OF POWER at the Deer Valley Resort amphitheater, Aug. 3; one performance only.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd stole the show. The young Louisiana guitarist grabbed the massive audience at the B.B. King Blues Festival last night with his musicality, charisma and sweet bluesy sound.After seeing Shepherd, King was a bit of a let down.
But give the 73-year-old bluesman credit. He's still touring. He's still making music. He's still releasing albums. It's just the fact that his guitar licks and chops have slowed a bit and aren't as sharp as they used to be.
Then again, his set's mix wasn't as crisp as Shepherd's or Tower of Power's.
Oakland's Tower of Power, which is celebrating its 30th year as a band, opened the festival with its self-proclaimed "East-Bay Soul." The 10-man band cranked out such tunes as "Soul with a Capital 'S', " "I Like Your Style" and the trademark ditty, "Soul Vaccination."
Each of the band members' instruments sounded clean and clear. And they were highlighted by Brent Carter's smooth lead vocals.
The band also threw in "What Is Hip" and the crooning ballad, "Willin' to Learn."
Shepherd hit the stage without a lot of fanfare. He just strapped on his Fender Stratocaster and strutted on stage. Once he began to strum, images of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix quickly came to mind.
Shepherd's sound was as if someone (or something) had pressed those two guitar heroes into one.
His band -- singer Noah Hunt, rhythm guitarist Keith Christensen, bassist Robby Emerson and drummer Sam Bryant -- gained a lot of respect and support by cranking out "Somehow, Somewhere, Someway," "Shame" and his No. 1 single, "Blue on Black."
Shepherd then previewed his new album, which the band just finished recording, with the blues-anthem "Shotgun."
Then getting back to the Hendrix mode, the band slid into an excerpt from "Third Stone from the Sun" and shucked the shells off of "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)."
"Voodoo Chile" was the set capper, and Shepherd milked his guitar for all its worth, even to the point of laying it on the ground and pounding its wammy bar. All he needed to do was set the instrument on fire, and his Hendrix tribute would have been complete.
King's band, like many vintage blues and soul bands from the past, played a couple of songs by itself before King emerged.
However, when King did come out with Lucille, his guitar, was strapped to his chest, but glitches plagued the sound. King's voice and guitar kept cutting out, and the band was hard to hear clearly.
But King, like the 73-year-old legend he is, played hard and had a good time doing it. Although he did have a memory lapse at one point.
"This next song is from my new album, 'Deuces,' " he said. "No, that ain't right, my new album is "Blues On the Bayou.' But, here's the song."
With that, King strummed out the intro to "I'll Survive."
"Let the Good Times Roll" and "Bad Case of Love" were a couple more of the shuffling blues tunes the band played.
It's wonderful King still makes music and plays live, but his guitar runs have dulled a bit. But then having someone like Shepherd on the scene gives hope to the die-hard blues fan. The blues are definitely here to stay.