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Tony Joe White
Who doesn’t know “Polk Salad Annie”?
Tony Joe White was part of the first Bluesfest I attended, several Bluesfests since, and a big part of my youth. I had tears in my eyes while watching him this year; although he performed as powerfully as ever, he seemed frail. We are all getting older …
Isn’t it wonderful how a particular song can take you right back?
Back to the time and place you were when you first heard it? Music makes connections – across people, across continents, and across time.
The first time I attended the Byron Bay Bluesfest, back in 1999 when it was still called the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival, I felt as if the 25-odd years that had intervened between myself and the music concerts of my teens had simply fallen away. While listening to Taj Mahal, Jimmy Webb, Dr John, Tony Joe White, and other sounds from my adolescence, I remembered all the best things about those years. Even the songs associated with teenaged heartbreak felt sweet.
Every time I’ve returned to Bluesfest since then, I’ve had moments like that: moments of nostalgia, where old memories are as sharp as if it was yesterday – where I can remember the person I was as clearly as if there have been no changes in the many years intervening, while still retaining some of the perspective that comes from “growing up”.
This year was no different: mixed in with the cutting edge new performers were some of the “big names” from my youth. Truth be told, none excited me quite as much as the appearance of Robert Plant – from my beloved Led Zeppelin – whom we enjoyed in 2013 (see: Singing the Blues), but I was keen to hear the other contributors to the soundtrack of my adolescence who were on this year’s lineup.
They did not disappoint.
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Waiting for the Doobie Brothers – The Mojo Tent
The “big” names tend to be in the big tents. Even though those tents are jam-packed with people as keen to hear the old favourites as I am, the atmosphere makes it worth it to just be there. (iPhone6)
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Camera and Lights
The big tents are equiped with spot lights and cameras, so even without a direct view of the stage, you can still watch the screens either side of the stage, or outside.
Doobie Brothers (2014)
I managed to get reasonably close to the wonderful Doobie Brothers when they performed in 2014 (see: Full Blast and Full Colour), and I was hoping for a repeat this year.
Doobie Brothers (2017)
With members all well into their 60s, the band continues to tour regularly. I (and the rest of the packed-in audience) enjoyed them as much as ever!
Tom Johnston
A multi-instrumentalist, Tom Johnston was a founder of The Doobie Brothers, and has been a contributing guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter, off and on, over the band’s almost-40-year existence.
The Doobie Brothers
Bass guitar player John Cowan and Patrick Simmons on acoustic guitar.
Marc Russo – The Doobie Brothers
Tom Johnston and John McFee – The Doobie Brothers
Mavis Staples
American rhythm, blues, and gospel singer; actress; and civil rights activist, Mavis Staples scored her first hit in 1956, and has continued to influence music to the present (see: Blues Women Rock!).
Patti Smith
I’ve mentioned Patricia Lee “Patti” Smith before in Blues Women Rock! An American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist, she became a “punk poet laureate” with the album Horses in the mid 70s.
Rickie Lee Jones
Another woman who was part of the soundscape of my youth, Rickie Lee Jones looked tiny next to her big guitar – but her personality and sound commanded attention (see: Blues Women Rock).
Jimmy Buffet
On the second day of this year’s Bluesfest, the older festival-goers were all decked out in their Key West – Margaritaville-inspired flowery clothing, ready for the escapist, feel-good music of Jimmy Buffett and his band. I’m not sure who had more fun during the performance: Jimmy, or the “Parrotheads” in the audience!
Bonnie Raitt
With a career spanning from the 1970s, blues singer-songwriter, musician, and activist, Bonnie Raitt was part of the zeitgeist of my era.
Buddy Guy
It is clear that 80-year-old Buddy Guy loves what he does. We’ve enjoyed him before and caught him twice this year: he’s a virtuoso musician and consummate performer. As Jimi Hendrix once said: “Heaven is lying at Buddy Guy’s feet while listening to him play the guitar.”
Waiting for Jethro Tull
Another day, another packed-out tent: this time waiting for Jethro Tull, the legendary British group dating back to the late 1960s.
Ian Anderson and Florian Opahle
The lead vocalist and flautist for Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, is the driving force behind the progressive rock band. German rock guitarist Florian Opahle is the youngest regular musician to work with the group.
Santana on the Screen
People take pictures of the backdrop as they wait for the next big name to make it out onto the Crossroads stage.
Santana under Lights
I have loved the music of Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana since my days of high school “Sock-Hops” – the pre-cursers to Discos, before “discs” were even invented.
Santana on Guitar
His distinctive guitar melodies set against Latin and African rhythms have seen him listed as number 20 on the 2003 Rolling Stone magazine list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Cindy Blackman
Percussion has always been an important part of Santana’s music. The featured drum solo went to the jazz percussionist, Cindy Blackman-Santana.
Madness
Graham “Suggs” McPherson has been the lead vocalist of the English ska band Madness (formed in 1976) since 1977. Most of their songs that we recognised dated to the 80s and later.
Tony Joe White
“Swamp Music” is a genre all it’s own, and Tony Joe White is the epitome. In spite of being born eons away from swamps, I connect – immediately!
Hearing again those songs that were played daily on the radio, or that I listened to in a friend’s room via 45’s or albums, I was taken straight back into the past –
– not the real past, of course;
the remembered past, filtered by the lived years in between.
I SO love that I can enjoy the music and the memories without really going back to the world that was when I was that age!
To the MUSIC!
[…] Some are big names that take me back to my youth (see, for example: Bring on the Big Names; The Soundtrack of my Youth; Musical Name-Dropping; The Sound of Sunshine); others are more contemporary favourites that I […]