What a great night for an outdoor concert! Jane and I headed to Headwaters Park in F.W. for this Ribfest show. For starters - this is a fantastic place to see live music. I love it under the rounded-top pavilion, with the smell of food (and ribs, on this ocassion) wafting through the air. I didn't know Ribfest was so well-attended. Man, we arrived a little before 8 and had to stand in line for about 15 minutes to get in; and Joe B. didn't start until 9!
The opening band was Brad Kelsey and Triple Tornado. Nice 3-piece 'blues band with an edge.' We saw them blister through a couple of Hendrix songs. Isaac shoulda been there. Funny thing though, Brad K. does NOT look like a blues guy. He looks more like me! Short hair, clean cut, nice-guy-lookin'-babyface (he has a baby-face, I don't know that I do). But he can play the guitar. He must be from around F.W., and I see he has some pics of himself playing at a local Christian coffeehouse. I might check into getting him to play at our Pavilion.
Other thoughts from the show:
- It's been awhile since I've been around this many bikers. Wow. We used to actually hang out in some biker bar sorta places back in the day, so I don't feel uncomfortable around them, but you just never know, you know. And the funny thing was... as we were standing with a couple of gangs, all decked out in their leathers and whatnot, it was wierd seeing them pull out their digital cameras and cell phones. My how times change. Jane read one of their patches which said, "God forgives, but Outlaws dont!" 'Nuff said.
- Bonamassa played an incredible show. If you just wanna listen to somebody make a guitar sing... it was beautiful. He is a good blues singer too, but his playin' is what amazed me. And he played almost straight through for just shy of 2 hours. At the 1 hour point he gave his bass player and drummer a break and he just played solo. And I bet he didn't say 10 words all night. Just played. Sometimes it helps to build a rapport with your audience, but I think this cat knows... they were here to hear him play, and that's what he did. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
- We're all just people, right? Before Joe B. played, I wasn't real sure what he looked like, but while waiting for him to start, we were standing where I often like to stand - right beside the stage; that way you can see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, you can often get a good look at chords and riffs, plus the music isn't quite so loud on my aging ears. So, before he starts, I see this almost-goofy looking guy runnin around behind the stage with a diet coke. I "thought" it was him. He was greetin everybody and lookin just real humble and nice. Then he ran back to the bus for something and tripped. He just laughed. It just struck me as kinda cool that this guy who has inspired thousands of people to come see him play is just as normal as the rest of us.
Well that's probably enough. I'm hoping Isaac will want to go down to Ribfest for lunch today. Southside Denny is playing, and the rib sampler I got last night just wasn't enough!
Peace.
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