Jane and I took in a Coco Montoya show at the lovely C2G Music Hall last Saturday night. Wow - what a show!!! It had been a long time since we'd been to C2G, but after seeing Coco it made us want to go back for more again.
I had heard of Coco, but didn't really know a lot about him. Mostly just that he played blues guitar. And does he ever play it! I guess he started out as a drummer with Albert Collins, and apparently Albert taught him to play guitar. Although he's a lefty, but the way he plays it you would think it's SUPPOSED to be played that way. Wow. So we were treated to two hours of blistering blues and a few good stories. He was quite the gentleman all night too. He is a big man, which makes a stratocaster look like a mere toy in his hands.
He was backed by a drummer, bass, and keyboard/organ. The organist was pretty special too - he went off on several long forays. The drummer and 6-string bass player played their parts superbly. They didn't draw much attention to themselves, but played flawlessly the entire night.
There were a ton of good songs, but my favorite was probably the quieter It's My Own Tears. They really knew how to play not only loud, but had such a controlled sound when quiet too. There were a few times when Coco would even sing without the mic, and it was perfect. Just an excellent show.
Logistically, we arrived about 7:30-ish for the 8 pm show because we didn't have tickets yet. I had 2 coupons for $5 off the Day of Sale price - which I thought was $25 - but it ended up costing us $50 for the pair. The lady said DOS was supposedly $30... I don't know. Regardless of the cost, it was worth it.
We also saw many familiar faces among the C2G people. I never did talk to anyone. Tom S. sat right behind us too. I'd say there were maybe 80-100 people there. Not much had changed. It is still one of the best small venues for music in Fort Wayne as far as I'm concerned.
A good night.
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