Bluestown sessions

ezietsman

So I went to the Bluestown sessions gig last night. I went to the first one which was great. Last night can be summed up as follows:

Opening act: 1 blues song and some other stuff. Good band but no blues

House band: Boulevard Blues. Sigh. They play rock now. Good band, wtf is the blues?

Fritz Brand: Awesome
Redeye Riaan: Awesome

Some guy that looks like he fell off the Bon Jovi roadie bus: Shred shred shred yawn.... tasteless shredding at that. Like Yngwie but with less cool stage moves.

Natasha Meister: This girl is 20 years old and has been playing for only 4 or 5 years. She kicks ass. Excellent singer and she can play the socks off most people on this forum. Good use of dynamics and she knows what blues is. Best version of House of the Rising Sun I've heard. Its a good thing she played, the only good reason together with Fritz and Riaan, for going last night.

Some duo: No blues in sight, that was country people. They shouldn't be playing at a 'blues' gig and much less at the Table Mountain Blues summit.

Something happened in Cape Town and the good blues bands are nowhere to be seen. Also, Mika is right, South African bands are mostly boring because they try to emulate <some american act>. Bah. I'm not going to the TMBS this year, the only good blues will be from Dan Patlansky and he plays late.

This all said, the crowd liked the shredding but Miss Meister was the only one that was asked for an encore.

Time I got my own band going, I'm sure I can do better blues than what was shown last night even though my playing skills are far less evolved than some of the players around.

Jack-Flash-Jr

/end rant ?

You're 100% right. Swing by for some more rock at Jolly Roger on Sat and we'll throw some blues in the way it was meant to be played... in a smoky bar at 1am with a dancer on the stripper pole and a string of old timers at the bar.

ezietsman

Jack Flash Jr wrote: /end rant ?

You're 100% right. Swing by for some more rock at Jolly Roger on Sat and we'll throw some blues in the way it was meant to be played... in a smoky bar at 1am with a dancer on the stripper pole and a string of old timers at the bar.

Yes! Hellfire is the best band in town!

Bob-Dubery

Jack Flash Jr wrote: /end rant ?

You're 100% right. Swing by for some more rock at Jolly Roger on Sat and we'll throw some blues in the way it was meant to be played... in a smoky bar at 1am with a dancer on the stripper pole and a string of old timers at the bar.

No porn trying to creep up Rene's leg? I'd be asking for my money back.

Jack-Flash-Jr

X-rated Bob wrote:
Jack Flash Jr wrote: /end rant ?

You're 100% right. Swing by for some more rock at Jolly Roger on Sat and we'll throw some blues in the way it was meant to be played... in a smoky bar at 1am with a dancer on the stripper pole and a string of old timers at the bar.
No porn trying to creep up Rene's leg? I'd be asking for my money back.

You didn't read properly

dancer on the stripper pole

That's our new name for Rene's leg.

singemonkey

I agree with everything EZ said. Great musicianship does not always equal great blues. But Fritz and Riaan gave me a blues fix and Natasha Meister was a revelation. I assumed she was a good singer/songwriter with solid guitar chops piggy-backing on the "blues" label. She turned out not only to be the bluesiest of the blues/rock guitar players present (EZ and I are coughing in her dust as players) but to have this fantastic Amy Winehouse inspired vocal. Why are all the random North Americans that pop up in SA so damn good? ??? Do they check people's chops at customs or something?

Vic. Speaking of you getting your money's worth, where should Hellfire be playing in Stellenbosch?

Edit: How did I read Bob's post as coming from Vic?

Question still stands though.