Jeff Beck Live
Saturday night, my Dad took my sisters and me to see Jeff Beck live. I had never seen Jeff Beck before, I had just heard a few of his songs, but my Dad ensured me that he was a phenomenal guitarist, informing us that Rolling Stone ranked him as the 5th best guitarist in America.
Soon after we made our way to our seats at PNC Pavillion, the opener started playing, a young musician named Billy Raffoul. We were actually glad we had arrived a little early, as Billy was very talented, choosing to play solo with just his guitar. He had a more bluesy, alternative vibe going, and the audience was very pleasantly surprised.
When Jeff Beck finally came out – very nonchalantly by the way – he started immediately into some classic Jeff Beck songs. He played without vocals for a few songs, backed by Ronda Smith on bass, Jonathan Joseph on drums, and Nicolas Meier on guitar. Beck very generously highlighted his band members in certain songs, letting Smith and Meier each play solo. Smith showed great skill as a bassist, switching expertly between three different bass instruments. Meier showcased his unique sound on guitar, which I read in his bio was influenced by jazz, Turkish music, Flamenco, and other ethnic sounds.
After these instrumental songs, vocalist Jimmy Hall, from the band Wet Willie, joined Jeff Beck onstage. Hall has worked extensively with Beck throughout the years, which is very evident, as the two performed effortlessly well together. Hall has a very powerful voice, heavily influenced by R&B. The songs Beck and Hall played together were some of the best of the night, and the audience loved them.
Jeff Beck paid tribute to many other Rock and Roll artists throughout the night. He played the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”, Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”, Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”, and many other great rock songs. Beck played each song with so much ease and skill, and it was really great to be able to hear these songs live by a great musician, which was how they were meant to be heard.
The best tribute of the night had to be the last song Jeff Beck played during the encore. With the news of BB King’s death on Thursday, Beck and his band quickly rehearsed and decided to end the show with a tribute to the late great BB King, playing his classic song “The Thrill is Gone.” They really rocked out to this song, playing their final number and tribute with great enthusiasm. It was very evident how much they all respected BB King, and it was a great way to end such an awesome concert.
I had a blast at the Jeff Beck concert. It was so much fun to be able to listen to such talented musicians, and get a glimpse of what it would have been like to see such artists back in the day. My sisters and I got many appreciative comments from other fans, who were happy to see younger people in the audience listening to some good music (as you can imagine, the crowd for Jeff Beck skewed a bit older.) The only complaint of the night came from my dad, and he was just slightly bummed that Jeff Beck didn’t play his classic song “Freeway Jam.” Overall, we all had a great time listening to some very talented musicians amazing music.
At the Jeff Beck concert!