Jonny Lang - 28 FEB 98

Jonny Lang - 28 Feb 98

Future Blues player 8 year old Steven clutched his miniature electric guitar with dreams of having his idol Jonny Lang scroll his signature across it's face. Surrounding him were screaming teenage girls, several of whom climbed onto the stage in hopes of touching the blonde guitar player commanding the stage at the House Of Blues. Somewhat reminicent of the reaction to the young Frank Sinatra and The early Beatles. (The group Paul McCartney was in before Wings, for those of you too youth challanged to remember) The show would have been much more pleasant had these same young females not been trying to blow our ears out with their 150 decibel glass shattering screams of approval.

Jonny Lang is very young. From the opening song where he runs onto the stage, playing his guitar, he controls and commands it with a presence that is far older than he is. He reminds me a lot of the way B.B. King controls the stage, giving his excellent supporting musicians time in the spotlight, but its always his show and he controls it and guides it throughout the excellent set.

If this sold out show is any indication, this kid has a long career ahead of him. His voice is powerful, commanding, sounds like he has been smoking for 20 years, and (again!!) far more mature than his age. His guitar playing is good to excellent, always playing just enough for the song, not too much, not too little, spending time trading licks with his backup guitar player, again reminding me of B.B. King. He does not have the chops of Chris Duarte, Jimmie Thackery, or some of the other "guitar slingers", but he is primarily a singer who plays guitar and that works for him, and works quite well.

His fan base runs the gamut from teenage girls who's screams most likely blew the dB meter on the soundboard off the scale, (there's nothing like having one of these miniature air raid sirens standing right behind your right ear!!!) to older blues fans who appreciate the music and a good selection of all ages in-between.

The mix for Jonny Lang was excellent the whole night, however the mix for the opening act, Robert Bradley's Blackwater Suprise, was horrible. The otherwise excellent House Of Blues mix was muddy, with none of the instruments having any real definition. Robert Bradley, who is blind, was supposed to be an excellent opening act with lots of showmanship. The showmanship never arrived. His singing was slurred, and possibly impared during the 45 minute set. The backup band, really only put out 4 minutes of anything that sounded close to decent music. This was the four minutes that they were allowed to jam after Robert Bradley left the stage. At that point, the guitar audibly came into the mix emerging from the mud but the mix still was poor. Missing the opening act in this case would have been a good idea.

Bottom Line: A 10 for Jonny Lang, and 1 for Robert Bradley's Blackwater Suprise. Oh...and at the end of the show, future blues guitar player Steven got to meet Jonny Lang and had his guitar signed by his hero.

Previous

Back to Players Index

Next