Throughout his 50+ years as one of the most important guitarists of his generation, Jeff Beck has been a master of musically stirring the pot. Each album, as well as each tour, is always filled with new ideas and surprises. Beck’s latest adventure was to bring in Johnny Depp, to add a bit of piracy to the atmosphere, intriguing both fans of music and movies to the packed house at BAPAC.
Opening up the evening was guitarist/singer/songwriter Max Gomez, who won the audience over with his winsome ways on both his own compositions and delivery of them. His optimistic homespun themes combined the cleverness of Arlo Guthrie and the tender mercies of an open campfire. Can’t wait to hear his albums once I got home.
Looking and playing like he discovered the Fountain of Youth, Beck brought up his latest collection of an enthusiastic supporting cast in bassist Rhonda Smith (of Prince fame), Anika Nilles and keyboardist Robert Stevenson and hit the ground running with a swinging and hard hitting set, opening with the hammering “Freeway Jam”. Beck, always a master of dynamics, sound and variety, slithered like a snake through the thick “Loose Cannon” while delivering a sinewy cry on his aria on the ethereal “Midnight Walker” and “Cause We Ended As Lovers”. Beck took the audience on a trip to Chicago on the dark blues of “Big Block” which included some thunderous bass work from Smith and Nilles’ frenetic sticks, while everyone got a chance to solo in the spotlight on the murky and ominous “You Know You Know”.
Beck even played a bit with the Vocoder, giving some synthy vocals along with his patented work with his thumb and wah wah on “Me and The Devil”, while riding the long board on Smith’s bass line on the funky “You Never Know”.
Enter stage right at this point was Johnny Depp, joining Beck for the three chord classic Link Wray grunger “Rumble” before creating a mix of pop and punk as he mixed singing and straining on “Hedy Lamar”, “Time” and “Venus In Furs”. While his guitar playing was reminiscent of his role in Edward Scissorhands, barely audible in his acoustic support for Beck on “A Day In The Live”, his presence added a sense of roots and garage rock.
Always self effacing, the King of Guitar modestly admitted that his rendition of Jimi Hendix’s “Little Wing” as an encore “won’t be the best one you hear”, but the rich textures here, as well on the dreamy “Corpus Christi” reminded the packed house that when Beck mentions Hendrix, he’s simply referring to a club that he and few others are members of.
Upcoming shows at BAPAC include Nikki Glaser 11/11, Craig Shoemaker 11/26, An Irish Christmas 12/21, Straight No Chaser 12/28, REO Speedwagon 01/11 and Mark Lettieri 01/18