Jeff Beck - Amazing

This is the third time I've seen Jeffrey in the past 5 years and again, he was flat out amazing !!!

Jeff Beck can do whatever he wants, career-wise. For now, he wants to honor one of his guitar-hero elders. At the sold-out in Boston, Beck launched what he called his “guitar fantasy”: a tour-length homage to Les Paul, the quick-picking musician and peerless inventor of electronic gadgetry that rockers have always depended on.

Beck told the crowd that Paul, who died in 2009, was the guy who “gave birth to rock-and-roll.”

“If nothing else, for the slap echo,” explained Beck, 66, citing but one of Paul’s timeless brainchildren.

To accentuate Paul’s engineering contributions, Beck then kicked off a heavily reverberated rendition of “How High the Moon.” On that tune, and for most of the approximately 90-minute set, Irish-born vocalist Imelda May used multitrack recording technology to sing the parts sung by Paul’s longtime musical partner and paramour, Mary Ford. May’s wonderful band filled in all the rest.

Beck sported a heavy Gibson jazz box as he and May took things slow and torchy on a pair of Paul/Ford standards, “Vaya con Dios” and “Mockingbird Hill.”

Though the inspiration for the evening and the tour that commenced on this night was Paul, Beck seemed even more energized when he plucked products associated with Paul’s rival for rock-guitar-building supremacy, Leo Fender. Beck’s chops are such that if given time, he probably could make any sound come out of any stringed instrument. But in a live setting, his precision playing is better suited to the trebly single-coil pickups found on Fender axes than the bass-heavy humbuckers favored by Paul for his Gibsons.

Beck, for example, strapped on a Telecaster and told the crowd that he was going to perform a tune covered by the Yardbirds, then banged out a few distorted bars of the opening riff of “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” sounding just as dirty as his old band did when it played it. But it was all a tease. After yelling, “Not that way!” Beck transformed the song into a quick-picking, clean-channel exercise set to a rockabilly beat.

He plugged in a Stratocaster for several vintage instrumentals, including the theme from “Peter Gunn,” during which Beck stomped on effects boxes to make wacky sounds Paul surely would have appreciated and swept his guitar toward the crowd machine-gun style, a rock-star move only Beck and a few other iconic ax-handlers can pull off cheeselessly.

He also played the Shadows’ 1960 “Apache” and “Sleepwalk,” Santo & Johnny’s much-covered slice of rock melancholia. While Beck’s guitar gently weeped, the fans swooned.

If you have any chance at all to catch Jeff and Imelda...I urge you to do so and you will NOT be dissapointed by any means !!!

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

i missed beck when he came my way a while back. ive never seen him before. i didnt go
because i didnt think my g.friend would have a good time.
(and im setting here watching season 1&2 of army house wives with her)

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I'm going Monday night. Can't wait.

Very cool review Mike! I enjoyed watching the videos posted recently of Jeff and Imelda. Glad you liked their show.

_________________
you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

In the vids, the guy playing rhythm is Imelda's regular lead player. He did get a chance to
rip it up a bit and he's no slouch either !!!

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

That's her husband and he's got a track record of his own on the other side of the pond.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

there was a Jeff Beck special on BBC Radio 2 yesterday (Im sure I heard it would be repeated but not sure)
Anyway for some reason its not on listen again yet on the BBC website,
However there may be some information in this thread which may be of use

http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1222367,1222421

I was very disappointed with the show at the Beacon in NYC Monday night, 3/28/11. I like Jeff and his bands when they play fusion. I was weened on Live with the Jan Hammer Group, Blow, by Blow, Wired and There and Back. I adore Live at Ronnie Scotts and the Official Bootleg.

I spent a lot of dough on 12th row seats. I was so excited to see that he was in town and that great seats were within reach. I saw Imelda May on the ticket offering and with a clear case of denile, I stepped up and bought tickets. I brought my sons age 12 and 13 who are huge Beck fans.

We were just bored. Don't get me wrong. Mr. Beck played is a-s off in his little solo spaces, but I listen to completely different music. I generally find a front person singer as secondary to the players. I don't go to shows to see vocalists generally. If Patsy Cline came back to life and I had first row seats, I'd sell them. And Rockabilly is cool for up to 12 minutes if the tempos are fast, but that's it for me. So this show left me cold. I haven't seen Beck live since he was on tour with Terry Bozzio, so it's been a long time coming.

Next time, I'll take the time to know the band before I step up. Beck has been very eclectic throughout his career and I'll make sure of the genre if he comes back to town.

You attended the 'road' version of the Les Paul Tribute which had its genesis at the Iridium. The video has been broadcast on PBS and the CD is available and presently in my collection. He's been working wiht Imelda May and her husband, both of whom have their own celebrated track record in Europe, for some time now. Certainly a departure from the usual and customary, one must keep in mind what music and artists mentored him early on. Not only Les Paul, but Cliff Gallup, as well, seeded this amazing talent. I don't know that you own any of his work reflective of this genre [e.g.'Crazy Legs'], nor should it be an issue if you don't, but the artist giving the nod to and celebrating his influences should be credit given where credit is due.

Doc

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

I thought the show was very good. Imelda and the band were great. Jeff is a class act. My only complaint was that I thought at 95 minutes from start to finish it was about a half hour short.

I knew they weren't going to play blue wind or Cause we ended as lovers. This was marketed as an Oldies/Rockabilly/Les Paul tribute. Everyone was very up front about that.

My wife and I had a wonderful time!

I've got the Crazy Legs disk, I find it hard to listen to unless it's part of a rock & roll through the ages mix, but I can't listen to it start to finish. I saw the PBS broadcast, I knew that what I ultimately saw was a distinct possiblity when I bought the tickets. As I said "denial." Now I owe my kids a show with Tal and Vinny. They just kept looking at me during the show with that "WTF" expression.

I mean generally speaking would you rather hear Beck playing "Scatterbrain" or "Hold That Tiger?"

C'mon.

Scatterbrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rtp9ESo19A

Hold That Tiger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJZZE_tMNYY

Seems that you and Chris hold divergent points of view, which is just fine. Hope you and your kids enjoy the next outing.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

My wife and I saw it on PBS and watched it again later on a 3am rebroadcast. Never stay up that late for anything. We purchased the DVD and could watch it every day.

I personally found the synchronization for the overdubs remarkable and remain curious as to what technology is employed to accomplish it. I wasn't paying attention to whether or not she had an ear monitor in place but that might be the link to the prerecorded track.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

I'm guessing it's Melodyne?

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!