B.B. King, Tedeschi Trucks Band delight at the Hollywood Bowl

B.B. King with Tedeschi Trucks Band //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
September 5th, 2012 //

Walking into the Hollywood Bowl armed with two bottles of wine, a six pack of beer, dinner and your lady by your side is guaranteed to be a good time. Now add one of the all-time great blues guitarists in B.B. King and powerhouse jazz/blues rockers Tedeschi Trucks Band with some summer weather, and having a great night out in LA seems inevitable.

As we ventured to our seats we were greeted with a beautiful cover of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” originally from The Band. I really enjoyed the Tedeschi Trucks take on the song, especially Derek Trucks’ blistering lead solo after the final verse.

The highlight of the set for me was the powerful cover of George Harrisons “Wah-Wah.” This was where Susan Tedeschi’s voice truly shined and was complimented well by Trucks’ finger-picking greatness. You can tell that Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks are husband and wife – they seem so relaxed on stage and I truly believe it lets the music play itself. I highly recommend the Tedeschi Trucks Band to all music lovers.

B.B King’s set started off with his band jamming and switching off leads for a solid 15 minutes, and it got the crowd roaring with anticipation. When B.B. finally took the stage, the 86-year-old was cracking jokes with the crowd and his band before they finally dove into some classic blues standards. It is really hard for me to write anything bad about B.B. King, but I must say it felt like he and his band were just trading off solos and not really playing full songs. The only true song that I remember him doing was “The Thrill is Gone”, and it was impeccable. I find myself asking why they didn’t play more songs, and for that I was left a little unsatisfied with B.B King’s set.

The highlight of the evening for much of the crowd was the last song when Trucks, Tedeschi and John Mayer all joined King for yet another solo-oriented jam that had no real meat to it besides what Trucks offered, which was truly face-melting. I witnessed two of America’s greatest guitarists jam together, and for that, I am grateful.

King is already a true American legend, and Trucks is following right in his footsteps. Trucks began as a guitar prodigy coming up with The Allman Brothers Band, and he is clearly one of the greatest guitarists now. I look forward to following his career for a very long time.