Beards n' Beck at the Cedar Park Center

Jeff Beck

So I'm never one to pass up a Jeff Beck show, one of my favorite guitarists. This show was a double dinger, and also allowed me to catch ZZ Top for the first time.

For 2015, Jeff is touring with some new and some familiar face. His band included the following personnel:

• Jimmy Hall - vocals
  
• Rhonda Smith - on bass, and backing vocals.
  
• Jonathan Joseph - drums
  
• Nicolas Meier - guitar
  

I had seen Rhonda with Jeff before in Houston. She was awesome. The surprise of the night was the singer, Jimmy Hall. He totally blew us away. Jeff rarely plays with singers, but when he uses one, they are always exceptional.

This part of the show went by way too quickly. The setlist included a mix of old and new stuff.

ZZ Top

It was good to see ZZ Top for the first time. I'll say that their show was exactly what I expected. I'm not a huge fan, but I did enjoy their set.

As with the first half of the evening, it was easy to find their setlist on-line.

Encore

The highlight of the night came when Jeff joined ZZ on stage for the encore. This was memorable, and very fun to watch, to boot.

Jeff Beck and the Imelda May Band at the Moody Theater

Several months ago, Jeff performed a tribute show for the late Les Paul, at the Iridium, in NYC. The artists that night included smoking vocalist, Imelda May and her band, Trombone Shorty, and Brian Setzer. The whole thing was broadcast on PBS, as a special, and it was fantastic.

Jeff Beck demonstrated an uncanny ability to genre hop into this Les Paul and Mary Ford material. It was a treat to see him checking in with some amazing performances on something other than a Jackson Strat (not that there's anything wrong with that). Anyway, I had never seen him play a hollow body, nor any of the amazing array of vintage Gibson and Gretsch guitars that he pulled out for that show.

During the interview segues, it was obvious that Jeff was a huge Les Paul fan growing up, and he was very animated and enthusiastic about the music. I watched the show several times, and was convinced that I would never get to see something like this live.

After the broadcast, I pre-ordered the DVD and CD of the show. They have since arrived, and I am still enjoying both (even after repeated watchings or listenings).

When they posted the opening schedule for the Moody/ACL Live earlier this year, I immediately locked my eyes on this show. It was in fact the first ticket I bought for the venue, even though it ended up being the fifth show I have seen there. I'm very glad I acted fast, because I was able to score a 2nd row seat.

I got there early and parked myself in my seat, not willing to miss one second. There was no opener , so things kicked off promptly at 8PM. (I pity any act that would have attempted to open for this show)

The format was very similar to the PBS special, minus Shorty and Brian. The band consisted of Jeff and Imelda May's band:

• Darrel Higham - guitar and vocals
  
• Al Gare - Bass
  
• Stephen Rushton - Drums
  
• Dave Priseman - Trumpet
  
• Leo Green - Tenor Sax
  
• Blue Lou Marini - Baritone Sax

Special mention needs to be made of Darrel, because he is also an amazing vocalist and performer. He in fact opens the show, and sang quite a few numbers before Imelda appeared on stage for the first time. He is equally as charismatic.

Once she was present, things really took off. Imelda is a very strong singer and has an incredible stage presence. I should also mention that she sings along to a recording of her own voice for quite a few songs, so that it is self-harmonized. This worked surprisingly well, but I would still have preferred to see her with some real backing vocalists.

I believe they played for over 2 hours, and while I tried to keep track of the setlist, the songs were going by too quickly to accomplish this. I believe that this setlist from a few weeks ago, is fairly close to the one for this show.

This show was everything I had hoped for and more. Jeff was clearly enjoying playing the music of one of his idols, and was incredible to watch. My only regret was not bringing a real camera. These cell phone pictures are the best that I could manage, given the lighting:

In closing, I had heard that Jeff would be heading immediately for LA to do the Tonight Show, later in the week, and then American Idol, where he would be performing with each of the finalists. (Normally, I'm not much of an Idol fan, but in this case I will be making an exception).

Update

The ACL Live sight has some additional photos here.

Jeff Beck at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Houston

In an act of sheer craziness, I drove to Houston for the 2nd time in 3 days to see Jeff Beck.

My Past with Jeff Beck

Prior to this I had seen Jeff on double bills with Stevie Ray Vaughan around 1990, at Madison Square Garden, and with Carlos Santana at the UT Erwin Center, around 1995. For both of these shows, Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas were the backing band.

The last time that I had seen him perform was at least a decade ago, at La Zona Rosa during SxSW. At that time, Jennifer Batten, was in his band, along with two other supporting players that I no longer remember. I remember that I didn't enjoy this show as much as the previous shows, because I felt that Jennifer's two handed tapping style didn't leave enough space for Jeff. After that, it seemed that he had faded into retirement.

Fast forward to 2009

I was supposed to see Vinnie Colaiuta perform with Chick Corea's and John McLaughlin's Five Peace Band. Vinnie however was AWOL, having been replaced by Brian Blades. I found out at the merch table that night, that Vinnie had left to join Jeff Beck's tour. Having been totally unaware that Jeff was touring, I quickly found the Live at Ronnie Scott's DVD. Jeff Back was back and I knew that I wanted to see him. Unfortunately, this tour came nowhere near TX, and had already headed across the Atlantic.

Early this year, when I saw the announcement for the date in Dallas, I was again disappointed, since I already had tickets to see Chick Corea, on that same night in Austin. Fortunately, fate intervened, and a Houston show was announced a few days later. There was much rejoicing, and later, much traveling.

The Opener - Gary Hoey

When I arrived at the Verizon, it was similar to the House of Blues, with maybe a few hundred more seats. Although it has the word Amphitheatre in the name, it is an indoor venue.

Shortly after taking our seats, instrumental guitarist Gary Hoey, took the stage. For some reason however, he chose to play acoustic steel string guitar, rather than electric. He was accompanied by an acoustic bass player. Unfortunately, Gary's set was generally uninteresting to me.

The Main Event - Jeff Beck

There was about 20 minute break after Gary left the stage, and then things got down to business. As Jeff and the band took the stage, I was a little surprised to discover that there was a female bass player, but it was not Tal Wilkenfeld, and that Vinnie Colaiuta was not playing drums.

As the night progressed, I found out that the backing band was:

• Jason Rebello - Keyboards, who I did recognize from the Ronnie Scott DVD
• Narada Michael Walden - the drummer from Blow by Blow himself
• Rhonda Smith - Bass and Vocals, who also plays with Prince.

I estimate the band played for approximately 90 minutes, and that this set list is a fairly close approximation of what he played in Houston. Noticeably missing was material from the Jeff Beck Group era, Wired, Blow by Blow (other than Led Boots), and There and Back. It didn't matter, the show still kicked ass.

Jeff was at his finest on this night, and seemed to command the attention of everyone present. I also noticed that the volume from the PA was not deafening and was in fact comfortable, allowing Jeff to make very effective use of dynamics. His solo version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow was particularly powerful. In closing let me say that although I still want to see him play with Tal, Rhonda Smith was outstanding.