FMC+
a good kind of terrible
I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff Beck with the Imelda May Band doing their “Rock and Roll Party – Tribute to Les Paul” last night at the Fox Theater in Pomona. Really good show—third row tickets, directly in front of JB, so that was cool. Crappy cell phone pic from our seats:
The Imelda May Band is a rockabilly/early rock band with Imelda on vocals (serious pipes and easy on the eyes), her husband on rhythm guitar and vocals (he sang all the Elvis/rockabilly stuff), a bassist and drummer. 3-man horn section came out for different parts of the set.
Started off with just JB and the boys sans Imelda. Rhythm guitarist playing acoustic and bassist playing upright. They spun through some rockabilly stuff, which was really fun. Did Train Kept a Rollin’ Yardbirds-style, which killed. Imelda then came out and did her thing, including 4-5 Les Paul/Mary Ford numbers. She stepped off, horns came out and they did Peter Gunn, Apache and Sleep Walk (in succession, I think), which was friggin awesome. Imelda returned and they rocked it out ‘til the end. Played almost 2 full hours; no opening act. Two encores—second was a pretty amazing performance by both JB and Imelda of Danny Boy.
JB was great to watch—he played a Gibson humbuckered hollowbody of some description (4 or so songs), a Gretsch Duo Jet (2 songs, a butterscotch Tele (for Train only), an LP for the Les Paul stuff (duh), a Stratotone kind of thing (slide for just one song) and a white JB Strat. Played through 2 Marshall heads and cabinets and 2 Fender combo amps of some description. Rhythm guitarist played acoustic about half the time and then some giant 3-pickup hollowbody through 2 Peavey combo’s (Delta Blues, I think). Guitar tones and overall mix were great.
Jeff isn’t much of a showman (shuts up an plays his guitar), which is endearing in a way. Just walked out and started playing--no introduction. He really seemed to enjoy what he was doing and to genuinely appreciate the audience (which was very into the show). Imelda is, however, very much the performer and was very entertaining. He played pretty restrained (in a good way), keeping in large part to the original feel of most of the songs. He stretched out a little during Peter Gunn, Apache and Sleepwalk, and did drop some signature Beck stuff in the Danny Boy solo.
Looks like tonight in SF is the last date on this tour—if you’re in the Bay Area, strong suggestion to check it out!
Incomplete/not perfect order set list (I’m weak on the LP/MF stuff):
Baby Let’s Play House
Cruising
Train Kept a Rollin’
Cry Me a River
Vaya Con Dios
Tiger Rag
Peter Gunn
Apache
Sleepwalk
Rockin is our Business
Walking in the Sand
Please Mr. Jailer
The Girl Can’t Help It
Rock Around the Clock
Hound Dog
Up Above My Head
Danny Boy
PS—Don’t think it’s a wig . . . .
The Imelda May Band is a rockabilly/early rock band with Imelda on vocals (serious pipes and easy on the eyes), her husband on rhythm guitar and vocals (he sang all the Elvis/rockabilly stuff), a bassist and drummer. 3-man horn section came out for different parts of the set.
Started off with just JB and the boys sans Imelda. Rhythm guitarist playing acoustic and bassist playing upright. They spun through some rockabilly stuff, which was really fun. Did Train Kept a Rollin’ Yardbirds-style, which killed. Imelda then came out and did her thing, including 4-5 Les Paul/Mary Ford numbers. She stepped off, horns came out and they did Peter Gunn, Apache and Sleep Walk (in succession, I think), which was friggin awesome. Imelda returned and they rocked it out ‘til the end. Played almost 2 full hours; no opening act. Two encores—second was a pretty amazing performance by both JB and Imelda of Danny Boy.
JB was great to watch—he played a Gibson humbuckered hollowbody of some description (4 or so songs), a Gretsch Duo Jet (2 songs, a butterscotch Tele (for Train only), an LP for the Les Paul stuff (duh), a Stratotone kind of thing (slide for just one song) and a white JB Strat. Played through 2 Marshall heads and cabinets and 2 Fender combo amps of some description. Rhythm guitarist played acoustic about half the time and then some giant 3-pickup hollowbody through 2 Peavey combo’s (Delta Blues, I think). Guitar tones and overall mix were great.
Jeff isn’t much of a showman (shuts up an plays his guitar), which is endearing in a way. Just walked out and started playing--no introduction. He really seemed to enjoy what he was doing and to genuinely appreciate the audience (which was very into the show). Imelda is, however, very much the performer and was very entertaining. He played pretty restrained (in a good way), keeping in large part to the original feel of most of the songs. He stretched out a little during Peter Gunn, Apache and Sleepwalk, and did drop some signature Beck stuff in the Danny Boy solo.
Looks like tonight in SF is the last date on this tour—if you’re in the Bay Area, strong suggestion to check it out!
Incomplete/not perfect order set list (I’m weak on the LP/MF stuff):
Baby Let’s Play House
Cruising
Train Kept a Rollin’
Cry Me a River
Vaya Con Dios
Tiger Rag
Peter Gunn
Apache
Sleepwalk
Rockin is our Business
Walking in the Sand
Please Mr. Jailer
The Girl Can’t Help It
Rock Around the Clock
Hound Dog
Up Above My Head
Danny Boy
PS—Don’t think it’s a wig . . . .
