BB King
Wembley Arena, London
BB King is entitled to reminisce, remind us of past glories and play on his age. And he does – shamelessly. “They call me a legend,” he said, “and I looked up the word in Webster’s dictionary. It means something that stands the test of time. I guess at 83, I have.”
He gets away with it because he remains the full blues package who, even at his most mawkish, ends with a sting of realism. His last album picked up a Grammy in 2008. Called One Kind of Favour, the title track’s refrain is “see that my grave is kept clean”. For BB King, “the blues” is still no place to hide. Not that his on-fire band would let him.
BB King cut his teeth on the chittlin’ circuit, the string of late 1950s drinking clubs where African-Americans could wash away the grime of hard-working lives with stripped-down, straight-from-the-heart amplified blues.
We got an immediate taste when the backing band’s four-piece horn section blasted out free-jazz licks over a pounding shuffle by way of introduction. The BB King Blues Band deal in shouting brass and soul-preaching solos driven by a backbeat that would cut through concrete. Skin-tight in showstopping routines, they show that, in the right hands, “the blues” can still wring the emotions and refresh the spirit.
BB King, greeted by an ovation, sat centre-stage and was the icing on this very rich cake. His decorated and inflected vocals remain strong in the upper register, but it was the raucous riffs, trenchant melodies and abstract slashes of sound from his guitar that really upped the ante.
“Let the Good Times Roll” opened, “The Thrill Has Gone” closed, and long preambles reminded us about Mississippi roots, 1960s collaborations with UK rockers and his career-reviving 1987 hit, “When Love Comes to Town”, recorded with U2 – and delivered here with a venomous sting. He complained about rappers disrespecting women, but spoilt it by dedicating the cheesy “You Are My Sunshine” to the ladies – the men got “Rock Me”. But when the band kicked in and his guitar growled at the moon, he made an idiom that has underwritten popular music for 50 years sound remarkably fresh. ★★★☆☆
