Finally a well-filled concert hall of the ABC Music Club in Doetinchem, last Sunday afternoon.
Kai Strauss, born on May 15, 1970 in Lengerich, Germany (Kreis Steinfurt, Nordrhein Westfalen), so a direct Eastern neighbor from the Achterhoek, has been 55 for a few days and has been working as a singer, guitarist and songwriter for years, if I’m correct since 1995.
From the song Stand Strong Together you can hear that he is a great singer (by the way, he doesn’t have a German accent) and a truly excellent guitarist.
He solos on the guitars (a Gibson and a Fender) in almost every song and that always sounds great, he is not a run-of-the-mill guitarist, because he really has his own style.
From the very first notes of the instrumental opener it is clear that there are enthusiastic blues(rock) lovers who have come, who often react exuberantly to the band, the vocals and the great guitar work of Kai Strauss and the delicious Hammond and piano sounds of Paul Jobson, who exuberantly announces the band leader during the intro, which immediately results in a lot of cheering and applause.
The rhythm section is also nice and tight and the four of them are just a great band, which has been around since 2014. It is an international company, because Paul Jobson is British, bassist Kevin Duvernay is American and both drummer Henri Jerratsch (I think the youngest of the four) and Kai Strauss are German, Jerratsch recently moved to Berlin, Kai announced during one of his announcements.
The repertoire consists mainly of their own work from the eight albums plus a few blues standards. Since I don’t really know his albums and therefore don’t know which songs are played, I’m glad I got the setlist after the show, although I was told in advance that an extra song would be played every now and then. The setlist below is therefore the official one and will be mostly correct.
This setlist contains seventeen songs, divided over two sets, but Kai and his band just keep playing, which means there is no break and the show lasts two hours and fifteen minutes in total! But to be honest: the concert is never boring!
For me one of the musical highlights is the fantastic bass solo by Kevin Duvernay, where he proves to be not only a great accompanist, but also a superb soloist on bass guitar!
Only towards the end of the performance does keyboardist Paul Jobson sing a beautiful version of the classic Same Old Blues, again with great Hammond and electric piano sounds.
After Storming In Chicago it seems to be over, but the audience does not let the band go and forces an encore in the form of a solid rocking Feel So Bad.
You can enjoy/reminisce about this concert via the recording made by filmmaker Paul van Druten:
SETLIST:
Intro-instrumental
Stand Strong Together
Guest In The House
Bad Loser
Ride With Me
You Gonna Need Me
Howlin’ Wolf
A Day Late And A Dollar
The Future & The Past
The Blues Is Handmade
Did You Wrong
Hard Life
You’re Killing My Love
Betting My Life On The Blues
Same Old Blues (Paul)
Storming In Chicago
Kai Strauss & The Electric Blues All Stars:
Kai Strauss (D) – gitaar, lead zang
Paul Jobson (UK) – Hammond orgel, keyboards, zang
Kevin Duvernay (VS) – basgitaar
Henri Jerratsch (D) – drums
