With impressive solos, a strong band, and a varied set full of blues, soul, and funk, he effortlessly captivated the Utrecht audience for two hours.
The Dutch public has been following the guitarist from Clarksdale, Mississippi, closely for several years now.
He has played at festivals such as the Holland International Blues Festival, Bospop, and North Sea Jazz, in addition to club shows at venues including the Melkweg and Doornroosje.
The fact that his popularity is rising is evident from the size of the venues. Two and a half years after Doornroosje, Kingfish is making an appearance at the Ronda in TivoliVredenburg.
Precisely at nine o’clock, the band took the stage and blasted through the hall: “It is Kingfish time”. After all the instruments had been briefly tested with short solos, the usual opener followed: “Midnight Heat”.
All the songs deviate significantly from the album versions; for instance, “Fresh Out” is stretched out to a performance of nearly ten minutes.
It is not just Kingfish who excels in solos; keyboardist DeShawn “D-Vibes” Alexander also plays a major role throughout the entire show.
His funky elements complement the performance perfectly, for example at the beginning of “Voodoo Charm”.
Fortunately, there are also quiet moments, such as “Empty Promises,” in which his beautiful voice truly comes into its own. That dark, warm voice lends the songs extra feeling and depth.
It is precisely in the quieter songs that Kingfish demonstrates his ability to control his guitar playing: sometimes small and subdued, then slowly building up to a powerful outburst.
Especially in “Rock & Roll,” written for his late mother, these qualities really add something and make the song even stronger. Moreover, during these songs, the audience served as an example to the rest of the Netherlands: we can indeed be quiet.
With “Not Gonna Lie,” the performance becomes even funkier. The band showcases its versatility here. Such a funky track is an excellent opportunity for a bass and drum solo. Unfortunately, the audience does get a bit noisy as soon as the great master himself isn’t speaking.
As always, Kingfish went into the audience during this song to let people—right up to the stands—see his finger dexterity up close. Waving to the band from the stands, he then launched into a solo that was among the best of the evening.
This tour is still part of his Hard Road Tour. The new songs, such as the quiet “Nothin’ But Your Love” and “Bad Like Me”, were received slightly less enthusiastically by the audience.
However, as soon as Kingfish returns to his older work, the momentum is immediately back. With the solid blues “Outside Of This Town”, from his debut album Kingfish, the venue was fully engaged again and the next ten minutes flew by.
During one of his solos, Kingfish subtly wove in a snippet of “Purple Rain”. D-Vibes did not hold back and, in turn, incorporated snippets of “Green Onions” and “Peter Gunn” into his solo.
The regular set was concluded with the delightful, danceable title track from his album 662, named after the area code of his birthplace Clarksdale, Mississippi.
The encore began, true to tradition, with a keyboard solo by D-Vibes. From almost classical, it transitioned into various solos where you frequently asked yourself: where have I heard this before?
When drummer Chris Black and bassist Randy Stevens joined in, it became delightfully funky. After six minutes, the great master signaled the beginning of the end with “Hard Times,” but not before D-Vibes and Kingfish delightfully challenged each other once more, and Kingfish couldn’t resist incorporating “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Miss You” into his solo as well.
The surprise was that there was a second song in the encore: “Catfish Blues.” As far as I could tell quickly, that wasn’t on the setlist. It was clear that the band was having a great time with this ecstatic audience.
New bassist Randy Stevens fits in well with the group and, like keyboardist D-Vibes, has more than enough energy to compensate for the somewhat quieter Kingfish. But in the end, he lets his guitar speak like almost no one else can.
Just like last year in Amsterdam, Jose Ramirez, originally from Costa Rica but now very well-known in the Netherlands, had the honor of providing the opening act.
In 2020, he achieved an international breakthrough with a second-place finish at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Since then, his career has clearly been on the rise.
Jose’s show was very good, but actually far too short. Hopefully, there are many people in the audience who will continue to follow him from now on and attend his own concerts. Unfortunately, Jose was not allowed to test his strength against Kingfish this time by playing along during the encore.
Still, a small downside: an opening act lasts only thirty minutes. So make full use of that time on stage. Personally, I feel that a show element like walking through the audience doesn’t fit as well within such a short set.
