Buddy Guy - Saban Theater: A Review
/BUDDY GUY - SABAN THEATER - MARCH 8, 2020
This past Sunday night, March 8th, 2020, I ventured out to the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills to see 83 year old blues guitar legend Buddy Guy.
I’ve been trying to see Buddy Guy for years and it has just never worked out. Either he was playing too far out of Los Angeles or his L.A. date conflicted with a previous engagement for me. I had the same experience regarding another blues legend, B.B. King. I just never got it together to see B.B. and then he was dead and that was that. Since Buddy Guy is now 83, I figured I had to make it work now or the opportunity might not come around again.
Buddy Guy has had one of the more remarkable Blues careers, as he has worked with some of the all-time greats, like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Howlin Wolf, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson. Seeing him live is like catching a glimpse of history.
My night out at the Saban got off to a late start as the show wasn’t scheduled to begin until 9 pm. After the quick Uber ride to the venue i found my seat, which was in the front row of the balcony, and settled in, every fifteen minutes or so busting out the Purell and doing my part to fight coronavirus.
The opening act was Tom Hambridge, a drummer, singer, songwriter and producer who has been arojund the block once or twice. Hambridge was also the drummer for Guy’s backing band 9and has produced many of his more recent albums).
Hambridge has a pleasing stage presence as he chatted up the audience with ease during his set. He was joined by terrific blues pianist and vocalist Marty Sammon who is also in Guy’s backing band. Both Hambridge and Sammon are serious musicians and they showed their worth all night.
Hanbridge’s concise twenty minute set that started at 8:50 and dutifully ended at 9:10. After a 30 minute wait Sammon re-entered the stage and introduced Buddy Guy.
Buddy Guy is pretty spry for an 83 year old…but he is 83 years old. As he ambled onto the stage he looked every bit of those years. When he started playing his guitar he still seemed pretty old. But when he opened his mouth and sang it was as if he was transported fifty years back in time.
Guy is best known as a consummate blues guitarist, but his singing voice is utterly sublime. The power of his voice, its range and versatility are simply stunning to behold. During the course of the show he was able to go from a blues growl to a delicate Marvin Gaye falsetto with remarkable ease.
The show, and Guy’s guitar playing, definitely got off to a slow start. Guy’s playing feels much less crisp and authoritative than back in his heyday. His playing is, at times, rough around the edges and disjointed which can be pretty jarring coming from a legend like Buddy Guy.
Guy is supported by a terrific band that consists of Hambridge, Sammon, as well as a rhythm guitarist and bass player…I was unable to procure the names of them both. The guitarist though was stellar and had a rip roaring solo that nearly burned the Saban down to the ground. .
Speaking of the Saban, the venue is very nice to look at but the acoustics are pretty dreadful. The sound mix for Guy’s show was all over the map too, and so the show never gathered the momentum it needed to be successful.
Adding to the show’s problems was the fact that Buddy likes to talk, and he would often get sidetracked by obnoxious fans who were much too familiar with the blues royalty performing before them. More than once I wanted to tell people to sit down and shut the fuck up, but to Buddy’s credit, he did that for me.
Buddy Guy’s stories were insightful and revealing as he often spoke about his viciously poor childhood in Louisiana with his sharecropper parents who only had a third grade education. Guy said that he didn’t even know what running water was until he was 17, and picked cotton throughout his youth, which is how he saved enough pennies to buy his first guitar.
Guy also gave lectures on the blues, and gave demonstrations from different blues greats, like his friend B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. The problem though was that Buddy never played complete songs, just snippets, and it all felt sort of haphazard and incoherent.
The highlight of the show was when Buddy started experimenting with the guitar and then walked into and through the crowd playing. This was most definitely Buddy at his most enthused and energetic, and the crowd lapped it up, rushing to get as close as they could for selfies…God help us all.
The lowlight of the show came shortly thereafter when Buddy introduced a guest, a young kid of 11, who he had met at an airport or something. The kid came out and played guitar with Buddy and the band. The kid is a kid…so everyone was nice about it…but holy fuck this kid was god-awful. Buddy played with him and coaxed him along and the entire process lasted way too long and just sounded like two dying cats fighting a horny racoon. Absolutely brutal. I mean…this kid was so bad it made my teeth hurt.
The show ran about an hour and twenty minutes, and before Buddy left the stage he handed out guitar picks to everyone in the front rows. This was a nice gesture, but with all of these fans shaking his hand I couldn’t help but think that an 83 year old with health issues (Buddy said during the show he has sinus problems, and was wiping his nose and drinking a “special drink” throughout) shouldn’t be touching strangers in a crowd during a pandemic.
After Buddy left, I did a thorough purell cleansing of my own hands and headed for the exit and then home.
In conclusion, Buddy Guy’s best days as a guitarist are well behind him, but his voice is still as forceful and tender as it ever was…and for this reason I did enjoy my Buddy Guy experience. if you get a chance to see him, lower your expectation before going in and you’ll have a good time. Buddy Guy won’t be around forever, so if the chance comes along to catch him, you might as well take it.
©2020