mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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concert by phillip davidson
Concert Review: Melbourne 25th February 2004 It had been a hot February Melbourne Day, the temperature peaking at about 43deg during the day, it didn’t cool much in the evening and the humidity was nearly as bad. The Prince Band room was jammed with 400 sweating bodies, clothes clinging them, small pools of sweat dripping from foreheads. No one seemed to notice though as they had come to see a blues legend and that’s all that mattered. The barkeeps inside the bull pit bar worked feverishly opening bottle after bottle of beer, wine and water……money tossed into the till and empties crashed into a crate……..there was a tag team of young people with hand carts working wheeling in full cases of drinks and wheeling out cases of dead marines. The sweltering atmosphere only added to the night, it could have been a hot night in a southern juke joint. The support act Mia Dyson, did her best to keep the audience entertained with her own brand of swamp type blues, soulful vocals and scorching lap steel guitar were excellent and set the night with some good vibes. At 10.30 she finished her set, and there was now a sort of silent waiting, more drinks were served and the pall of good weed hung heavily in the air……a lone figure walked onto the stage in the darkness and nailed up a sign at the back of the stage which stated 'I take requests'. Half an hour passed and the man himself wandered onto the stage accompanied only by a drummer, he took up his seat in front of the drummer switched on his strat opened the show with a number from his seminal Beginnings-album, from then on it was hit after hit, and taking all requests from the audience. The groove was kept tight all night by some immaculate drum work and Tony Joe’s guitar rythms kept the audience swaying, "A Rainy Night in Georgia" was a highlight for everyone as was "Polk Salad Annie". The room became hotter and the intenstity of the concert didn’t let up for a second. This legend that wrote songs for Elvis, toured with CCR and Tina Turner and James Taylor was here in flesh but transporting us to another place. It was also exciting that it was not only oldies who attended the concert but 50% of the audience were very young and I think I may have even seen a few Trolls lurking in the shadows. Tony Joe sums up Southern cool and you get the feeling if there was only 5 people in the audience he would still play a great performance. For the paltry sum of $35.00 (not much more than the cost of a CD) we got to see a Blues Legend whose talents haven’t been eroded by age only sharpened. Such was the effect of his show that everyone left the venue singing their favourite Tony Joe White song in soaking wet clothes and a smile on their face. Hope he returns soon.
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