It's an auspicious occasion for the United Kingdom and Blues-Rock lovers; one of the most celebrated, talented, respected and greatly loved American Blues-Rock artists, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, returns to the British shores after a 2-years hiatus, with his Band and with a very Special Guest, a living legend of the Blues, the 91-years-old singer-songwriter and Harmonica Maestro Bobby Rush.
As previously amply documented through our website and by the whole music media worldwide, Shepherd and Rush have released, early this year, a formidable record called Young Fashioned Ways, where the two artists celebrated two different generations of Blues coming together, with, if we may add, a hugely remarkable vocal and sonic outcome.
It made therefore perfect sense that Rush would be part of the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band World Tour, injecting layers of Traditional Blues between the trademark Blues-Rock sound of Shepherd amd Co. on stage, a sound that keeps on developing and moving forward, as the years go by, but still maintaining that very recognizable musical imprint that makes Kenny Wayne Shepherd sound very much like no others, in the vast Blues-Rock music scene.
Bluebird Reviews had the privilege to be invited to see the debut UK date (out of the 3 planned in the country) of the KWS Band in the UK capital London, more specifically at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, a venue that has seen the American artist performing to a packed house many times in the past, just as packed as the Shepherd’s Bush Empire is once again tonight.
At 9pm sharp, the KWS Band makes its entrance on stage and the band itself (Noah Hunt, Chris Layton, Joe Krown, Kevin McCormick, Charlie Dipuma and Doug Woolverton), since the first notes of Woman Like You, the show's opener, sounds as powerful and tonant as ever and their energy, musicianship and precision will accompany splendidly Kenny Wayne Shepherd throughout the whole performance.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd looks in great shape and his will to perform and to give every ounce of energy on stage, is second to none.
The first numbers of tonight's show come from Shepherd’s latest records Dirt On My Diamonds Vol.1 and 2 and it is rather impressive to notice how strong songs like She Loves My Automobile, Dirt On My Diamonds, I Got A Woman and Watch You Go sound live, with some of them, in our opinion, sounding even better than their original studio versions.
The sold-out crowd present tonight at Shepherd’s Bush Empire is all behind the KWS Band and Shepherd, being the experienced artist he is, senses it immediately; after announcing that in the next months, presumably towards the end of this year, there will be a re-imagined version of Ledbetter Heights released (Shepherd’s very first record back in 1995) to celebrate the 30th anniversary since its release, with the album's songs rearranged and re-recorded in a different way from its original, the American Guitar Maestro launches the band in a tasty appetiser of one of Shepherd’s classics, Deja Voodoo, in the way it will sound on the "revised" version of Ledbetter Heights, with all of the American singer-songwriter and Guitar Maestro fans present here tonight openly approving of the song's new musical dress.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd tonight is demonstrating once again why he is one of the greatest Blues/Rock guitarists out there and he has been as such since the very early days of his career. His guitar solo on Shame, Shame, Shame is exceptional and carries intensity, passion and to us, at Bluebird Reviews, that solo alone represents the ultimate statement of an artist that puts commitment, love and enormous dedication to the music he so much love at the core of his artistry.
Then, the great Bobby Rush hits the stage, welcomed lovingly and loudly by the huge crowd present here tonight. At the "tender" age Rush has, the singer-songwriter works the crowd still so incredibly well, with his vocals and his Harmonica playing sounding incredibly powerful and soulful, even after more than 7 decades spent making music.
For the next 25-30 minutes, Rush and Shepherd will bring back into the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London some sumptuous nuggets of Traditional Blues straight from their Young Fashioned Ways album, with songs like Long Way From Home, 40 Acres (How Long), You So Fine, Uncle Esau and Who Was That firing even more an audience already in adoration of both artists on stage, audibly appreciating very positively the high quality of tonight's show.
When Rush leaves the stage, Shepherd and his band prepare superbly tonight's audience to the final, electric and incandescent ride to the end of tonight's stunning show; after a breathtaking version of one of Shepherd’s rare instrumentals, called While We Cry, the temperature on stage keeps on rising through a raucous version of I'm A King Bee, where Shepherd also invites on stage to play with him a young British talented guitar player called Rhys John Stygal, someone that Shepherd got to know first via YouTube videos, where Stygal played guitar on and then subsequently met in person on Shepherd’s last visit in UK in 2023.
And before the curtains close, there is still time for a couple of encores, namely Shepherd’s worldwide hit Blue On Black, followed by the classic closure of every KWS Band's show that is Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child, the latter seeing Shepherd attacking fiery his guitar with such vehemence and furore, in a 15-minutes-long version that detonates a long and hugely deserved applause from tonight's warm audience.
After an hour and 45 minutes, just looking at the faces of the several hundreds of smiling fans present here tonight, while on the way out of the venue, there is one fundamental thing that is apparent: they saw a Blues-Rock God coming to town, tonight and his name is Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
All photos by Gio Pilato
