Topic: Montreux Friday 29th June 2012
That was a hot night. On Friday 29th June it hit 35 celcius so around 95 F in Montreux. Those are the best nights. The teenagers (and some of their parents!) were gathering for Amy McDonald and local hero Bastian Baker, round the other side the "oldies" were gearing up for a night of blues. Taj Mahal, Joe's acoustic set and another local, Phillip Fankhauser. We had to wait a long time to go in and were forced to drink beer. Interestingly the first thing Claude talked about was the prices. In more than 20 years of Montreux I've never heard him mention them before. They are horrendous. A couple of years ago I gave up. Great bands but not worth selling my house or worse, my guitar for. So the cheaper standing places for me from now on. They were CHF 80 which is about the same in US$. A great view, good acoustics and two really good video screens.
Taj Mahal was excellent. The audience, typically for a first band, were really passive and applauded only at the end of each song. No-one seemed to know his stuff, not even Marina and some of the other hits. But the guy really put his heart into it and his natural charisma reached out and finally people were reluctant to let him go.
Joe is so relaxed on stage and surrounded by a million acoustic guitars and no cables, the stage was set for a surprise. The set list has been documented elsewhere on this forum topic so I won't repeat it here. I waited all night for "High Water" and we got it after the chocolates. Fantastic, my fave of the evening. Mountain Time was great, but if you've heard it live at the Albert Hall, no other version is going to compete. I've googled for the band names and not found them yet. The Irish guy on fiddle, banjo, etc. was excellent. The percussion was for my taste too high in the mix and a bit too much world music and not blues. The piano / harmonium / accordion was very cool but he had to wait for the half the gig for the desk to bring him into the mix. The other guys were ok. Joe's acoustic guitar playing is well known. It's sensational. Just seemed to me that a few of the songs didn't really fit the format. The blues songs were fantastic, the rockier songs less so. If I could choose I would add more blues, maybe a harmonica, couple of backing singers, and lose the rock songs and some instruments. Yet it was still a stella gig. He sang really well, as always, and handled both mics like a true pro. As people were walking out we were all asking, when's the CD/USB stick coming out? One track downloaded, let's hope for more.
