I confess I am not a big fan of Bonnie Raitt, not because I don’t like her, but because she just wasn’t on my radar during the ‘90s and noughties when my musical interests were more rock than blues. Last night’s opening date of Bonnie’s UK tour was therefore as much about my curiosity as taking Mrs W to a gig that she’d said she would like to go to. Apart from the hits double album I have only the Slipstream CD, so I had an open mind about what to expect.
The current tour is named the “Slipstream Tour”, so as you’d expect there was a good smattering of tracks from the album with Right Down The Line, Gerry Rafferty’s song given the reggae treatment, Bob Dylan’s Million Miles, You Can’t fail Me Now, Not Cause I Wanted to and Marriage Made in Hollywood amongst them. There was also plenty from Bonnie’s back catalogue, notably Thing Called Love, Something To Talk About, Love Me Like A Man and Come To Me. After around 1 hour 25 mins Bonnie and her band left the stage to return after a standing ovation for four more songs including I Can’t Make You Love Me and finishing with a storming Elvis song. Of Bonnie’s excellent band, keyboard player, Mike Finnigan, caught my eye and attention most. According to Bonnie his pedigree includes playing on Electric Ladyland. Finnigan has a voice that compliments Bonnie’s perfectly when he accompanies her, but when he sang a blues number solo, I could have closed my eyes and believed I was listening to a black blues singer from the Delta – superb. He’s pretty good on the B3 and piano too.
Although Bonnie’s finger picking is, by her own admission, not the best, her slide playing is possibly the best of any female guitarist and her voice – well, it’s simply wonderful.
One could see how much Bonnie loves her band and loves her audience. She was very appreciative of the sell out audience at the 1600 seater Cliffs Pavilion in Southend and thanked them for their “respect”. This probably refers to the fact that we were well behaved as her team had specifically asked that there be no photography. We also had to relinquish water bottle tops (in case we threw them at the stage, apparently), which is laughable as the average age of the audience was about the same age as Bonnie. Beware, you will probably be asked the same if you are seeing Bonnie this year.
Bonnie certainly has a perfect stage presence with plenty of interaction with band members and the audience between every song and kept us entertained all evening. There are a lot of artists on the UK circuit who’d do well to get themselves along to one of Bonnie’s gigs to see how to engage an audience and not just play to them.
If you are seeing Bonnie in 2013 you are in for a real treat and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it enormously. Given the opportunity, I’d definitely see Bonnie again, which as Bonnie pointed out, may be when she’s 70 if the next UK tour is the same interval since the last one. Now I know what George has been banging on about for years. 
Supporting Bonnie on the first four dates of this tour is singer songwriter, Martin Simpson, who I didn’t know beforehand but I’m told by a colleague that he’s a legend in Northern folk circles. Personally, I didn’t think his voice is that good but his acoustic guitar picking more than makes up for it – something that Bonnie remarked upon when she tripped up on one occasion.
One final point; I must comment on the superb sound at the Cliffs Pavilion. Having suffered so much at London venues where the sound is mediocre at best, to go somewhere that the sound is not too loud that it’s distorted and one is able to hear every instrument and the singer’s voice perfectly, is very refreshing. It’s a shame that Joe has outgrown venues of this size as it would have been perfect, not least because it’s only 10 minutes from where I live! 
Phil
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis
“The guy who has helped the blues industry the most is Joe Bonamassa and I would say he is more rock than some rock stuff, so to me blues is whatever you want it to be!”
Simon McBride in my interview with him in Blues Matters! Issue #56
And certainly high praise, from a man like David Crosby, when he introduces her.)
I'm really digging this song, I remember it but could not come up with the original artist. Ah, thanks for liner notes, it's a great cover. It sounds like vintage Bonnie alright, she's still got it! 
