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Old 10-02-2009, 00:32
nathanpayne
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Despite saying a couple of years ago that he was retiring from international touring for good, blues legend B B King will be playing four stadium gigs in the UK this summer.

Anyone seen him before? I have heard he is great live
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Old 10-02-2009, 00:56
Mojo Pin
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no but I would love to see him
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Old 10-02-2009, 01:16
The Spoon
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BB is the elder statesman of American blues- Muddy Waters may have had the original electric blues sound and John Lee Hooker may have a more authentic country feel to his music, but BB KIng is the grand-daddy of popular blues.
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Old 10-02-2009, 07:59
Inkblot
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He was great on the BBC's documentary series The Story of the Guitar. He was very humble - said he didn't really know how to play the guitar! - and just seemed an all-round good guy. Saw him about twenty years ago when he was playing quite middle-of-the-road soul/blues and his guitar playing wasn't as raw as when he was in his prime but I'm sure he's still a great showman.
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Old 10-02-2009, 10:29
The Spoon
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one of the things that impresses people about BB is the way that he can leave it until the last possible moment before playing the note - it has a sharp attack, so it feels like he has squeezed the note out - that he has to coax and chivvy the guitar into playing - but that once it gets going, the notes then just pour out. I find it difficult to articulate exactly what I mean, because I haven't had formal training, but there is a tension as well as a flow - a bit like Clapton in some of Cream songs, who studied the likes of King, Lightning Hopkins etc to get his sound.

I sometimes thought that Clapton was over-rated, but hearing the respect that the American blues players have for him, I relented and decided that if he was good enough/authentic enough for them, just because he came from the Wey Delta rather than the Mississippi, that shouldn't invalidate his contribution. BB said in a documentary I have that if it hadn't been for the likes of EC, the Stones and the Beatles, white Americans would not have heard them and black Americans wouldn't have been as proud of the blues as a music form. I find it amazing to think that even in the 1960s America was so segregated that one of their most original musical forms was such a minority interest.
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Old 10-02-2009, 10:35
Cstar2229
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I saw him live 22 years ago at the Albert Hall - he was brilliant
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Old 10-02-2009, 12:27
The Spoon
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I saw him live 22 years ago at the Albert Hall - he was brilliant
BB or EC?
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Old 20-02-2009, 11:03
nathanpayne
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I saw him live 22 years ago at the Albert Hall - he was brilliant
I agree!
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