Friday is the veterans’ ball in the great hall of North Sea Jazz, one that turns into an unfair fight. Blues legend Buddy Guy (86) figuratively wipes the floor in Ahoy with Van Morrison (77), who also loses out to his own backing singer.
Watch him come up, in his dungarees. A white cap on his head, the yellow guitar strapped on tight and a delightful grin on his face. Buddy Guy, one of the last men standing of his generation of blues heroes. He is 86 years old and takes the stage in the Maas hall of Ahoy, where another legend, Van Morrison, played right in front of him.
Its rise is a lot less impressive. Unsurprisingly, the Irishman is known to be petulant and not exactly fun to play. This is no different in Ahoy. Van Morrison (77) once again proves himself to be the king of the uninspired class. Tightly dressed and with his inevitable hat and mirrored sunglasses, the Irishman delivers a rippling show for five minutes, which in itself is rock solid. Without his big hits, but with an excellent band, which comes across as a bit anxious at times. But what do you want, with such an erratic foreman.
Last tour
Then Buddy Guy, who makes his guitar howl from the start like his life depends on it. Perhaps that is almost the case, for an 86-year-old who is on what should be his last tour. In Ahoy he honors deceased colleagues such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and BB King. He is mischievous despite his age, plays the guitar with his bottom, with a drum stick and a towel. And meanwhile brings the blues as it has been heard in the Mississippi Delta for many decades.
Van Morrison stands before Buddy Guy on the stage of the Maas room © Marcel Wagenaar
With Van Morrison, the audience is there for bacon and beans, but you get that feeling now and then with his band members. Not that they rush through their work – on the contrary – but the great foreman looks bored during the solos of his band members, as if he is waiting for the bus. Yet, at the moments when he sings and shows his still wonderfully striking voice, it all fits. Only the soul is missing, actually the familiar flaw with Van Morrison, however talented he may be.
Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix en Keith Richards
It’s a show that Buddy Guy would look on with horror. The elderly American, a source of inspiration for Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards, has been in contact with his audience from the very first moment. He confides in those present, it almost feels like that when he sings, plays and jokes for an hour and a half. For a moment he is even emotional, clearly audible in his voice, when he introduces the song Skin deep, a song that has skin color as its theme.
Such emotions are miles away from Van Morrison. Stoically he works through his repertoire, shuffles off stage and comes back for the closing number Worried man blues. Would it perhaps make him think that the audience only gets excited when he has definitively left the stage? Because the background singer who looks skittishly at her boss throughout the performance, takes her chance after his departure in the outtro of Worried man blues and goes vocally wild. For the first time, the audience is exuberant, rewarding her with cheers and applause. The man himself is already in the wings. He probably didn’t even get it.
Buddy Guy will be the worst. The bluesman shows his grin again towards the end of his wonderful show. Shortly before that he played the guitar with his buttocks, a rascal in the body of an old man. He says goodbye to Ahoy by throwing some guitar picks into the room. Ahoy is at his feet. With him, yes.
Buddy Guy having fun with the audience © Marcel Wagenaar
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2023-07-07 19:42:51
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