BETTYE LAVETTE and DR. JOHN

At the Keswick Theatre - Glenside, PA (2/3/07)

 


 

At 8:15pm, vocalist extraordinaire Bettye Lavette started her show with some good & funky R&B stuff, featuring some standout wah-wah guitarisms by William. Bettye announced her next song "Walking Out That Door" by saying that it was a 1972 song written by Joe Simon BUT she sings it better! The grooving "My Joy" (taken from the new CD "I've Got My Own Hell to Raise") was followed by the Dolly Parton-penned song "Little Sparrow". "Souvenirs" was a moving ballad with some tender piano riffing by Alan Hill. The next song was from the 1982 TELL ME A LIE album...the tune is called "Right in the Middle of (Falling in Love)", a lively uptempo R&B tune with some great jamming by the musicians, including drummer Darryl Pierce and bassist Patrick. After another song, Bettye Lavette's show was over at 9:00pm.

 

At 9:20pm, Dr. John and his band came out and did a festive N'awlins-style version of the jazz standard "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing). "Take What I Can Get" was followed by the Nawlins jazz piano stylings (thanks to Dr. John) of "That Old Black Magic". MY MAIN CRITICISM IS THAT DR. JOHN MUST HAVE SPENT THE FIRST HOUR OR SO DOING SO MUCH SLOW STUFF THAT MY LEGS WERE ABOUT TO FALL ASLEEP!! After "Tell Me What You're Gonna Do" and an instrumental featuring some tight drumming, heavy bass work (at times), hot & steamin' piano riffs and a great guitar solo, it was on to some fun stuff like the lively uptempo "Right Place, Wrong Time" and the sultry "Mos' Scocious"! After performing some other tunes (slow & uptempo) and an encore, the show ended at 11:20pm. PERSONALLY, THIS WASN'T THE BEST DR. JOHN SHOW I'VE SENT....NO "Walked on Gilded Splinters", "Iko Iko", "Goin' to New Orleans", OR "Junko Partner"!



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