The local gig scene has become a blues desert in recent years, but now, suddenly, we’ve had a whole weekend of the stuff.
Both of these gigs drew heavy crowds, and this is something of a surprise given that Robert Cray’s profile is no longer so high, and that Bill Wyman seems to play around these parts with alarming regularity.

Cray has always had a bitter, twisted edge to his songwriting, detailing one (or many?) relationships that have turned sour, plunging himself into the real-deal misery of the blues. His music itself is polished and soulful, so only careful study of the lyrics will reveal the workings of Robert’s tortured mind.
It must be gratifying for him that so many of the stand-out tunes are new additions, lifted from the recent Time Will Tell album. Numbers like Survivor, Back Door Slam and the encore choice of Up In The Sky.
The latter sees Cray coaxing a sitar sound out of his guitar, seemingly without the use of effects pedals, bringing home the fact that his beseeching vocal lines, answered by equally articulate string solos, have the structure and emotional intensity of Indian classical music.

Wyman’s show was a more extrovert affair, and a far better live performance than his albums would suggest. Ostensibly planning a 75-minute set, the Rhythm Kings ended up playing for well over two hours, something that looked like a genuinely spontaneous response to their reception.
The extremely deadpan Wyman is the only artist I’ve witnessed smoking onstage: fag drooping from the corner of his lip, a cloud surrounding him as he nonchalantly caresses his bass. No showman, of course, but as bandleader he’s the catalyst for this good-rocking time.
Helping Wyman out are guitarist Albert Lee (equally well-versed in blues, country and rock’n’roll), organist Georgie Fame and singer Beverly Skeete. The saxophone section of Nick Payn and Frank Mead provides the visceral honking, but the magnetic frontman is definitely Mike Sanchez, who climaxes the show when he greases down into the aisles, raising the whole crowd on to its feet.
Numbers by Gene Vincent, Ray Charles, Mel Torme and Howlin’ Wolf ensure the evening’s variety, the whole sequence whipping by with a strong sense of pacing. Wyman was even fairly convincing as he cockneyed through Je Suis Un Rock Star for encore.
-- Martin Longley