BB King, Cardiff International Arena (From South Wales Argus)

BB King, Cardiff International Arena

12:28pm Monday 29th June 2009

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Well before the last great bluesman graces the stage at the CIA the fans are already feverishly photographing BB King’s famous blues partner - his guitar Lucille.

Good things come to those who wait, his 8-piece band show off their musical prowess with jazz infused vamping, for a good 15 minutes before introducing the man himself, to a standing ovation.

B.B. warmly welcomes us with some amusing acknowledgments about his advanced age. His knees are gone, his back is gone and so has his head. Luckily for us he’s remembered how to sing and opens with I Need You So Bad followed by Let The Good Times Roll.

B.B. continues in this vein, telling long stories while he keeps telling the band to “take it down, I want the people to hear this”, creating a club-like intimacy.

Throughout the show we got to hear his trademark vocal-like guitar phrasing and a vibrato that is uniquely B.B. King and he ends many of the numbers with his idiosyncratic high note glissando. Let’s not forget that voice, soulful and caressing one minute then soaring to a spirituous commanding tone the next.

Although B.B. sings the blues, and ends the night with The Thrill is Gone, he’s also a self-confessed happy bluesman who always has a smile on his face. Tonight he shared that with the audience and the audience shared in the great personality that is B.B. King.

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