Crossroads Guitar Festival
And now for the biggest highlight of the day...BB King!
Before I get into
his set, I have to relay a true story
from 1992. I was
sitting at home when my girlfriend at the time called me and said I should
come down to the bar at the Marriot on 635 (where she worked) right away.
I of course asked why and was told "there's a well known blues man at the
bar". I swiftly jumped into my Blazer and headed out at breakneck speed.
I had no idea who it might be, but I was thinking he had to be fairely
well known for her to know who he was.
There he sat...the
only one at the bar. I sat down and ordered a Gran Marnier straight up
and said
"Hello Mr. King"
and introduced myself. I've met a hundred or so artists in my time including
the Stones
and I have to say
that meeting Mr. King was the best experience of all of them. he was the
nicest
person and talked
to me as if we had been lifelong friends. Thankfully, I had the sense
not to try and whip
him with the usual petty questions. I did however mention that I had been
a fan since
way back, which
brought a big smile to his face as if he had never heard it before. He
was the most genuine
of the famous folks
I had ever met and I expect I will never meet anyone more so...
I will never forget
meeting him as long as I live.
I knew right away
that this set would be the favorite of mine from this show. It was hard
to top Joe Walsh's
set, but hey, this
is BB! Even though I could not name one song he did, I was riveted the
entire time.
I got more shots
of this set than any other.
BB relayed the story
of the heretofore highlight of his career during this set as having met
the royal family
in Europe this year.
REight after he said that he said he believed this show topped that and
that he was having a blast. He asked several times if we minded him staying
awhile longer and of course, we did not. I do know someone who did though...we
watched as Buddy Guy came close to a full scale meltdown having
had his set shortened.
I was sad this happened since I had never seen him, but hey...this was
BB and he was having fun!!
At the end of the
set, Buddy tossed his guitar down and stomped off stage. Seeing him act
up as the set went by had already caused John Mayer to set his guitar down
and toss his hands up as he walked off
as if to say, what
are you doing man?
Buddy had his guitar miked so loud that he virtually drowned out everyone else. Several people said that was normal...someday I want to see him by himself...he was good. I do wish he had taken the delay in stride and played a whole set for us though.
John Mayer is the new young kid in the shots and he is a very good guitar player....he's 22!! That's about all I know about him except that I will keep my eyes peeled for him to come around again.
Eric joined in the fun of course and I was hoping they would do "Ridin' with the King", but they didn't. Seeing all these icons on stage at the same time was something else and I am damn glad I didn't miss this show!
So here's the pics in order of everyone's appearance. You could tell BB has a very big respect for Jimmie Vaughn, which in turn gave me more respect for him.
