XDA

Went with my son to Steve Winwood at the Botanical Gardens. It was fun, but Stevie is finally showing his age. He's 59 now, just five years older than I am, so it pains me to say that, but I've been a fan for at least 4 decades, so I guess it had to happen some time. His voice isn't what I remembered the last time I saw him, probably in 1972. We didn't have the best seats and I didn't take the best picture ever, but that's Steve at the Hammond B-3 in a blue shirt. He has a pretty lame guitarist in his touring group and two percussionist and the guy in white with his back to us is the new Chris Woods on woodwinds (mainly sax) and he sings a little.

He started with Spencer Davis Group hit I'm a Man and the second encore was Boomer anthem Gimme Some Lovin'. Knock me over with a feather for that choice. My favorite SDG song is I Can't Get Enough of It. Chances of hearing that ever, zero. All the songs had evidence of a good performance evolution. I can't tell if the conga guy is there because Winwood likes the conga beat or if his presence makes most of the songs sound as if Traffic had actually been blue eyed reggae. If I had to guess a highlight, I would go with several of the middle/late period Traffic pieces, with Dear Mr. Fantasy the best of the lot because of Steve's fine guitar work. Not that they turn up the volume in the gardens loud enough to call it rock and roll. The rest of the shows I'm seeing this summer are folk to folk rock, which is more the milieu there. Can't Find My Way Home, Empty Pages and a quaalude version of Crossroad Blues were very pleasant for a soft Suday evening sitting, uncomfortably, on grass in among the sweet smelling flowers. Least it didn't rain.

I prefer Jim Capaldi's version of Low Spark For High Heeled Boys, which is achingly beautiful. Winwood still does it in the Traffic pseudo reggae way but he screwed up the words in two verses. I can remember the lines, what's up with him?

Traffic, especially in later Dave Masonless versions, was called the quintessential jam band. I'd have to go with the Dead or Phish for that title, but for each song, Winwood sets the tone, time and mood and everyone gets in the groove. They could have made each of the good songs 10 minute jams and sometimes they did. Pleasant journeys with a high nostalgia content. I'm glad I went, but I think I'll spare myself the spectacle of a sexagenarian Stevie. Even the Stones are having trouble pulling that off.

Labels: Steve Winwood concert