By Rosine Alleva and José Oliveira, Journalist/Photographers – Rock At Night France, Switzerland
One of the best evenings of this Baloise Session Edition. Especially for Rosine, BETH HART being her favorite female singer. And with an exclusive interview we‘ll publish in a following article! Yes, what better than this PURE BLUES evening with BETH HART and BUDDY GUY!!
We had great expectations for this concert….First of all, we had been chosen to have an exclusive interview with her, just after the soundcheck. It is always something really special to see an artist live after an interview! And seeing the most talented feminine artist of blues for the first time in concert was just fantastic. But Beth Hart’s musical style also oscillates perfectly between rock, blues and soul.
Her career began in 1993 but it is her complicity with JOE BONAMASSA in 2011 with “Don’t Explain”, who propelled her definitively towards international scenes. She recorded three cover albums with him (the last one, BLACK COFFEE, released last January) and toured with another guitar hero, JEFF BECK.
Her approach was to put the Blues side to side with Rock music and she did it. This concert to Basel joins a serie of live performances around Europe with her last and eighth album, “FIRE ON THE FLOOR“, out early 2017. A beautiful and continuous example of her talent. Well known for often changing her musicians, her three-piece band consisted of Bill Ransom (drums), Bob Marinelli (bass), and her guitarist of 20 years, Jon Nichols. BETH HART sank every song with lots of passion and great pleasure. Together they put the house on fire! Hart is known for having battled bipolarity. Some friends present in Basel who saw her in concert over the years said some of her shows were much more rock, obviously also due to her state of mind by then. This made her what she is, such a lovely and sensitive lady….It’s easy to understand why Scott Guetzkow, her tour manager and now husband fell for her! Add to this her power rock vocals and the ingredients were just perfect for the audience to fall for her as well and we all sent her our love back responding with lots of applause!
BUDDY GUY in Europe is a major event! At 82, BUDDY GUY is the last living icon of the American BLUES, the only one left of the 50’s Chicago’s Generation still playing. He is a great entertainer and one of the world’s best. Often known as a CHICAGO BLUES guitarist, his unique style, from deepest blues to a creative form, has influenced great guitar heroes as JIMI HENDRIX, JIMMY PAGE, ERIC CLAPTON, STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN, JEFF BECK and many others. All these reasons have largely contributed to the success of his venue at the BALOISE SESSION! It was undoubtedly the first “SOLD OUT” concert the very day of the tickets sale!!! With his last opus, called “The Blues is Alive and Well”, BUDDY GUY shows it’s clear he’s not resting on his legendary status! He came to Basel to promote it. During the two hour set, he gave free access to a storytelling about his rural youth and poor living in Louisiana. He delighted the audience with a mixing selection of his old hits and the new ones, included in his last album! The icing on the cake would have been to see a duo on stage that night with Beth Hart or one of those old fellows who learned so much from him….KEITH RICHARD, JEFF BECK or ERIC CLAPTON !!
It was obvious Buddy Guy enjoyed himself like crazy, he came to play in the middle of the audience, played the clown on stage even if several people think he should play more and talk less!! BUDDY GUY is certainly alive and well !! At the age of 82 this bluesman still possesses the ability to entertain a fully packed tent of blues lovers with his classic guitar work
José couldn’t attend the closing night. LP and Walking On Cars were the last very expected artists.
We saw LP at the Music & Wine Festival in Colmar last year, but her performance at the Baloise Session was far better, she seemed more comfortable. Is this due to the most intimate atmosphere of the Swiss festival? She only came back to Europe to be present at the Baloise Session! And what a presence! More charismatic than ever, she was sharing her beautiful voice and music in front of an astonished public all along the show! Her androgynous look, her perfect way of whistling and wielding her voice with so much power makes her a very special and an amazing artist. Everything which emanates from her is so natural, both so smooth and so strong. Standing in front of the stage, it was even hard to take pictures cause I just wanted to stare at her. After the first few songs from her famous album “LOST ON YOU”, covered by fans presents, she thank all of them walking from one side of the stage to the other. I didn’t have the chance to interview her as she was overloaded by requests. But she came down a few times among the public and I was part of the few people she stopped at! LP also sang a few titles of her new album “HEART AND MOUTH“ (Girls go wild, Recovery, Dreamer), released a few days ago.
I didn’t have the chance to interview her as she was overloaded by requests. But she came down a few times among the public and I was part of the few people she stopped at! LP also sang a few titles of her new album “HEART AND MOUTH“ (Girls go wild, Recovery, Dreamer), released a few days ago.
Walking on cars was the very last concert for this 2018 edition. The five piece alternative rock band from Ireland was eagerly awaited and the fans were showing their excitement as soon as they started to play. Coming from the small town Dingle, they started to write their first songs in an old cottage to catch everything of their Irish roots. 2012 became the start of their success with their debut single, “Catch Me If You Can” but it’s in 2016, with the international success of the single “Speeding Cars” that their hard work really paid! The passion of the band was obvious and the way Patrick Sheehy was dancing really showed they were enjoying being on stage! The fans were also showing their excitement when Patrick announced the band was finishing to record their new album.
Here are a few of the new titles played on the evening…”Waiting on the Corner”, “At my door”, “Nothing’s impossible”. Walking on cars are definitely on their way to increase the number of their admirers, who are expecting the next album to be released soon!
Rock At Night is looking forward to the 2019 BALOISE SESSION edition from October 12 to October 31.
Many thanks to Beatrice Stirnimann, the promoter, to Lena Knoblich, the New Media Communication and the rest of the team for their warm welcome and the great moments they gave us the privilege to live!
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I was born in Portugal and lived the Sixties exploring the great UK Rock magazines: "The New Musical Express" and "Melody Maker". Ray Charles and Pat Boone were my father’s fav. I became “The Great Pretender”. Cliff Richard was our Elvis Presley. As a beach boy, with my first guitar, I met a beautiful French girl on the beach! It was the Summer of 69!! We got married and rock music was our dowry. In France, I became a Wine Genetic Research Scientist. One of my works contributed to the decoding of the genome of the vine! As a rock journalist, I’ve worked twenty years for the Portuguese and Brazilian Rock Press. I ‘ve interviewed so many great artists. Then, one day I met FRANK ZAPPA! I got into trouble for introducing my wife to "Uncle Meat"!
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