By Earl Burton, Rock At Night Tampa
Live Review: Alex Lopez Express and Memphis Lightning – Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa, Florida – August 31, 2024
It’s summertime and, in Florida at least, it’s constantly hot, humid, and generally unbearable. There is only one thing that makes these conditions better: to team it up with a night full of steamy blues from two bands who are expert practitioners of the genre. That’s what an intimate crowd at Skipper’s Smokehouse got on August 31 as the joined forces of Lightning Express descended on Tampa.
Unique Format for Scintillating Show
For those who have not had the chance to check out the Lightning Express experience, it is an amalgam of two excellent blues rock bands, the Alex Lopez Express and Memphis Lightning. Lopez is a veteran of the Florida blues scene, with a half dozen full albums under his belt. Memphis Lightning is a guitar slinger out of Tennessee (naturally) who has his own story of travails that brought him to the blues game. By combining their efforts, Lightning Express delivers a total blues experience that entertains you with its virtuosity.
The show started with the Alex Lopez Express (hereafter referred to as ALX) and Lightning taking the Skipper’s Smokehouse stage and setting the standard for the night. The interplay between Lopez and Lightning was outstanding as Lopez’s band, drummer Kana Leimbach and bassist Steve Roberts, put the body in the work providing the low end. After a few songs featuring both men, Lightning took his leave and turned the stage over to ALX.
If you’ve never seen ALX perform before – and, to be honest, the band is all over the Southeastern U. S. with their performances – then you are missing a treat. Lopez has a gritty, intense approach to blues music, amplified by his powerful lyrics and approach to blues guitar playing. Roberts and Leimbach were more than up to the task of whatever direction Lopez wanted to go, an example of what happens when you get a band together for years and they can meld together – it is like it is one entity.
For this writer, the chance to get to see some of the exemplary music from ALX’s 2023 CD Looking for a Change was special. The band dove into a few tracks from that disc, with a blistering rendition of “Whiskey Covered Woman” being the highlight. As their set drew to a close, Lightning came out for a tune as the lights dimmed for a bit of an intermission.
Lightning Strikes Skipper’s Stage
After the intermission, Lightning Express once again took the stage, but this time with the backup of Lightning’s band instead of the Express. As they did to close out the ALX segment of the program, Lopez played a few songs with Memphis Lightning (I will try to discern when I am speaking of the guitarist or the band!) before ceding the stage to them. What followed was a different interpretation of the blues from ALX, but one that was just as impressive.
Memphis Lightning (the guitarist) has a remarkable backstory. Barely old enough to drink, Lightning has been at the feet of such blues legends as Buddy Guy and Tab Benoit, and he took their lessons in creating his own brand of blues grooving. That was set back, however, with a cancer diagnosis in his teens that he refused to let stop him from his goals. Along with his bassist Darren ‘Big Red’ Thiboutot and keyboardist Rick ‘Mr. Mayhem’ Curran, Memphis Lightning (the band) were a force to be reckoned with on this evening.
Throughout their evening’s offerings, Lightning kept the energy level high and constantly was talking with the crowd. He pulled the Skipper’s folks out of their seats with his ferocity, and by the close of the show, they were firmly in his corner. The one thing I regret is that there was not any merch offered at the show, because I would have gone broke dropping multiple bills for CDs from both ALX and Memphis Lightning.
If there was one difference between the approaches of the two groups, it would be that ALX provided more of a gritty approach to their blues stylings while Memphis Lightning was a crisper, more aggressive-sounding unit (sometimes their music veered into a rockabilly blues mix). The notes rang off Lightning’s guitar all evening long, while Lopez put more of a grind into the music. BOTH ways were extremely fascinating and are a key indicator of why the partnership between these two groups is extremely beneficial for the entities involved.
If You Want Shows…
And now, a bit of a PSA for music fans in the Tampa Bay area.
Both bands, ALX and Memphis Lightning, left it on the stage on Saturday night. The audience that was in attendance was very appreciative of all their work, and it was DEFINITELY work on an outdoor stage in 80% humidity. In fact, if there was one area where things needed a boost, it was in attendance.
Local music venues do not book bands because they think it is fun. They want to provide entertainment to the local scene and keep the music – whether it is rock, blues, country, rap, or whatever – viable and alive in the community. When a show of the quality of Lightning Express comes to town and – let’s be charitable here – has a crowd that totals in the low-three-figures, that’s an insult to these artists and bands that are coming to play our venues and the venues themselves who are trying to bring these treats to the area.
If you have the chance, hit a local club. See these bands when they come to your area. Not only is it a helluva lot cheaper than going to a huge concert venue (tickets for this Lightning Express show were $10 in advance), and you’ll actually have a great time, maybe even meet these artists who are giving their all, regardless of the numbers (actually talked a bit to Lightning before he went on with his set and was excited with his veracity and joy to be playing that night). Venues aren’t going to keep booking these shows if people don’t show up…
As for Lightning Express, I was thrilled to get a chance to see them work their magic. The powerhouse team will be reuniting for a trio of dates in September in Lafayette, LA, and Houston and Austin, TX. Check out the websites for ALX and Memphis Lightning to learn more about when you can see this blitzkrieg of blues together or when they step out on a stage of their own!
- Tamar Berk Shines Again with Fourth Album ‘Good Times for a Change’ - September 11, 2024
- Steamy Blues on a Saturday Night: Lightning Express Heat up Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa - September 5, 2024
- Jane’s Addiction, Love and Rockets Throw Back to the Nineties at Tampa’s Mid-Florida Amphitheatre - September 1, 2024
