Last Saturday, Derek Trucks was playing in Paris for the first time. There was no way I could miss that, and those of you who know what else was happening musically that week-end know that it was a tough choice. Still, the DTB managed to do their Paris and London gigs based on the opportunity provided by Derek playing wit Eric Clapton, and not knowing when the opportunity will arise again...
Anyway, as usual, traffic in Paris was awful, and I very nearly arrived late. Just as I was in the lobby of La Scène, a small bar/stage near Bastille, I heard the crowd cheering as the band was setting up. Just in time. The place was packed to the gills, with around 200 people standing in front of the stage. There was a video of the stage on a small screen on the side, so I'm hoping an sbd recording will come out.
Count M'butu was sitting on the left side of the stage, with Mike Mattison next to him. Derek was center stage and, from where I was, Yonrico Scott was hidden behing him. On the right hand side, Todd Smalley was standing next to Kofi Burbridge's multiple keyboards.
They opened with five tracks straight from Songlines : Chevrolet, Volunteered Slavery, I'll Find My Way, Up Above My Head and Crow Jane. Though the playing was top notch, they were all fairly short and not significantly different from the album versions. To me, the magic started operating with Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni.
For those who don't know Derek's repertoire, this is a medley of Afghan tunes adapted from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's songs. Maki Madni was released on the 2002 album Joyful Noise and a medley of both tunes figures on Songlines (one of the best tracks on that album). These instrumentals have been a staple of Derek's live shows for years. At this moment of the gig, Derek started stretching out, took his time and started finding those improvisational gems that, to me, make him such a distinct artist. From then on, it was pure gravy. Even Sailing On, a track that I find particularly grating on the album was good.
The highlights of the second part of the gig were For My Brother, probably my favourite DTB track of all, an awesome Mahjoun>Greensleeves and an unexpected Goin' Down Slow. I love that arrangement. It's very similar to the arrangement on the bonus tracks of Junior Wells' On Tap and I don't know if that's where the DTB got the inspiration of if they came to it separately, but it's just beautiful.
I've been a big fan of Mike's from the first bootlegs I got where he was singing, and I utterly love Scrapomatic too, so it was a particular treat hearing his raspy, breathy voice that night. Kofi was also on fire, his long flute solos being a particular case in point. On For My Brother, he got applauded nearly more than Derek which, considering the audience seemed mostly constituted of guitar players is saying something. The way he uses the breathing sounds rhythmically in his playing is very cool, and there are few flute players I know of that have that capacity to go beyond the "beautiful" sound generally associated with the instrument...
The end of the gig was stellar, with Susan coming up on Spirit in the Dark to sing with Mike. At the end of the song, the band double-timed in that characteristic Gospel way, a very intense moment. The encore was Freddie's Dead, followed by The Weight, both cool.
I had a few disspointments over the evening. First of all, I was there on my own, with no one to share the goodness with. Strange how a gig shared is a better gig... More dissapoitingly, the band didn't play for as long as I would have hoped (a little over an hour and a half) and they didn't play Sonida Alegre (my second favourite DTB tune).
Still, all in all, it was a great gig, and I'm very pleased I was there. I hope a sbd of it circulates. Truth be told, I've been kinda dissapointed by Songlines, a much more pop album than what I hoped for and tend to like. The beginning of the gig felt like a continuation of that, but the DTB soon proved that they still got it. I hope the trend doesn't continue in future albums, and I'll be sure to attend any further gigs in France...
I'll try and find some photos of the gig on the web and I'll link to a bootleg recording if one comes out !