Bonnie Raitt (guitar, piano, vocals); Duke Levine (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals); Glenn Patscha (organ, keyboards, backing vocals); James 'Hutch' Hutchinson (bass guitar, double bass, backing vocals); Ricky Fataar (drums): Matt Wates (percussion) + Jimmie Vaughan (guitar)
Bonnie Raitt is on tour again. The veteran blues musician last made the pages of BSH almost exactly two years ago when she appeared at the then Sage Gateshead (now Gateshead's Glasshouse).
This second of two sold out nights at Vicar Street, Dublin would take the form of a Raitt retrospective, raiding her back catalogue of original numbers and covers of some the American's favourite tunes (counting some of the songwriters as friends, one of them, Paul Brady was present this evening).
From the opening Split Decision to a surprise encore, this was Raitt on top form, sounding as good as ever. The Dublin audience didn't need any encouragement to get into the music, it appeared everyone was a fan.
Three numbers in, John Hiatt's Thing Called Love produced an impassioned vocal - wow! This one number alone was worth making the short hop across the Irish Sea. Truly memorable.
Bob Dylan's Million Miles, John Prine's Angel from Montgomery, Raitt and her ace band were having a ball. And what a band! Duke Levine's guitars, plural, featured time and again, Glenn Patscha's B3 and keyboards making an equally effective contribution, and bassist James 'Hutch' Hutchinson (he's been in Raitt's band a mere 42 years!) kept it in the groove all night long, working in tandem with the grooving powerhouse that is Ricky Fataar, not forgetting the partially obscured from view percussionist, Matt Wates.
Bandleader Raitt is noted for her slide guitar playing. From one guitar to the next (Ms Raitt's guitar tech was on and off stage at regular intervals, handing over yet another perfectly tuned instrument), we were left in little doubt as to her bottleneck prowess.
It had been a wonderful seventy five minutes, straight through. The capacity Vicar Street audience rose as one. It came as little surprise that Raitt returned to the stage to play I Can't Make You Love Me. Wow! What did come as a surprise was a guest appearance by Jimmie Vaughan! Wow wee! Raitt, band and the Fabulous Thunderbird took it out on Never Make Your Move Too Soon. Unforgettable.
Martin Harley (guitar, vocals)
Earlier, allotted thirty minutes, Martin Harley made a big impression. Welshman Harley sure can play blues slide and fingerpicking guitar, as a vocalist he sure can sing. Gigging worldwide, from America to the Himalayas, and everywhere in between, it's likely Dublin held few fears. Russell
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