Share the post "Gig review: KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, 23 April 2023"
It’s hard to believe that Kenny Wayne Shepherd was a mere 18 years old when he wrote and released ‘Trouble Is..’. A mature, complex blues rock album launched into the world as part of an exciting vanguard of fresh-faced US blues guitarists of similar ilk breathing new life into an old format.
Here we are 26 years down the line. The album has been re-recorded and a still fresh-faced Kenny Wayne Shepherd is touring the entire collection with just as much enthusiasm and panache as ever.
And with confidence too. Coming out to a packed and expectant Shepherd’s Bush Empire to kick off with an instrumental shows plenty of mettle. ‘Trouble Is…’ the album title track bristles with Kenny’s trademark fiery licks over a funky backbeat.
The band follow up quickly with ‘Somehow, Somewhere, Someway’ where Noah Hunt puts away his acoustic guitar and picks up the mic for his real job. His vocals are really very fine: smooth as silk, rich as velvet and powerful enough to bring life to everything in the set. Kenny and Noah are the focal point, working the stage, cajoling the crowd and bouncing off each other. A format that holds true for much of the show.
The rhythm unit of Sam ‘The Freight Train’ Bryant on drums and Kevin McCormick on bass find their mark on ‘Everything Is Broken’, a cover of a Bob Dylan track that KWS first turned into a blues stomp all those years ago.
The show deliberately doesn’t follow the album track listing so that a better concert spectacle can be delivered. That feels about right when ‘Chase The Rainbow’ rounds out a high energy opening four-track salvo with Kenny winding up the firepower on the closing solo.
In his first chat with the crowd, there’s no hint of arrogance or boastfulness when Kenny describes how moved he is that his albums have shifted millions of units, or that songs mean so much to his fans. It’s a confidence that we British often feel reluctant to display in the same easy manner. This is all part of the build up to the night’s first ballad, ‘I Found Love (When I Found You)’. It is a sweet, sincere rendition and, alongside Noah’s gorgeous baritone, Joe Krown’s keyboards properly come to the party.
But there’s no pretending that the guitar is anything but the beating heart of this brawny show. KWS brings the dextrous, speedy, one-handed blues shuffles and grafts them to different tones, layered solos and classic rock, hard rock and country styles. One minute you might think of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s funk, and next there’s a dose of Tommy Castro’s Memphis sound. And then there will be a nod or two to Hendrix or BB King. All capped off by some slick moves and honed stagecraft.
‘Nothing To Do With Love’ steps matters up a notch with wah-wah on the guitar, some cool keyboard and the best solo of the night so far, brimming with flayling intensity and flying sparks. And then straight into the chunky riffs and bottom-end groove of ‘Kings Highway’. The show is warming up nicely.
‘True Lies’ brings the first obviously extended solo, flowing from a rolling riff with KWS out stage-front, legs akimbo, head thrown back, screaming guitar in his hands. Fanboy moment: Yes I wanna be Kenny Wayne Shepherd!
Joe Krown shows his wares on the swaggering, infectious ‘(Long) Gone’ in a lovely organ solo. KWS crouches with him in the corner of the stage like they are two guys having a quiet jam in the studio. Then Kenny cuts loose on a mesmeric solo out front, arclight catching the guitar strings as his fingers fly up and down the fretboard.
Versality to the fore, Noah finds some wonderful phrasing for the Hendrix cover ‘I Don’t Live Today’ with Kenny dishing out tangy licks and frenetic solos.
KWS gives another earnest and humble introduction to probably his best known, biggest selling tune, ‘Blue On Black’ and the hall reacts like it’s been waiting a long time for this one. The ballad is produced beautifully, augmented by the crowd’s only full-throated sing-along moment of the night. The guitar tone on the solos are impossible: sharp as a samurai sword yet dirty as a rusty nail. Either way, it cuts you in two.
The first part of the set is closed out by ‘Slow Ride’, after which the band re-emerges for a part-two pulled from other fertile areas of the band’s fruitful canon.
‘A Woman Like You’ is a strutting track with truckloads of bottom end groove, stuffed with spiralling lead breaks and swirling keyboards. Noah gets busy with a slew of ‘ooh-oohs’ to bring the track home.
Then Kenny steps up to the mic for ‘I Want You’, sung in his higher (maybe slightly strained?) register. Halfway through the track, it’s all back to Joe Krown’s place stage right, where the band gather as if on church pews to worship in the light of a masterful organ and piano sermon from the keyboard pulpit. Soon though, KWS is off again, building a sublime long-form solo whilst completing the most eye-popping, trouser-splitting manoeuvre seen all night.
‘Diamonds and Gold’ brings back the funk and the wah-wah, with a shared vocal between Kenny and Noah. The track provides a platform for Kevin McCormick’s well-received bass solo, which also sees him actually take a couple of steps forward and then to the left, which seemed bang out of character. Lovely moments, which may or may not be in his contract.
The ‘Heat Of The Sun’ is made for the live arena. A slow-smoking blues tune is the perfect vehicle for a spun-out instrumental passage. Kenny perches on the edge of the stage for some quiet nurdling (which might not be the most thrilling pat of the set for this adrenaline junky hack). But it’s all part of the dramatic masterplan that gives contrast and counter-point on the unleashing of full-fat, nitro-boosted solos that twist, turn, sear and burn. You’d almost think he’s done this before.
The curtain is brought down via BB King’s ‘You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now’ where the high point looks like it is going to be Krown’s tasteful electric piano segment. But Kenny can’t have that. So he slings down another solo of unhurried-build-to-torrid-explosion, with all the appropriate showboating and grandstanding that such a remarkable show demands.
The musicians take their plaudits. Everyone has been on their feet for ages, even up here in the Gods. Passionate, professional, respectful, assured. The Kenny Wayne Shepperd Band brought two hours of top quality entertainment and didn’t leave anything behind. They never do.
Review by Dave Atkinson
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