Johnny Winter

A lot of water has passed under the Tyne Bridge since Johnny Winter was last in town. I am reliably informed that that was way back in 1971, when he whipped the crowd into such a frenzy that they demanded six encores before almost destroying Newcastle City Hall when the seventh was refused. Fast forward thirty-six years, and both the fans and the man himself have aged a little. I must admit that when I saw the frail elderly musician being helped on stage just after 9pm, I didn't expect anyone to be whipped into a frenzy, but the man referred to by the late great Muddy Waters as "my adopted son" proved that age and appearances don't even begin to matter when you are this good.

Opening with blues standard 'Hideaway', it was clear that Winter still possesses talent in abundance. His inventiveness in bringing out the best from his guitar were evident for all to see and hear. The licks may be a little slower these days, but by the time ‘Sugar Coated Love’ kicked in, we all knew this was going to be something special.

Of course, it wasn't just Winter on stage tonight. Bassist Scott Spray and drummer Wayne June played no small part in the show, and proved why the are two of the most in demand musicians on today’s live circuit. The rhythms they laid down for Winter to work his magic over were awesome in themselves. The responsibility for the inter- song banter was left to June, with Winter preferring to let his music do the talking, and this seemed to work very well for both parties. June is clearly a natural behind the microphone, and his impressive vocal range shone through in a selection of numbers on which he provided backing vocals.

Like most blues artists, Johnny Winter has no problem showing his influences, as tonight’s covers of ‘Blackjack’ by Ray Charles, and Muddy Waters’ ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ proved. Both were executed with style, precision, and enough power to light up the whole of Newcastle.

By the time the end of the set came round, Winter looked exhausted. Clearly he is a man who throws everything he has into a performance in order to ensure the crowd go home happy. They wouldn’t go home just yet though. When he returned to the stage with his trademark Gibson Firebird, it was easy to see that the old spark was still there.

Faced with the same adversity as Winter, many artists would have given up by now, and we are very lucky that he hasn’t hung up his guitar just yet. Tonight he proved why both fans and fellow bluesmen consider him to be a legend.

FUTURE GIGS

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