Bonnie Raitt is one of a now dwindling but thankfully still active set of musicians from the golden age of the 1970s California blues and roots music scene. Burbank born and raised into a showbiz family, most music aficionados of this genre picked up on flame haired Bonnie through her connection with Little Feat as she and Lowell George separately, and occasionally in concert, promulgated their mastery of the slide guitar that is forever trapped in aspic on numerous seminal albums. Yet it took a personal shockwave of record company neglect and her continuing sobriety for a resolute Raitt to rise out of her snake pit of despair. In doing so, she ascended previously unreachable rungs on the treacherous music industry ladder to success by transforming her career prospects with her 1989 Billboard number one, and Grammy album of the year, Nick Of Time. This was an accolade she could only distantly dream about when releasing her eponymous debut release in 1971. As is playing this world famous venerable venue for the first time.
Once again, during tonight’s classy set, she proved that her slinky, down in the groove slide technique is more than a musical calling card as this artist also possesses a winning hand of songwriting skills. Her still entrancing voice conveys her deep love of the blues as well as those many gritty commercial hits. Tonight, she glided into one of the most prestigious venues of her illustrious career and performed a set list of mostly covers that have a direct connection to her heart and soul. Her slightly hoarse voice added extra grit to tracks that occasionally veered just over the line into middle of the road fare.
As ever, she generously gave shout-outs to many of her departed music idols. Her heartfelt solo acoustic guitar rendition of John Prine’s Angel of Montgomery was pin drop magic. Sippie Wallace’s Women Be Wise, Mabel John’s Your Good Thing (Is About To End) and Randell Bramblett’s God Was In The Water were but a few of the old-time blues tunes she entertained us with via crate digging her inner jukebox. Covering modern classics with her fine arrangements of John Hiatt’s Thing Called Love, Richard & Linda Thompson’s Dimming Of The Day and Annie Lennox’s Little Bird served to smartly update tonight’s roving songbook set. A three-song encore including, for the many who have been there and finding their way back, her sublime hit I Can’t Make You Love Me and Gerry Rafferty’s Right Down The Line finished with her incendiary slide play on the uplifting bounce of Talking Heads’s Burning Down the House.
With a total show running time of ninety minutes, including the encore, it might be nitpicking to claim that there was a perfunctory element to tonight’s otherwise deeply satisfying performance. Thankfully, there was no interval. With a smattering of notable guests in the audience: Robbie McIntosh, Giles Martin, Twiggy and Leigh Lawson etc. Bonnie thanked her devoted following for turning out and keeping her music and that of her cherished idols alive.
WORDS: Paul Davies
IMAGE: Scott Newton
