Last night’s Blues and Ballads gig at the Grand Opera House was the proverbial game of three halves.
The evening kicked off with Cork’s finest, Freddie White, playing an electric set of songs which included some of his own compositions as well as Adele’s Make You Feel My Love, Tom Wait’s Martha (the nearest we came to a singalong) and Randy Newman’s She Chose Me, all delivered with Freddie’s gravelly but emotive voice.
Following Freddie was the main act of the evening - Paul Jones and Dave Kelly.
I’d been listening to their new album, Live in London, and was looking forward to hearing the duo but I wasn’t prepared for the appearance of the Ulster Orchestra. I’d been expecting a few of their musicians to accompany Paul and Dave but the whole shebang was there and, oh my God!, what a sound they created.
As soon as they kicked off with Georgia, the audience were spellbound, for the glorious arrangement and Dave’s singing voice.
It was glorious but it was worth the admission fee alone just to hear Paul Jones sing Summertime, “George Gershwin as his most bluesy” as Jones called it.
You’d be afraid that Paul and his harmonica would be drowned out by a full orchestra but the arrangement was just glorious with a stunning baseline, and, another OMG, Jones’ voice.
The man is 82 years old and looks and sounds as good as he did when he was with Manfred Mann back in the 1960s. It would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
They also did gorgeous A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and Duke Ellington’s I Ain’t Got Nothin; but the Blues.
The section with the orchestra lasted a mere 30 minutes but it will live long in the memory.
The third half consisted of Jones and Kelly on their own and while the Ulster Orchestra showed how good they were in that setting, with just the two voices, a guitar and a harmonica on stage, it really highlighted how gifted both these men are.
They were both members of The Blues Band and have been singing together for decades and it showed.
Kelly’s sumptuous slide guitar and Jones’ harmonica and the drawing from the well of Mississippi Fred McDowell Sonny Boy Williamson and other blues greats made a show so authentic, when it was all over, I felt like buying a bottle of Bourbon and rustling up some fried chicken and heading back to Live in London!
Another great success for the 2024 Belfast International Arts Festival.