City feels the blues Posted on June 9th
B.B. King brought the Chicago Blues Festival to a pitch-perfect close on Sunday with an hourlong set that looked back at his six decades in music. To his side on the stage sat a contingent of family members and friends, including Chicago blues icons Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor and Lonnie and Ronnie Brooks.
“They call me B.B. King, but if that’s the case, I’m sitting around royalty,” he said.
King, who remained seated due to complications from diabetes (”I can walk but only to impress the girls,” he said), demonstrated why he is such an enduring figure in music: His mighty vocals remain potent and his nimble guitar playing is just as jubilant as his classic recordings. Backed by an eight-member band, the set became one continuous song transitioned by stories and song snippets from his deep catalog of hits, from “I Need You So Bad” from the mid-1950s to “When Love Comes To Town,” written in his honor by U2 (”groundbreaking, talented, rich young men,” he said).
Plus, he knows his way around a good joke. Poking fun at Guy throughout the night, King also offered his thoughts on Barack Obama (”it looks like we all got something to be happy about”), women and old age (”by the time you get to my age and you break something, it’s finished”).
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