Reconfigured Beale Street Music Festival poses surprises good and bad

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Reconfigured Beale Street Music Festival poses surprises good and bad
May 2, 2009
commercialappeal.com

The peculiarities of a reconfigured Tom Lee Park, adjusted to make room for the ongoing construction of the Beale Street Landing project, yielded unexpected surprises — some good, so bad— on the first night of the Memphis In May Beale Street Music Festival on Friday.

At the Blues Tent, now planted right by the festival’s popular north gate at the foot of Beale, the relocation gave some welcome exposure to the all-too-often-neglected roots artists on display there.

By the time Bonnie Bramlett kicked off the stage’s lineup early in the evening, the Blues Tent was already three-quarters full, as fans of onetime Stax recording artists Delaney & Bonnie came to check out the feminine half of the legendary ’70s blue-eyed soul duo.

True to that group’s loose, all-star jam-session-style albums, Bramlett’s set list was heavy on the covers, as she wrapped her smoky pipes around funked-up versions of the Everly Brothers “Love Hurts” and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”

If Bramlett’s was not the most down-home of performances, hardcore blues fans were more than sated by the follow-up act, Chicago blues guitar mainstay Lurrie Bell. Bell had been scheduled to play music fest last year, when a freak thunderstorm forced the cancellation of his flight from Chicago. Memphis In May organizers were so impressed with him, however, that they invited him back this year.

“This guy was worth the wait,” said Blues Tent stage manager and New Daisy Theatre owner Mike Glenn. “I think they even left a day early to make sure they got here this time.”

A light rain forced the Blues Tent over capacity as Bell, the son of the late harmonica whiz Carey Bell, and his lean band carried on in the tradition of Windy City greats like Muddy Waters, kicking off his slot with a lengthy guitar jam before sliding into songs like “I Need You So Bad,” a number he recorded with his dad, and “Five Long Years.”

On the nearby Budweiser Stage, thing were more problematic. The lineup of dynamic-rich, jam-oriented bands was plagued by sound bleeding from Sam’s Stage, just a few hundred yards and facing the back of the Bud stage.

During their opening performance, Medeski, Martin & Wood drummer Bill Martin occasionally peeked up over the backline to see what was making all the commotion. (It was Rise Against.)

Medeski, Martin & Wood may be one of the more unusual main stage acts to ever play Music Fest. Essentially an avant-garde jazz trio, the group set up in a tight circle, with Wood facing the side of the stage to better see what directions his bandmates would pursue. Nevertheless, they played enough extended, sinewy jams to keep the couple of thousand groove-hungry fans happy, though the band’s atonal and syncopated explorations may have thrown off the occasional dancing hippie.

Philadelphia’s G. Love & Special Sauce delivered a more accessible show heavy on their trademark combination of classic R&B grooves with a hip-hop twist. The three-piece backing band laid down fat, slinky funk grooves while frontman Garrett Bunton shot out easygoing, rapid-fire raps on songs like the emcee celebration “Don’t Drop It” and “Back Of the Bus.”

The most eagerly anticipated act of the night, however, may have been Southern California’s Ben Harper, who was debuting his new band the Relentless7, rumored to showcase the more rocking side of the singer/songwriter/guitarist’s eclectic music personality.

Harper and the band, despite the name actually a pared down three-piece, announced just such an intention right of the gate, kicking off with a potent version of the Led Zeppelin classic “Good Time, Bad Times” before launching into re-imagined versions of such Harper faves as “Better Way” as well as material from their upcoming album White Lies For Dark Times.

Back at the Blues Tent, the Chicago theme continued with Lonnie Baker Brooks setting the stage for night closer Tommy Castro with an upbeat concert that emphasized the guitar-players long, drawn-out six-string histrionics.