Almost a year to the day since his last visit, Krissy Matthews was back at The Harmonie with his ‘Women of the Blues’ Tour. Take all the superlatives I heaped on that performance a year ago and then add a couple more “amazings!”. You’re half way to describing this evening’s show. Last year’s Blues Ladies Dani Wilde, Kim Jennett and Stephy Doherty, were joined by a new face (to me anyway) in Zubaida Solid. In addition we had once again the master rhythm section of Slavek Semeniuk (bass) Gerry Reynders (drums) and of course the best Norwegian/English guitarist on the planet in Krissy Matthews himself. What’s not to like?!
Well there was something I didn’t like – the Harmonie wasn’t packed to the rafters. I know we’ve had both Bernard Allison and Dana Fuchs down recently, and ticket prices have gone up, but people, you won’t see a show with this much heart and soul in it at the Kunstrasen or the Lanxess Arena for twice the price.
With so much talent the concert was in fact amazing value – especially since it started even earlier than normal, and ran for two and a half hours – so that everyone got a chance to play (take that ZZ Top, with your 70 minute appearance at Kunstrasen!). No taking the money and running here. Krissy told me before the show that life is too short to work with people you don’t like; and it’s telling that he describes his fellow musicians as ‘wonderful human beings’ as often as he calls them ‘great musicians’.
The vibes onstage are great throughout. That’s in no small part due to Krissy himself who states from the outset that the people on the stage are there to make the people off the stage smile and have a good time. “Are you having a good time?” he asks regularly. “Are you smiling?” he adds intermittently. How could it be otherwise with all the smiling faces onstage?
‘Die Reihe nach’ as they say in Germany: The evening was cut into even quarters and, like a good cake, each slice was delicious. Krissy, alongside Slavek Semeniuk and Gerry Reynders got things underway with the urgent rock riff that kicks off ‘Mayday’. The rock riffing continues apace with ‘Antisocial Media’ before getting funky with Stephy Doherty joining in on sax for one of my KM favourites ‘The Man Said No’ a song born out of Covid days with it’s chorus:
“The plague came down, like a real heavy blow.
All my work got tossed out, and there was nowhere to go.
Had to get a job fast, and find me some dough.
Every place I went, the man said no“.
The trio rounded off their set with a classic from another trio who you might be familiar with – Cream’s ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, during which Matthews left us in no doubt that he could go head to head on this one with ‘God’ himself as Clapton was known by guitar fans back in the day.
With such a phenomenal ‘backing band’ how could any woman of the Blues not put in a great performance? Even before Zubaida Solid stepped onto the stage I knew she could only be great. I missed her when she appeared here as a part of the WDR Crossroads evening with her Rockband Siena Root in 2023, so this was a first for me, and in case you missed that show a quick bio: Zubaida is a part of the Swedish progressive rock scene and has been lead- singer with Stockholm band Siena Root since 2018, after being spotted whilst performing with a Frank Zappa coverband of all people. To be honest, I can’t say that I heard any of Frank in her performance or Janis Joplin to whom she has been compared – but then last weeks performance by Dana Fuchs put the Joplin bar at an all-time high. Her roots are described as being in Blues, Classic Rock and Bollywood! Curious…
At any rate, I enjoyed Zubaida Solid’s quarter of this evening’s musical cake and her choice of songs. ‘Boogie Man‘ was a fun one to kick off with, before the evening’s first reminder that Women have long been at the heart of the modern Blues: Think of the song ‘Hound Dog’ and you think immediately of Elvis. The truth is though that Big Mama Thornton first recorded the song in 1952 – four years before ‘The King’ took it to the top of the charts. Big Mama’s version sold a respectable 500,000+ copies, whilst Elvis sold about 10 million. Pause for thought on that fact. Meanwhile, a rumbling bass line takes us into the next track ‘I don’t Care’. Followed by ‘How Blue Can You Get’ and ‘Lucille’ – with extra oomph via Stephy Doherty’s sax to finish a set that was solid and a voice thats was strong although I had the feeling this was a singer who had a lot more to give visually and vocally than she did on the night. At any rate, Solid by name…
Do I need to introduce Dani Wilde to 3songsbonn readers? It seems like an age ago when I met Dani after doing an interview with Candye Kane for a Blues Caravan tour. It was actually 2008 and she shared the bill with Deborah Coleman. Dani is quite informed when it comes to Women of the Blues, having written a regular column on the subject for the UK magazine ‘Blues Matters’, and Coleman remains one of her heroes as she reveals between songs. Given Dani’s knowledge of Blues Women it was no surprise to hear something less well known by an unfamiliar name from the Blues Ladies archive. ‘Shave ’em Dry‘ written by Lucille Bogan and originally recorded by Ma Rainey in 1924, is a sexually explicit number that certainly deserves its placement in the ‘Dirty Blues’ music category. Before you leave this review to look up the lyrics I’d like to mention that Krissy Matthews was in fine form on harmonica accompaniment.
Okay, now you’ve checked the lyrics on Lucille Bogan’s ‘Shave ’em Dry’ I can continue to say that Dani Wilde added a fine Blues song of her own to the evening with ‘Deeper Than Black’ as well as a great cover by the whole band of T-Bone’s ‘Don’t Quit Me Baby‘. She also sang an unaccompanied version of ‘Love Hurts’ citing her own favourite of the song as being the one from Nazareth. As a huge fan of Dan MacCafferty’s scottish rockvoice I’m with you on that choice Dani! Did I mention that she flew over from Gatwick just for this show? Did I also mention that I bought a copy of her new disc ‘The Vizztone Sessions’ and that it’s an absolute cracker for fans of pared down blues – with the added value of having Dani’s brother Will, the UK’s finest Blues-harp player, delivering exuisite backing? After all this time Dani Wilde continues to amaze and delight me with her music and she’s one of the nicest people I’ve come across on the music circuit.
A big complaint about Manchester born Kim Jennett to start with – the lady is almost impossible to photograph because she just never stands still. You track her across the stage in your viewfinder, and even as you press the shutter button – poof!- she’s gone. Note to self next time she’s in town – shutter setting 500th of a second or faster. Musically though no complaints. Jennett is primarily a Hard-rock/Heavy-metal singer, with the result that when she sings the Blues it’s almost as if she is pacing the stage like one of those aforementioned ‘hound-dogs’ wanting to go wild but forcing her voice down a gear because there are no metallic guitar-shredding solos to scream over. I cannot imagine a bigger difference in styles than that between Dani Wilde and Kim Jennett, yet both manage to be totally captivating during their performances tonight. Jennett too has a new disc available, but not surprisingly, given the cover picture and title ‘Queen of Hell‘, nothing she plays tonight is on it. Instead we are treated to an enjoyable package of rockier Blues including Johnny Winter’s ‘Rock n Roll Hoochie Koo’ which must have had the picture of Johnny on the Harmonie wall smiling, and which I suspect was inspired by this year’s Blues Caravan which used it as a ‘safe’ number for the whole band. Needless to say, with Jennett handling vocals, it is a heck of a lot wilder than the one we heard from Chavez, Curry and Frank early this year. Kudos to Krissy for managing an excellent solo despite the obvious distraction of Jennett prostrate at his feet.
It only remains for Krissy Matthews to re-enquire if we’ve all had a good time? (check) If we are all happy? (check) and suggest that they encore with ‘The Weight’. “Everyone take turns with a verse” he decides, looking down the line of assembled Ladies who have sung this evening. before sending them the calming message “Don’t worry if you don’t know all the words!” and before anyone has time to worry – they’re off. It’s mayhem, it’s unrehearsed, it’s magic.
Now people, if, and I say ‘if’ here, Krissy Matthews brings his ‘Women of the Blues’ show back to Bonn for a third year running in 2027, promise me you will be there? Life really is too short to settle for anything less than an evening enjoying yourself in the company of great people having a good time and feeling happy.
