Buddy Guy, B.B. King rock the Ted in Norfolk

NORFOLK

Two blues legends - Buddy Guy and B.B. King - delighted a crowd at the Ted Constant Convocation Center Thursday night.

They have a lot in common – two old blues singers and guitarists whose distinctive styles influenced many players who followed them in the blues and rock worlds. Both showed that they are still great showmen, able to move a crowd.

Guy, 74, played first and delivered an electrifying set of a little over an hour. He varied from swaggering frontman to humble oldtimer, shifted from a howling, prowling wolf to a charming rogue. His finest guitar work came in the slower, dramatically quieter moments. No one can play, or sing, as softly as he can while holding an audience in his sway. That said, he can still fire up a guitar with a passionate fury that few players can match.

He pulled out plenty of trademark Buddy Guy tricks, such as playing the guitar by rubbing it on his chest, using a drumstick instead of a pick, playing with his teeth and playing with one hand while gesturing with the other. A special highlight came when he strolled out into the crowd and halfway into the upper level at The Ted, playing and singing all the while. The crowd – far from a sellout, but healthy - ate it up.

He said more than once that he wanted to keep playing all night. His joy and fervor made that ring true, and the crowd’s cheers made it clear that they would have welcomed that.

But the more famous of the two greats, B.B. King, was ready to settle in and, as he put it, “go to work.”

King, 85, brought more support with him. Guy had keyboards, drums, bass and a phenomenal backing guitarist, Rick Hall. King’s band had all that plus four men on horns, saxophones and flute; and he brought his daughter Shirley out to help sing “Rock Me Baby” and introduced his grandson, a U.S. serviceman.

He also had a chair to sit in for the set. King retains a powerful singing voice and was clearly having fun being the boss of the band, directing them to take solos and moving them about the stage, and the audience, too, as he called up people to dance for various numbers. Sometimes his guitar playing was as sweet and fluid as ever. Often it was not.

His band more than made up for the lost musicianship. They were first-class. They played two stirring instrumental numbers before King came onto the stage. By the time he had introduced the band, about 30 minutes of his set had gone by.

Regardless, King has earned heaps of good will in his 65 years of singing the blues and making his guitar, Lucille, sing along with him. As he launched into hits such as “Key To The Highway,” “Why I Sing the Blues,” and, finally, “The Thrill is Gone,’ he won roars of approval throughout the night.

Dan Duke, (757) 446-2593, dan.duke@pilotonline.com