Jeff Beck - guitar extravaganza
Compared to the concert, which in 2011 saw a little over two thousand people in the Holešovice arena, this time it was a different experience in terms of concept and environment. The garden of the riding hall of Prague Castle offered nearly fifteen hundred music lovers not only a concert of the guitar legend, but also an inspiring setting with the backdrop of St. Vitus Cathedral, which Jeff Beck mentioned several times in his short commentary from the stage.
The beginning, shortly after a quarter to nine, suggested that the band and the protagonist were in good shape. A white, ruffled, sleeveless shirt, an embellished waistcoat, dark trousers with a yellow sash and a distinctive bracelet on his right arm. This is the image of a nearly 70-year-old guitar magician. His style is characterised above all by his ability to play beautiful, straight tones, but at the same time to incorporate effects that enhance the seemingly simple line of melody with uncopyable details. His right hand technique is legendary and watching him perform challenging solos is a treat. The individual pieces came in quick succession and were essentially devoid of exaggerated solo demonstrations. A nice exception was the opening showcase of Rhonda Smith's solo skills on bass guitar and Jonathan Joseph on drums (You Know You Know). The setlist leaned more on older stuff and also some absolute, unreleased new stuff, with only Hammerhead being heard from the current latest album. The whole evening was almost completely devoid of vocals, and when they did come up for a moment, they could have been better. The highlights came in the second half of the evening. However, they were mostly tribute versions of songs, namely Little Wing, played with feeling and respect for the author, and A Day in the Life, a classic Jeff number. The absolute top, however, was a subtly arranged Cause we have ended as lovers from Beck's excellent album Blow by Blow (1975). The concert brought rock, oriental folk, experimental jazz, traditional, blues of course, and most importantly instrumental excellence in every imaginable form. The unobtrusive alternation of white Fenders, non-violent rear projection, sober stage and above all the modest, sometimes even shy speech of the now true rock matador Jeff Beck showed the audience how a concert should look like where rock is an unadulterated art. Britten's closing Corpus Christi Carol, along with yet another forced encore, made the technical problems of dropped sound all but forgotten.
Jeff Beck offered incredibly touching notes, a beautiful performance, and wished us a good trip back home. He expressed his wish to return to Prague again. We look forward to it, Jeff.