So, tonight I am at the historic Birmingham Town Hall where so many legends have played in the past. The walls of the bar are full of pictures of the greats of Rock n Roll from Bill Haley, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry to Eric Clapton, Simon and Garfunkel and Black Sabbath. So will Joanne Shaw Taylor be added to the list of greats that have played here? My Joanne Shaw Taylor journey started in the Black Country, when she walked on stage at the Wolverhampton Civic in 2010 supporting Black Country Communion. I was blown away by her then, so 12 years later can she still deliver the excitement of that first night?
Joanne and her band walked on stage and with a quick, “Tonight how you doing?” they were straight into the first song ‘Stop Messing Round’ and she clearly was not, some really lovely Hammond playing and storming guitar work from Joanne. The pace continued with ‘I Want You to Love Me’ before dropping slightly with the title track off her latest excellent album ‘Nobody’s Fool’. The evening was mainly made up of songs from her current album and her previous Blues covers album. This isn’t a bad thing and shows how Joanne has matured over the years and her latest album is clearly one of her best. Joanne and her band can certainly deliver the goods and produce a storming performance.
So many great moments in the set, ‘Dying to Know’ and ‘Watch ‘em Burn’ were storming, Joanne was on fire, dirty blues at it’s best. But the emotional and beautiful song ‘Fade Away’ topped the night for me. Joanne on acoustic guitar with a beautiful piano accompaniment and that voice, we may talk about Joanne’s guitar playing but her voice is unique and so powerful. So chilling and moving that it put a tear in my eye, simply breath-taking. Worth coming just for this one alone. The main set finished with the awesome ‘Bad Love’. It was only when Joanne returned for the encore with ‘Going Home’ and ‘Mud Honey’ and one person stood up at the front head banging away, that made me remember what it was like at the start of my Joanne journey and I kind of miss that.
There is something about a tightly packed standing venue that can’t be beaten. But times move on. Tonight’s performance was one of the best I have seen from Joanne in a stunning venue and she still blows me away. But I do miss the old days. And to answer the question should Joanne Shaw Taylor’s picture be on the wall of the Town Hall with the rest of the greats, hell yeah, you bet it should and if it isn’t there the next time I visit, I will be putting one of mine up from tonight for all to see what they missed. If you can catch her on this tour I strongly advise you do so.
GALLERY with photos by David Pickles
