It’s hard to believe, looking at the 400-strong crowd squeezing around the stage at Komedia, that all this excitement could be for a blues guitarist from Birmingham – the words ‘blues’, ‘Birmingham’, and ‘sold out’ do not seem like natural partners. But then Joanne Shaw Taylor explodes into her opener and leading track, ‘Dyin’ To Know’, backed by a fierce band and immediately exuding charisma, confidence and power – and it all falls into place. It’s easy to see that she has reignited interest in a languishing scene, first in the States, and now here in the UK.

Touring in support of her 5th album, Wild, which has seen her reach a new height of recognition on the international blues scene, she started the show with a quick-fire triad of releases from the same: ‘Dyin’ To Know’, ‘Nothin’ To Lose’ and ‘No Reason To Stay’ – all high-octane, hard-rock blues, delivered with all the assurance of a stadium performance. Above the songs floated her mature, sandpaper vocals, while her heavy guitar lines cut straight across her powerhouse band, positioning the guitar at the centre of the action.

Throughout the concert she would play a mix of old and new material spanning all her studio albums. Following the three new songs, she went way back to her 2010 release Diamonds in the Dirt, giving renditions of ‘Jump That Train’ and the album’s title track, followed by one from 2014’s The Dirty Truth. Considering the length of time between these albums, the high quality of Shaw’s songwriting is incredibly consistent. In the six years, it is her guitar playing that has continued to grow most noticeably – an improvement of which the crowd was able to reap the full benefit, as they were treated to plenty of extended and generous solos, revamped and improved from the studio versions, with years more practice on top.

Shaw is lucky to be backed by an expert band with whom she has a great deal of chemistry. They followed her to a letter, delivering plenty of tension-building fake-stops and bulldozing drops. All were able to swing between blues-rock and softer soul with an effortless command of both styles, but especially Shaw. On angrier songs like ‘Watch ‘Em Burn’, her fingers would race across her fretboard and her vocals split into a coarse howl, but equally she could slow it down without losing any effect: she gave a gut-wrenching performance of ‘Tried, Tested and True’, adapting her vocals to a rasping moan, accompanying herself with sparse and incisive guitar lines.

It says something about Shaw that she could end her encore with one of the first songs she ever wrote, ‘Mud Honey’ – her songwriting has truly stood the test of time. But the true centrepiece of the performance was her guitar. The blissful look that would creep onto her face as she sought out the sweet spots on her guitar neck revealed that she’s doing exactly what she was born to do – deliver blistering solo after blistering solo to sold out, awestruck crowds.

Ben Nobel

Website: joanneshawtaylor.com
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