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Showing posts with label Tel Aviv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tel Aviv. Show all posts

Monday, July 16, 2012

North Mississippi Allstars live in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, July 10, 2012


 Luther Dickinson with Israel Blues Society
 co-founder Ilan Jonas

More than 400 music fans from many different disciplines and from all over the country came out Tuesday night July 10, 2012 to the Barby club in downtown Tel Aviv.
A fair contingent of Israel Blues Society members, some dedicated "Deadheads" (Grateful Dead fans),
fans of jambands like the Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule, and just folks who enjoy good music, and heard about the show from friends and on Facebook.
The Barby club is an old warehouse type structure with very high ceilings and metal rafters to support the old roof, huge chandeliers that look over 100 years old hang here and there from the rafters.


The folks start filtering in and getting settled in seats around tables, or standing in the space in front of the stage. Many of us are old friends and acquaintances who see each other at concerts and festivals, and this is one of the biggest events we have shared all year.

Alvin Youngblood Hart comes on stage to open the show solo, playing Charlie Patton, Son House, and Skip James classics as well as a couple of his own songs with impeccable technique on the guitar and a very soulful voice. To tell the truth, many of us came to hear Alvin just as much as the features act. The crowd is warmed up nicely now, and ready for the main show, the air is already highly charged with lovely energy, and about 10 minutes after Alvin finishes his set, brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson come on stage.

 Luther Dickinson with 2 dedicated Blues fans

Cody immediately opens with a New Orleans style quick parade marching beat, as Luther straps on his guitar and begins picking out a song slowly and softly.
The brothers, also known as the North Mississippi Allstars, and also as the North Mississippi Allstars Duo LuCo, It is quite hard to believe how full the sound is coming out of just a guitar and drum set, but these two manage to make it sound like at least a full 4 piece band was on stage.

After an hour with a string of their best songs, going from playing hard and full out and back down to a whisper and gentle fingerpicking, the audience is rocking and swaying, and hanging on their every move, and that's when Alvin comes back on stage, and picks up the bass guitar. Luther sits at the drum kit, as Cody pulls out a metal laundry washboard that is hooked up to a microphone and electronic effects pedals, and literally stuns the audience by making some wild and amazing sound patterns with the amplified washboard. Alvin now takes up a guitar and Luther the bass, as Alvin sings a couple of his own songs, and then switches back to the bass, as Luther pulls out an amplified 2 string cigar box guitar and plays it with a bottleneck slide. Next, Luther picks up a 2 stringed amplified coffee tin guitar and plays it slide style as well as singing through the other end of the tin can like a megaphone...

After all this wildness, they all went off stage for a few minutes as the crowd all stood on their feet and waited for an encore, and encore they got - at least another 20 minutes of the amazing high energy North Mississippi Allstars show. As one person leaving the club said: "That's just what I needed, that music filled me up for a long time!"