16 h, sep 24, 2019 y - Johnny Depp
JEFF BECK
LIVE
Celebrity Theater
Phoenix
Description:
Jeff Beck Gave a Master Class in Guitar Playing at Celebrity Theatre
By Fred Kuhlman
Jeff Beck did a 5-date tour of mostly the south and southwest following his appearance at the Crossroads Festival and prior to his appearance at the Hollywood Bowl for a reunion concert with Rod Stewart. We in Phoenix were lucky enough to see one of these outstanding performances. Jeff Beck was accompanied by drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, bassist Rhonda Smith, vocalist Jimmy Hall and cellist Vanessa Freebairn-Smith. Toward the end of the show, Jeff was joined on stage by Johnny Depp. Johnny played both guitar and sang on a couple of the songs. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to photograph the first 3 songs so we were not able to get photos of Johnny Depp or Jimmy Hall since they showed up later.
The show started with Jeff, Vinnie, Rhonda and Vanessa performing “Space For The Papa”. As with most of Jeff’s songs, there are usually no vocals, just outstanding instrumentals. During “You Know You Know”, Rhonda came out to the front of the stage to regale us with a masterful bass lick. Since Jeff has performed with a large number of great artists over the years, a lot of his setlist were covers of some of those artists. The stage was setup very simple with Vinnie’s drum kit in the middle back, with Rhonda to his right and Venessa on a chair to his left. This allowed Jeff to roam around on the stage laying down his hot licks. It was truly amazing to see Jeff play “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers”, that most guitarist could only hope to master.
As they started to play “Rumble”, they were joined on stage by Johnny Depp. Johnny then remained for the rest of the set and encore. At times Jeff and Johnny would jam together in the middle of the stage. Another highlight was when they played “Superstition” as Jimmy Hall belted out the lyrics and roaming around the stage playing tambourine.
In some ways it was a flash back to the 70s as Jeff was in a white jump suite with military boots. Jeff also wore his aviator sunglasses throughout the show. Johnny was dress in his usual blue jeans, vest, multiple necklaces and cloth strips hanging from his belt and guitar strap (a lot like Steven Tyler).
This was the first time I was at a concert at the Celebrity Theatre with their new sound system that I had to put in ear plugs. Jeff was definitely pushing the system to it full potential and when Johnny joined in, it was definitely pushed. Even with it being louder then normal, it was still perfectly clear and I was able to understand the singer.
If you missed the show, then you truly missed one of the great guitar players from the 60s. It is understandable that Jeff is asked to perform with some of the great guitarists at the Crossroads Guitar Festival with Eric Clapton. If you want to see bootleg videos of the show, just put in “Jeff Beck Phoenix” as the search on YouTube. You can see just how clear the sound was and Jeff’s exceptional performance.
