Personally I have never listened to the point of following the opinion of a Critic. It all boils down to one's personal preference, and ones knowledge of the subject matter under review. Although the writer's review was lukewarm, overall the review was favorable for all artist. One thing that stood out was that the show was billed as a Blues Festival which could have the expectation of just that specific genres. Southern Soul is just that a whole lot of soul with that R&B and is slow about getting it's acceptance among Blues Afficianadoes. It is typically today what one can really classify as true negro music. It was obvious that he was not familiar with some of the artist and vaguely familiar with the ones he found favorable. His comment regarding the age of the artist made me wonder where he was comming from or was he amazed by the longevity of their careers and their ability to still draw loyal fans. Their is no aging out when it comes to Blues. You generally age into blues.such as Lenny Williams. And yes, I do love it when I listen to Bobby Blands harking in his recordings. That's his signature, his brand. Did he expect and 80 year old, to still be on tour and doing the splits.
Although he did mention that the show was a revue, meaning a variety. Variety brings something for everybody to ensure seats are sold out.. All the artist have their own style or brand which indeed makes them what they are, an Artist. Perhaps it would have been more responsible reporting had the writer done his homework and studied each artist on the bill. Maybe his overall review of the show would have been excellent rather than just alright.
However, the article raised several questions: who did he represent? It made me wonder if he was half ass reporting for the benefit of the Blues Society's who all have an interest in Blues Festivals from state to state and city to city. The Blues Alright tour is cutting into somebodies piece of the action. The good thing was that he could not totally dis it, because for the mere fact that there is one thing that these old school artist know is how to put on a show, which is an art in itself. Something that is lacking in some of the festival's that I have paid good money to see and wanted my money back. Second, as artist and myself an emerging artist, I took to heart the comments about the quality of some of the acts being too risque. Which raised the questions: can my act stand up without the sexual inuendos, can my act go mainstream.; and how can I improve my act and take it to the next level and stay in demand. As artist we can all take away something from this review to survive this economy and yet still give our fans what they deserve, our very best.
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