Jeff Beck with Steven Tyler, Hollywood Bowl, August 10, 2016 (Photo: Ross Halfin; used with permission)
The August 10, 2016 concert was billed as a career retrospective (“50 Years of Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and Special Guests”) and for almost three hours, if you count Guy’s 45-minute cooker of an opening set, the potentially jaded Hollywood Bowl crowd was treated to a jaw-dropping display of deep blues, hot licks and dive-bombing Stratocaster forays into the ionosphere of rock. Of course, these were Jeff Beck‘s followers, many of whom had seen him live throughout the various phases of his classic rock career, from the Yardbirds to the days of the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart, out on the Jan Hammer Highway and into the future with Beck’s 2016 album, Loud Hailer.
Watch the official teaser
While the set was organized chronologically, the opening tune was the exception. Rosie Bones, the Cockney crooner of Beck’s latest studio configuration, got the crowd in the mood by stalking through it with a flashing-light-festooned movie camera, then hopping up on the stage’s front skirt to pump out Loud Hailer’s “The Revolution Will Be Televised.” (There is no Tal Wilkenfeld in the current lineup. The ever-current Beck has moved on with a new kick-ass femme bassist in Rhonda Smith and the rock-steady rhythm guitarist Carmen Vandenberg.)
Beck with Billy Gibbons (Photo: Ross Halfin; used with permission)
Then it was off to the races, with Beck leading his ensemble through a rapid-fire half-dozen Yardbirds and Jeff Beck Group rockers. “Over Under Sideways Down” had the same youthful energy as it did when Beck and the lads were humping their equipment around England in a van with “Yardbirds” painted on the side of it. And “Morning Dew” was handled deftly by Jimmy Hall, standing in for Stewart. The Blow By Blow-era “Freeway Jam” and the heart-rending instrumental “Because We’ve Ended As Lovers” set us up for Beck’s first special guest, Jan Hammer.
Beck’s collaboration with the keyboardist was the cornerstone of his most creative period, and with this onstage reunion (“I am so thrilled to have the great Jan Hammer on keyboards,” Beck introduced), the faithful were satiated. At one point during their performance of “Blue Wind,” Beck pointed playfully toward Hammer, who took the cue and revved up the synth. The iconic Bowl seemed to take off like a psychedelic flying saucer. Kudos to the lighting techs.
Watch them perform “Star Cycle”
Related: We asked Beck who he regrets never having collaborated with
The middle section was a lesson in intergenerational reverence. Beck has surrounded himself with a cast of young players—much like the great bluesmen, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and, yes, Buddy Guy, have done. And they play the master’s music with a fresh energy that comes from respect.
This was illustrated by the soulful Beth Hart, a belter in the Janis Joplin-Judy Henske tradition.
So it seemed appropriate that after Guy left the stage, in walked the Reverend Billy F. Gibbons for a rousing rendition of “Rough Boy” and a slightly comical version of “16 Tons,” written by Merle Travis and popularized by Tennessee Ernie Ford (“another day older and deeper in debt”).
Some in the crowd perked up when Steven Tyler pranced out, and it was, as Spock used to say, only logical that he did a version of Tiny Bradshaw’s “Train Kept a-Rollin’,” a song covered by both the Yardbirds and Aerosmith.
Watch guest vocalist Steven Tyler
[The recording and DVD of the concert are available to order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
The encores, two of them, were another youthful bow to the classics: a nod to John Lennon with “A Day in the Life,” which Beck first recorded back in 2003, and a rousing homage to Prince, which had Hart wailing and Tyler taking a back seat for a change with singers Hall and Bones on “Purple Rain.” Which underscores the main takeaway that Jeff Beck is a class act indeed.
The crowd was all a-flutter as they inched their way to the parking lot. They saw the shape of things and it was good.
Related: Our obituary of Jeff Beck, who died on Jan. 10, 2023
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7 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationainian.com-a jeff beck webpage- unofficial but necessary
16 Tons was written by the late, great Merle Travis.
My fave gtr player next to John McLaughlin and Duane Allman. Really hoping he comes back for a tour of the states. It’s been too long since I’ve seen him. At least I’ll be gettin to see McLaughlin in less than a month with the great Jimmy Herring opening and doing a 3rd set of all Mahavishnu stuff with John. I’m most psyched for this show though I have Crimson less than a week later. Now I just need to see Beck one more time and I can die happy. Hmm that might sound a bit grim huh. I can’t wait to see this concert video but ain’t nothin like the real thing.
Get the video you won’t be disappointed.
I personally knew Jeff Beck back in 1977-78. I was 18.
I had just bought his Album “Blow By Blow”. And I went to alot of Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Blues, Rock, Quadrofonic, and Progressive Rock ” Yes”, “Jethro Tull” with his Flute, and Frank Zappa. ACDC music. There was so many types, and it was experimental experimental.
So I bought this ” Blow By Blow” Album. By now I moved to California. I met Jeff Beck, during the Stanley Clark, and Jan Hammer. What’s funny is I did not realize that he was the one on the Album I had bought, as it looks painted on the cover. And I was telling him about this new record I had been listening to. Needless to say what a wakeup call, for both of us.
I had such a. Interest in music, I could sing, but not play. Jeff took an interest. He tryed to develope my interest. He experimented with me, He gave me a history lesson on his career with the Yardbirds, these long bus rides he took with them, on Jimmy Page, dragging around his guitar on the ground. I didn’t know anyone in Calif, and he just got here from England. Now pair a southern girl, with an Englishman. I was trying hard to understand his English ways. Quite, but a bit Naughty. Arrogant, but a Profesionist. He took me to his home. I listened to his music, and other classical pieces he loved. He was trying to experiment with sound, noises, like in ” Freeway Jam”. I sat with him reading his fan mail, in boxes. He had lots, he hadn’t gotten to yet, sitting there in his home. He remembered some of them, he had met. I started assisting him, he then later had photos taken of me, and recorded my voice. Later he had to go back to England to Collaborate with Carmine. I had lost contact with Jeff. But little did u know I would again years later see him in Concerts and leading up to his 50th Anniversary. I was there to Celebrate. And it was great. It brought many memories back, and afterwards I got an unexpected Kiss from Mr. Steven Tyler. He to is a legend. The DVD, CD Is a must. Jeff also went to Mel’s Diner on SunSet, and had a Book signing. I would love to see him again. Post Covid. His friend, Joan Bryant
I was at Jeff’s 50th Anniversary Concert at The Hollywood Bowl. I would not miss this. I met Jeff when I was 18. Became his Assistant for awhile. It was Great to see my Friend again, still playing and experimenting, and Collaborating, sharing his night with us. The DVD, CD is really worth getting.
Rhonda Smith is hardly “new”…10+ years with Prince took care of that.