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Rhonda Smith Performs with Beck Eric Clapton Chills Out, Jeff Beck Shows Off in Concert: Review
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A Review by Robert Heller Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Jeff Beck showed off and pumped out flashy solos. Eric Clapton saw no need to try too hard and was quietly laid back. The star with nothing to prove was better. The two legends of the electric guitar shared a stage at London’s O2 Arena last night before heading to the U.S. and Canada for repeat performances. The virtuosity rarely fell short of technical perfection. The result was far more variable. The Valentine’s Day match should have been made in heaven. Both stars know the same blues standards: Beck replaced Clapton in the seminal U.K. group the Yardbirds. They played separate sets, then one together. It is a format Clapton will repeat in North America, first with Beck and then the Who’s Roger Daltrey. Steve Winwood has been enlisted for a European tour in May. Beck, 65, was first up. He brought his own sunglasses, bicep-flaunting waistcoat, band, strings and brass. His playing was all fireworks, burning up and down his white Fender Stratocaster’s fretboard. He worked the tremolo bar, wah-wah and feedback to frenetic overdrive. Bassist Rhonda Smith, who previously played with Prince, equaled him in sound and fury. It was enough to make many of the many grown men in the crowd whoop. Musically, it was enough to make many rock fans weep. Beck veered between frantic funk, schmaltz and heavy rock that begged unfavorable comparison with the work of another former Yardbird member, Jimmy Page, and his band Led Zeppelin. A cover of “Nessun Dorma” was a travesty. Clapton, 64, in jeans and jacket, sat down with his acoustic guitar and gently transfixed the arena with the no nonsense “Driftin’ Blues.” A step up to electric (another Stratocaster, powder blue, no tremolo arm) brought a crisp rendition of “I Shot the Sheriff” and an exhilarating stomp through “Cocaine”. Together, the two stars avoided duets and respectfully swapped solos. The music chugged toward safe bar-room blues territory, expertly played. There was opportunity for detailed stylistic comparison, though no chemistry. The much-lauded show was less than the sum of its parts. North America, take note. Ratings: Overall ***. Clapton ****. Beck * ½. Clapton and Beck play Madison Square Garden, New York, on Feb. 18 and 19, moving to Toronto on Feb. 21 and Montreal on Feb. 22. Clapton’s tour with Daltrey starts on Feb. 25. | |
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Nicee, wish I could have saw this. "Not to sound cosmic, but I've made plans for the next 3,000 years," he says. "Before, it was only three days at a time." | |
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You know why Rhonda is so good with her bass? Her bottom. All you others say Hell Yea!!  | |
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I thought you meant Beck. >> |
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NO Offense to Rhonda.... who I have seen with Prince.....
But I have to youtube to see her with Jeff Beck, But for me.... Tal is the bass player in his band.... Music is the best... | |
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HamsterHuey said: I thought you meant Beck.
I did 2.  **--••--**--••**--••--**--••**--••--**--••**--••-
U 'gon make me shake my doo loose! http://www.twitter.com/nivlekbrad | |
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daPrettyman said: HamsterHuey said: I thought you meant Beck.
I did 2. As well, I. I swear I saw Rhonda on The Grammy's, and I never saw it brought up here. She played with Jeff Beck during the Les Paul tribute part of the show. Having read this, I guess it was her. | |
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ernestsewell said: daPrettyman said: I did 2. As well, I. I swear I saw Rhonda on The Grammy's, and I never saw it brought up here. She played with Jeff Beck during the Les Paul tribute part of the show. Having read this, I guess it was her. yup it was.... she was playing electric upright. Music is the best... | |
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aalloca said: yup it was.... she was playing electric upright.
Narada Michael Walden on drums (also on Beck's Grammy performance) Jason Rebello on keys, along with Rhonda equals Jeff Beck's current tour band. Music for adventurous listeners tA  Tribal Records"Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all." | |
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i had no idea who JEFF beck was before i was beck fan and buying his cds and seeing this other name. couldn't name one jeff beck song if my life depended on it, but i guess he's a good guitarist or something, right  . good for her for working  For all time I am with you, you are with me. | |
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purplepolitician said: i had no idea who JEFF beck was before i was beck fan and buying his cds and seeing this other name. couldn't name one jeff beck song if my life depended on it, but i guess he's a good guitarist or something, right
. good for her for working Jeff Beck was BECK long before there was a "Beck" (If that makes any sense). 
And yes he's a very good guitarist. Very deserving of the term Rock Legend. Music for adventurous listeners tA Tribal Records"Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all." | |
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theAudience said: purplepolitician said: i had no idea who JEFF beck was before i was beck fan and buying his cds and seeing this other name. couldn't name one jeff beck song if my life depended on it, but i guess he's a good guitarist or something, right
. good for her for working Jeff Beck was BECK long before there was a "Beck" (If that makes any sense).
And yes he's a very good guitarist. Very deserving of the term Rock Legend. Music for adventurous listeners tA Tribal RecordsAnd there we GO! Also... I really don't like the review. Seems like the reviewer just doesn't like Beck's playing. "He's a musician's musician..." | |
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Rhonda Smith makes one forget the up and coming Tal Wilkenfeld ever playd with Jeff Beck.
There are vids all over you tube and she played stand up bass on a few songs. This is "Nessun dorma" http://www.youtube.com/wa...JCE8lm7q0Y On Beck's new track "Hammerhead" from his forthcoming album EMOTION & COMMOTION she is so funky and her bottom is all that. Narada Michael Walden is also thunderous on the drums. "Hammerhead" and ""Mna Na Heireann" featuring Sharon Corr on violin (Rhonda is on the stand up bass on this song) http://www.youtube.com/us...wNx-SG_vr8 We also have to give it for Joss Stone, who sings the vocals on "I Put A Spell On You", Jeff Beck's single going for adds at radio the second week of March. Below she flew in from her tour to sing the song on the opening night of the TOGETHER - APART TOUR (Erci Clapton/Jeff Beck) http://www.youtube.com/wa...kdaPgHDoAk Music Royalty in Motion | |
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theAudience said: aalloca said: yup it was.... she was playing electric upright.
Narada Michael Walden on drums (also on Beck's Grammy performance) Jason Rebello on keys, along with Rhonda equals Jeff Beck's current tour band. Music for adventurous listeners tA Tribal Recordsgreat to see her continuing to get props that are due her, i knew she was top notch from the first time i saw her with Prince at the Today Show outdoor concert. "We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F | |
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Giovanni777 said: Also... I really don't like the review. Seems like the reviewer just doesn't like Beck's playing. Maybe the band had a bad night. I'll definitely write a review after I see their April performance here in L.A. Music for adventurous listeners tA Tribal Records"Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all." | |
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theAudience said: Giovanni777 said: Also... I really don't like the review. Seems like the reviewer just doesn't like Beck's playing. Maybe the band had a bad night. I'll definitely write a review after I see their April performance here in L.A. Music for adventurous listeners The band was excellent it is the British press The fans on the Jeff Beck boards loved the show. check out super photographer Ross Halfin's assesment on his siet www.rosshalfin.com also several mp3s are floating about to hell with the press, they don't know shit anyway tA Tribal RecordsMusic Royalty in Motion | |
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RnBAmbassador said: The band was excellent it is the British press The fans on the Jeff Beck boards loved the show. check out super photographer Ross Halfin's assesment on his siet www.rosshalfin.com also several mp3s are floating about to hell with the press, they don't know shit anyway Great photos. Can't wait to see this show. Music for adventurous listeners tA Tribal Records"Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all." | |
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Jeff Beck/Eric Clapton, The O2, London
By Richard Clayton Published: February 15 2010 22:47 | Last updated: February 15 2010 22:47 Guitar gods: Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton The electric guitar solo is the ultimate baby-boomer art form: showy, self-indulgent and a strain on the patience of succeeding generations of pop fans. For many born after 1970 – excluding heavy metal’s acolytes, of course – it’s an invasive irrelevance or just plain silly. Guitar gods Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, and those who worship them, take their soloing very seriously indeed. But one doesn’t have to share that reverence – or to regard the form as anything other than essentially daft – to enjoy what they do. The two former Yardbirds – sharing a major British stage for the first time, but playing “Together & Apart” – offered something here for all comers. Beck opened with John McLaughlin’s “Eternity’s Breath”. Jazz fusion, yes, but I gawped in admiration at how he did most of his picking with his thumb and expertly twisted his Stratocaster’s tremolo arm. “Led Boots” had enough Blaxploitation-flick funkiness to confirm that Beck – sporting gladiatorial silver bands round his right wrist and bicep – is pretty fly for a 65-year-old white guy. The eerie, violin-like tone he achieved on “Corpus Christi Carol” suggested his aim of “trying to sing through the guitar” is already within his quixotic grasp, though it was sweet relief he didn’t attempt “Nessun Dorma”, also on his forthcoming album Emotion & Commotion. “Big Block” gave Beck a chance to weigh in with some chunkier shredding after Sharon Corr, on violin, had helped to soundtrack a schmaltzy Celtic air, “Mna Na”. Soul singer Joss Stone was a more histrionic guest: “There’s No Other Me” became a rap-rock temper tantrum; but her raw belting better served “I Put a Spell on You”. Clapton, 64, began sedately. His back-porch masterclass in “trad” acoustic blues (assuming it’s the porch of a beach-side condo on millionaire’s row) included a laconic “Layla”. He went electric with “Tell the Truth”, played with a surprisingly throaty chug, but his suit jacket only came off for “I Shot the Sheriff”, as the solo went from mellow afterthought to broodingly vexed. While “Cocaine”, sleek as a new retiree’s roadster, was full of torque and traction, all “Wonderful Tonight” was taking to bed was a cup of malted milk. Wasn’t it ever thus? If few sparks flew during the joint set, a case of “After you, sir”, Beck’s maverick presence did provoke greater urgency in Clapton’s more conventional playing of a host of blues standards. “Hi-Ho Silver Lining”, Beck’s first solo hit and a track he now disowns, was the hoary encore. His earlier contribution, though, carrying on Jimi Hendrix’s work and often absurdly compelling, was the unexpected boon for me. () Music Royalty in Motion | |
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Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck, Together & Apart, The O2, London
(Rated 4/ 5 ) Heroes together are a class apart Reviewed by Andy Gill Tuesday, 16 February 2010 The names Clapton, Beck and Page have assumed a hallowed status since they blessed The Yardbirds with some of the most startling and influential guitar parts of the Sixties. Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page played in the same line-up for a while but save for some brief encounters at charity benefit shows in the Eighties, Beck and Eric Clapton had not, until this tour, performed together. So this alliance of the two axe heroes of their age was an opportunity which no self-respecting air-guitar aficionado could miss. Not that there were many axe-hero moves to ape, both guitarists being the kind of technicians who let their fingers do the talking while their bodies remain comparatively still. The excitement resided in the sound, not the show. Before they closed the show together, each played an hour-long set with their own band, in which the differences in their styles, magnified by close-up screen shots of dazzling fret- and finger-work, were made evident. Both played Strats, but in strikingly different manners: while Clapton used a plectrum, Beck employed a long thumbnail for the most part, his fingers dallying delicately over the tremolo arm with which he inscribed those long, aching passages, rock's closest equivalent to a dying swan. Clapton eschewed the whammy bar in favour of dauntingly precise string-bending, stretching notes fluidly into one another. With a small orchestra augmenting his power-trio, Beck's set was partly drawn from his forthcoming Emotion & Commotion album, being a characteristic mix of whizz-bang funk-rock licks stuffed with stunt-guitar phrases, such as "Led Boots" and "Hammerhead", and subtler pieces like "Corpus Christi Carol" and a beautiful version of the Irish air "Mna Na Heireann", performed with the violinist Sharon Corr. The singer Joss Stone appeared for incendiary runs through "There's No Other Me" and "I Put A Spell On You", she and Beck egging each other to ever more dynamic delivery. The most impressive female performer of the evening, however, was surely Beck's new bassist, Rhonda Smith, a statuesque slap-bass virtuoso whose hands were a constant blur alongside the Uncle Fester-esque drummer Narada Michael Walden. Beck's set closed with a hauntingly beautiful version of "A Day In The Life", which combined his hard and soft techniques, before a seated Clapton eased into his own set with a few gentle acoustic blues numbers, Charles Brown's "Driftin' Blues" leading into a relaxed "Layla". After he strapped on his trademark light-blue Strat it was a short while before optimum sound-balance was achieved, but by the time his choppy offbeats led into "I Shot The Sheriff" everything was running perfectly. This was quite brilliant, a seamless blend of high-end soloing and funky low-end chording, essayed with a fluidity that was simply sensational, a reminder that true guitar artistry is not simply a matter of speed or technique – both of which he has in spades – but depends more on taste and subtlety, elements which are abundantly available to the mature Clapton. Clapton's crowd-pleasing classics like "Cocaine", "Wonderful Tonight" and a taut, funky "Crossroads" were followed by a third set, of Beck and Clapton together, with loose, limber blues like "Shake Your Moneymaker" and "You Need Love" interspersed with gentler pieces like "Moon River", on which Beck demonstrated his peerless, delicate way with sustain. A rousing run through Sly Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" brought things to a head before Clapton sprang a little surprise by leading into an encore of "Hi Ho Silver Lining", the hit so disdained by Beck, who nevertheless laid down a brusque, bruising solo break and sang a verse in good humour, chuckling in embarrassment. As the two guitar greats strolled off, smiling, arm in arm, we were left to wonder if any comparable guitar summit would ever happen again. Maybe with Jimmy Page completing the great Yardbirds lineage? Just a thought... Music Royalty in Motion | |
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jeff beck >>> Prince on guitar | |
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Great playing by Jeff and the band sounds great! "The first time I saw the cover of Dirty Mind in the early 80s I thought, 'Is this some drag queen ripping on Freddie Prinze?'" - Some guy on The Gear Page | |
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As long as we all agree that Sonny T is a better bass player. As is Prince. All you others say Hell Yea!! | |
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I'm GLAD it was with Jeff Beck and not "Beck lite" | |
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