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Jeff Beck - The Anthem, DC (first stop of the Fall, 2022 Tour):


cmatthes

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I am NO Steve Haynie, but I’ll try my best…

A few months back, I snagged a solo ticket for the Jeff Beck show at The Anthem here in DC figuring nobody would be into joining me.  That place is quickly becoming my favorite venue for many reasons, but it is truly a state-of-the-art hall with great sight lines and killer sound.  I wasn’t interested in shelling out $350 for the VIP tickets, but ended up 3rd row in the center aisle for about 1/3 of that.   Well…money well spent for the most part!  A month or so after I got my ticket, they announced that Johnny Depp would be joining Jeff on this leg of the tour, and apparently the DC show was the first outing.   That wasn’t terribly exciting news for me - I mean, the guy plays a great pirate or young Keith Richards, but…he’s not really the kind of person I’d expect Jeff to share  stage with, much less release an album together.  I figured that Jeff is looking to go out with a big moneymaker and possibly recruit some new female band members, as my observation from waiting at the Wharf and on the way in to the venue, the crowd was about 90:10 female to male.  Every other time I’ve seen Jeff since the early 90s, those numbers have been reversed.  All ages, from teen girls to women in their 60s-70s were all decked out and cleaning out the tour merch booths.  It was nuts being a guitar geek at a show like that with that demographic!  I had a feeling that many of the women eagerly awaiting the show would soon experience a disappointment similar to what they experienced going to a sold out John Mayer shows a few decades ago and expecting him to be more “Your Body Is A Wonderland” and instead getting their hair blown back with his SRV impression…but I am straying off onto another tangent.
 

The opener was quite frankly, awful.  As in, total shite.  A hippie dude who ripped off 8-10 songs from other bands (CLEAR ripoffs of The Pretenders, The Cure, even a Kinks song - not coincidentally soundalike riffs) and sang his own unintelligible lyrics over them with a really weak Neil Young vibe.  I mean, it’s barely okay when NEIL does that!  Fortunately, I met up with two good friends from high school that I hadn’t seen in a long time and we were able to enjoy laughs at the back bar for the duration of that mess.  My buddies DID spring for the VIP tix, and I guess that was just for the swag bag (a repro laminate, a patch, stickers and a Jeff Beck water bottle… 😳 ) - we had tickets in the same row,  but on theirs were on the opposite side, 13 seats to my left.  I’m happier to have the $200+ in my account.

After sad hippie wrapped to (at best) polite applause, Jeff came right out if the gate hot, with a blistering version of “Freeway Jam”, and all was right in the world.  The last time he came around, I got to hang backstage and watched his set from the guitar pit at stage left, but 4 years later, he still looks and sounds as energetic and on his game as he did two decades ago.  The place went nuts, and he was clearly appreciative - even took a humble early bow.  He stepped up to the mic/talkbox and dove into “Me And The Devil Blues”, an old Robert Johnson song updated to almost be unrecognizable - but in a good way.  He then tore into “Big Block”, from his “Guitar Shop” album, complete with his best guitar impressions of the sounds of a busy auto shop.
 

After that, a few covers (Brian Wilson’s “Caroline No” and a Mahivishnu Orchestra tune), and then a flurry of skronks and harmonics that led into “Loose Cannon”.   Jeff turned over the front to the ever-powerful Rhonda Smith, who dropped a tasteful, yet jaw-dropping bass solo, with a hammer-on/tapping tribute to the late EVH.
 

A few more Beck classics followed, and the mostly seated crowd stood at attention through “Star Cycle”, “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” and “You Never Know”.  He switched to a different white Strat (with a reverse headstock) for “Brush With The Blues” followed by an energetic drum spot featuring Annika Nilles.

Jeff took another bow and spoke a single word into his mic (no idea what), and Johnny Depp shuffled out onstage like a smacked-out homeless bum, practically tripping over his low-slung, heavily reliced Telecaster…and the screams from the girls/women were absolutely ear-shattering.  I’m being serious.  It was painful and piercing.   Jeff and the band roared into Link Wray’s “Rumble”, as Johnny dragged from one side of the stage to the other, randomly hitting chords that may or may not have been audible.   I’m not convinced he was even coming through the PA, much less the small Marshall combo to stage left.

Depp slunk over the mic stand, with his best Steven Tyler scarf collection and mumbled his way through a song off the joint album about Heddy Lamarr, and then they did a John Lennon cover.  By this time, we realized that not only was Depp’s Telecaster NOT coming through the PA (and I was 3 rows back and could only make out occasional, random sounds coming from his Marshall, but the keyboardist (Robert Stevenson) was either doubling every vocal or singing lead from the shadows while Johnny posed out front at the mic.  I’m sure that the only female in the crowd that cared/noticed was the woman directly next to me sporting a Fender logo tattoo on her shoulder.  From that point on, as she enjoyed her steady stream of vodka & sodas, she protested the fact with ever-increasing fervor.  It was REALLY funny hearing her heckle the Johnny Fangurrls all around us!  
 

Johnny switched to an acoustic 12 string for a cover of Dennis Wilson’s “Time”, and then they did a somewhat rocked up version of The Velvet Underground’s “Venus In Furs”.  Jeff and the band then took over for his always rousing version of The Beatles’ “A Day On The Life”, that once again brought people to their feet, and the band took a round of bows and exited the stage.

Within five minutes, the stage lit up again and Jeff and the band came back out without Depp.  As he started a solo version of “Corpus Christie Carol”, a steady line of girls/women streamed towards the exits.  Their loss, as Jeff then tore into his typical closer, Hendrix’ classic, “Little Wing”.   The applause matched the thunderous power of that song, and Jeff and the band took another quick bow.  Depp came back for one last number, a cover of Killing Joke’s “The Death And Resurrection Show”.  About halfway through, several dozen ladies who stuck it out cycled past me to the edge of the stage where they deposited  steady stream of bras, panties, a few stuffed animals, and a couple mysterious objects in large ziploc bags.  At this point, everybody onstage was laughing, and as the song ended to more bows and waves, Jeff and the band exited stage right for the last time as Johnny stopped to pick up his new collection of undergarments and hold them over his head, laughing and acknowledging his fan base - clearly no Team Amber folks in the room!  
 

As always, Jeff and his amazing band put on a killer show, worth every penny - even for the VIP ticket holders.  If you get the chance, I’d highly recommend seeing an absolute legend with one of the most shit-hot bands going.  I can honestly say that Johnny is just not a caliber of musician who should be onstage with those cats, but Jeff is no dummy, and clearly respects and likes him enough to do an album and tour with him.  I’ll be more than content to chalk it up to first night of the tour jitters, but I’d have far preferred if it had been a ZZTop date!

 

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@Jakeboy- Bob Bogan from our MHS Soccer days said to say “Hey!!” to you guys!  I caught the show with him and Shawn Vreeland, if you remember them.  

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Killer, killer review @cmatthes! And Bobby Bogan to boot! That is awesome! He was a great winger! 

When I saw Beck at a tiny theater here a few years ago, he was just as you said, jaw-dropping ly good!

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Beck is one of my heros for over 50 years (since Yardbirds days). he is one of the top innovators in guitar rock. he is on par with Page, Jimi, Eric, etc..  and, he kept on growing and inventing. 

thank fuck he's finally decided to wear a shirt these days. that old wild topless rocker with armbands look he had like at the Ronny Scott looks like hell on an old wrinkly man. but dhaum... he can play

 

as for Dep... dunno. they made one vid that was pretty good, buy yeah.... pretty much a puzzler. must be dozens on this forum alone that are better musicians

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It’s the most business savvy thing I’ve ever heard of JB doing LOL

He always sold tickets, but this obviously puts him in bigger rooms and in front of more people (and way more FEMALE people...), and he’s ALWAYS gonna bring a scary good A game, with a sick band.

JD is a clown and a prop, but JB is untouchable musically and I’m sure hasn’t recently started giving a dirty rats ass for anyone else’s opinion Haha 🤣 

Think about this- bringing on JDbag probably sells more tickets to females per show (to an “instrumental guitar virtuoso”???) than all cumulative sales previously. 🤷‍♂️😆

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I read @cmatthes post last night and thought it was entertaining as could be.  Thank you, Chris!

Beck and Depp have played shows together in Europe, so Johnny should have been ready to get out there and play.  Depp has a spot in the Hollywood Vampires, too. 

There were a lot of women at the Atlanta show, but it was mostly guys.  The women were buying the tour shirt with the art from the new album with Johnny Depp.  Some were hoping he was going to magically pop into Atlanta for the show. 

In Atlanta Beck used the Strat with the reverse headstock twice.  It was tuned down.  Rhonda Smith switched basses at the same time which seemed odd because she plays a five string bass.  Maybe she needed a lower tuning to bounce off of an open string. 

Usually I watch a guitar player's left hand, but with Beck the magic is in his right hand.  The way he plays off the volume knob and tremolo bar is unique. 

The Atlanta show was an hour and twenty minutes.  It seemed like it was over in ten minutes because it felt so good watching the show. 

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I thought about going to see him, but I'll pass this tour.  I'm sure Johnny will get a movie and forget about his wannabe rockstar thing at least for a while.  Beck always has a killer band.  BTW, did he get a new wig? Looks a bit off.  

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20 minutes ago, cynic said:

If my celebrity (regardless of source) afforded me the opportunity to share a stage with Beck, anyone whining about my wannabe-edness could kiss my sharing-a-stage-with-Jeff-Beck ass.

I don’t care whether or not he, “deserves”, to be there. I just don’t want to suffer through the suck. 

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Nice. I thought Tal was still doing bass, but obviously not. I *think* the current player played w/ Prince on tour. Great play-by-play. Cannot fathom JB playing the stroll without moving my ass.

either way, I need to practice....

Thank you

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2 hours ago, Rockola said:

Nice. I thought Tal was still doing bass, but obviously not. I *think* the current player played w/ Prince on tour. Great play-by-play. Cannot fathom JB playing the stroll without moving my ass.

either way, I need to practice....

Thank you

I would LOVE to hear him reprise “Stroll On”  from his Yardbird days. So different than “Train”…..he continues to evolve and get better it seems…

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14 hours ago, Rockola said:

Nice. I thought Tal was still doing bass, but obviously not. I *think* the current player played w/ Prince on tour. Great play-by-play. Cannot fathom JB playing the stroll without moving my ass.

either way, I need to practice....

Thank you

Yes indeed!  Rhonda played with Prince for a few tours at the end of his days.  I’ve seen Jeff with her twice - she’ definitely has a different playing style than Tal, but both are just staggeringly good.

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On 10/6/2022 at 9:08 PM, beezerboy said:

Beck is one of my heros for over 50 years (since Yardbirds days). he is one of the top innovators in guitar rock. he is on par with Page, Jimi, Eric, etc..  and, he kept on growing and inventing. 

thank fuck he's finally decided to wear a shirt these days. that old wild topless rocker with armbands look he had like at the Ronny Scott looks like hell on an old wrinkly man. but dhaum... he can play

 

as for Dep... dunno. they made one vid that was pretty good, buy yeah.... pretty much a puzzler. must be dozens on this forum alone that are better musicians

the Depster gotta be paying Beck a bundle so he can do all his posing on stage with a legend..

The Dep is the ultimate R&R poser, with hair ban , tattoos bedraggled Hollywood junkie/homeless look... 

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