Blues at the Crossroads - Friday Feb 4th at the Paramount
by CR Humphrey
performers:
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Hubert Sumlin
Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm
Well yall...this was an interesting show. With the stated goal of celebrating Robert Johnson's 100th birthday (May 8, 1911 in Hazlehurst, MS) Big Head Todd and the Monsters recorded an album entitled "100 Years Of Robert Johnson". Forming what they call the Big Head Blues Club, the album features Hubert Sumlin, Charlie Musselwhite, BB King, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Cedric Burnside, Lightnin Malcolm, and Ruthie Davis.
I did not know any of the above when I bought tickets in the nosebleed section of Austin's coolest old theater, The Paramount. Maybe I should have done some research, but when I saw the names Hubert Sumlin, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin Malcolm, I quickly hit the buy it now button. What that means is I went to the show with the pre-conceived notion that I was going to see Hubert and the Juke Joint Duo tear the place up, and that is not quite what happened.
When we arrived, the nosebleeds were more or less sold out, but with the recent freezing rain and sleet and weather colder than an eskimo's outhouse on the shady side of the iceberg, the lower mezzanine was less than half full. The ushers told us we could all move down as soon as the show started, and when the lights came down there was an avalanche of cheap seaters headed south!
Big Head Todd came out and sang a few RJ songs solo, wearing a dapper top hat and playing a resonator. Lightnin Malcolm soon joined him, followed by Cedric and the rest of the Monsters. After a while I looked at my watch, we were over halfway through a 2 hour show and Hubert still had yet to come out. When he did, he played 2-3 tunes with all the fellas to standing ovations. Hubert still energetic, spry and engaging even though they had to bring out his portable oxygen tank, flat KILLED! He was just about to walk off stage when Lightnin started playing Killing Floor bringing Hubert back out and blowing the joint away. I don't know if this was one of those planned "James Brown walking off stage in his cape then throwing it off to play another hour" things or if it was spontaneous but either way, it was one of the high energy points of the night in my opinion.
Great show with world class talent in a cool old venue, but as with all good shows...it could have been longer and tickets cheaper!!!