Roaring out of the traps, Joanne Shaw Taylor played last night like a true force of nature. The crowd at the O2 – virtually capacity – was vocal and enthusiastic from the off and Ms Shaw Taylor didn’t disappoint and from the smile on her face from the off it looked as though she was enjoying it too.
With her trademark long blonde hair splaying out like a halo and hands flashing too fast to see she is a real crowd pleaser but she also plays guitar with real passion and a hell of a lot of skill and her nearly two hour set was packed with solos and runs that had the crowd open-mouthed in astonishment.
The material from her latest album got a serious hearing with ‘Dead & Gone’ and ‘Diamonds In The Dust’ the best of them while her version of Hendrix ‘Manic Depression’ is a real belter – even with broken strings.
She played the occasional slow Blues but they tended to lead into intense and powerful solos and then it was back into the riff-fest. ‘Blackest Day’ went from being merely a dark and slow Blues to an investigation of the deepest of emotions that left the crowd drained as much as the band.
Support for the show was by P-A-U-L and he entertained with half an hour of superb Detroit style Blues/Rock but then came back out and played bass for JST along with loaning his drummer, Layla Hall, for the set. The result was a remarkably powerful engine room, able to keep pace with the lead and completely unfazed. I almost felt that Lamb is a better bassist than lead – but only almost.
The evening was graced by the attendance of Ian Siegal and no less a superstar than Joe Bonamassa and they both looked on admiringly as Ms Shaw Taylor showed why she is rated as not just the best female guitarist around at the moment but one of the best guitarists period.
An absolutely belting night.
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