Mojo - The Music Magazine

Jeff Beck & The Imelda May Band
Indigo 2, London
Monday, September 21

"He's using a different guitar with each bloody song!" exclaims an impeccably attired and surprisingly sober Ronnie Wood. Sat next to him, almost on the edge of his seat, Jimmy Page is staring ahead at the stage absorbing the sights and sounds with a forensic intensity. Honest Ron suddenly gets up and yelps in appreciation, breaking Page's concentration as his face collapses into a warm infectious grin. "Marvellous", he exclaims like a proud headmaster, beaming at his charge.

Both of these legends have been drawn out of hibernation by the lure of fellow guitar slinger Jeff Beck's one-off performance with the Imelda May band in a special show arranged by American Express. Earlier that day a usually taciturn Beck held a master class comprising a short tutorial and lots of entertaining anecdotes about his adventures with the Yardbirds.

"The show tonight will be like hearing Jeff's personal record collection," announced manager/promoter Harvey Goldsmith referring to the choice of vintage material.

Looking a little nervous, without his usual pyrotechnics and camouflage, Beck took a while to warm up and really hit his stride about four numbers in with Train Kept A Rollin' featuring a simple, swamp-dirty solo which was the total antithesis to his normally baroque fret workouts. This was swiftly followed by Howlin' Wolf's Poor Boy - a nod to Chess Records, Beck explained - and Arthur Crudup's My Baby Left Me.

"Back in the old days when the singer got knackered we had to fill in with an instrumental," announced a by-now jocular Beck who seemed really moved by the audience's ecstatic response. "This is the tune that made us all go out and steal a Fender Stratocaster... Unfortunately, I didn't get away with it." Cue a robust take on The Shadows' Apache followed by Santo & Johnny's Sleepwalk.

Candy Box Burlesque Club veteran Imelda May displayed her torch singer credentials with spine-tingling renditions of Remember (Walking In The Sand); Cry Me A River, Lilac Wine, and Please Mr Jailer. It's easy to see how Beck was inspired to perform this material by May and her band, who have serious rock'n'roll credentials (Page could be seen backstage immersed in conversation with May's husband/guitarist Darrel Higham about their shared passion for vintage vinyl).

As the show came to a close Beck could be seen to visibly relax during a loose rendition of Green Onions, a stirring tribute to Les Paul on How High The Moon - featuring some gorgeous multi-tracked vocals from Imelda, doing her best Mary Ford impersonation, and an uproarious version of Shake, Rattle and Roll.

As Jimmy Page commented afterwards: "It was just like listening to your favourite jukebox."

Peter Makowski

Set List: Feel Me/Love Tattoo/Baby Let's Play House/Double Talking Baby/Cruisin'/Train Kept A-Rollin'/Poor Boy/My Baby Left Me/Rockin' Is Our Business/Apache/Sleepwalk/Peter Gunn/Remember (Walking In The Sand)/Please Mr Jailer/Corpus Christi Carol/Lilac Wine/Green Onions/Casting My Spell/The Girl Can't Help It/Brush With The Blues/Rock Around The Clock/Cry Me A River/How High The Moon/Shake Rattle And Roll/Somewhere Over The Rainbow