B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray

B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall

 (2011)

B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray delivers great video and audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
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Starring: B.B. King

B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Review

Lucille picks a fine time not to leave B.B. King.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, March 19, 2012

If you mention the name Riley King to most music fans, you're apt to get a blank stare, but if you change that first name to the nickname "B.B.", suddenly recognition doesn't just dawn, it more often than not quickly morphs into fawning adulation. King, who will turn 87 this September (and despite diabetes, he seems to be going relatively strong despite his advanced age), has been on the world stage for so long, raking in accolades for so many decades, that it's hard for many to remember a time without "The King of the Blues". What's rather amazing about King's long and storied career is that it was built at least as much out of relentless touring as it ever was by hit albums or singles. In fact King toiled in the trenches for years before he ever achieved anything approaching mainstream success with either an album or a single, but the irony is by the time he did manage to top the pop (and R&B) charts, he was already a household name throughout much of the country due to his personal appearances. King in concert is a curiously low key affair, almost like being invited into the master's living room and simply being able to watch him play with his friends. King is also something of a raconteur, which is both charming and slightly awkward at times, as he can push the envelope of political correctness, though in a completely innocent and well intentioned way. This June 28, 2011 performance find King and his band (as well as some famous guest stars) grooving through a rather short set of tunes at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall, which may not (in the inimitable words of Lennon and McCartney) be filled with holes, but which seems to be filled instead with some veddy, veddy reserved Britishers whom King has to exhort to show a little enthusiasm throughout the evening.



King takes the stage here as his band kind of vamps in the background quietly, and what's instantly noticeable is how quiet the audience is. There's certainly respectful applause as well as a boisterous shout out or two, but it's absolutely nothing like what a standard United States audience is like, especially at a blues or rock concert. King then launches into some brief introductory comments, comments which are obviously skewed to cull some applause from the audience, only—nothing. King has to repeat several key lines to get a rise out of this somewhat inhibited group of people. What's kind of funny about all of this is, once the guest stars show up more than half way through the evening—especially Slash, Ronnie Wood and Mick Hucknall (of Simply Red)—the audience goes completely stark raving bonkers, screaming and yelling and standing and waving their arms. Maybe it's a British thing.

Things never get overly raucous throughout the evening, though it's amazing how great B.B. sounds, both vocally and instrumentally, considering his advanced years. His voice is still deep and commanding, and his singing is fluid if slightly declamatory. His guitar chops are as nimble as ever, with his trademark bent notes and stinging, almost sine-wave sounding, attack. The guest stars here are okay, but in my personal opinion despite their individual reputations, they pale next to B.B., who inhabits such a rare stratum of star power that it's probably unfair to anyone with whom he shares the stage.

King does make a couple of perhaps at least questionable comments in his on stage patter, including a really weird set of interchanges when Susan Tadeschi and her husband Derek Trucks take the stage. He insists that Tadeschi come over and kiss him, which she does, and then he goes on a diatribe with Trucks about it (meaning the kiss) not meaning anything. Then he starts making comments to Tadeschi about wanting to marry her, and then, most odd of all, when Trucks starts playing, King jokes that he wants to marry Trucks, furthering this line of discussion by saying if he's reincarnated, he wants to come back as a woman so that he can marry Trucks. It's extremely odd, to say the least. There's another slightly odd comment directed at Mick Hucknall and what race King perceived him to be based on Hucknall's raspy voice. This is all just slightly unsettling, but it also reveals how open and carefree B.B. is in this concert.

It's a rare musician whose axe is almost as well known as he is, but that's the case with B.B.'s self-named guitar Lucille. B.B. has a marriage of sorts with his instrument, and as he lovingly caresses a variety of tones and timbres out of his "paramour", it's clear that this love affair continues to burn brightly and in fact defies the ravages of time. B.B. King and his music are undoubtedly timeless, and no mere ticking of a clock can take that aspect away.

B.B.'s band for this concert includes:

James "Boogaloo" Bolden: Musical Director and Trumpet
Stanley Abernathy: Trumpet
Melvin Jackson: Sax
Walter King: Sax
Reggie Richards: Bass
Charlie Dennis: Guitar
Tony Coleman: Drums
Ernest Vantrease: Keyboards

The band's set list includes:

Intro

I Need You So

Key to the Highway

See That My Grave is Kept Clean

All Over Again

Rock Me Baby

You Are My Sunshine

B.B. Jams With Guests

The Thrill is Gone

Guess Who

When the Saints Go Marching In

B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray, Video Quality

 

B.B. King Live at the Royal Albert Hall is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Once again a live concert performance receives a generally fine and sharp looking presentation, though once again aggressive blue lighting results in rampant banding and posterizing. When B.B. asks for the upstage lights to be raised so that he can see the audience, and a battery of blue lights comes on, it's a paradigmatic example of banding, and once the camera switches to the audience, which is bathed in an hallucinogenic swirling hue, it's another perfect (if that's the right word) example of posterizing. Fine detail is quite good in the many close-ups, but it's noticeably lacking in some of the midrange and especially the far shots. There is some minor aliasing and shimmer around things like the guitar strings and, strangely, the stubble on B.B.'s face.

B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 

Shout! Factory has given B.B. King Live at the Royal Albert Hall two lossless audio options, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. This is perhaps the first live concert Blu-ray I've personally reviewed that is occasionally hampered by something that should never, ever be an issue with a release like this, namely feedback. The first time I heard a momentary high squeal, I thought I had simply mistaken some other sound for feedback, but when it happened again (and again), I knew exactly what was going on. The good news is (if there is good news), whoever was at the mixing board catches these gaffes very quickly, so you'll hear just a second or two of a high pitch squeal, which is then mitigated by some fast slider action. But something like this should have never happened in the first place, and especially not in the recurrent way it does here. Other than this admittedly minor annoyance, the rest of the audio here sounds great in both the surround and stereo mixes. Fidelity is excellent, balance is really well maintained, and the 5.1 mix offers a nice ambient hall spaciousness that shows why the Royal Albert venue is so prized by musicians.

B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

 

• Backstage Interviews (1080i; 20:33) begins with shots of the road crew setting up the stage in the Royal Albert Hall and then we get some fantastic reminiscences from B.B. Later on Slash talks about what this gig means to him, and Ronnie Wood remembers the first time he heard a B.B. album. Mick Hucknall gets a funny introduction by B.B. in a cutaway from the concert and then talks about his history with B.B. Derek Trucks and Susan Tadeschi seem a little overwhelmed by performing with this legend at the Royal Albert Hall.

B.B. King: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

 

B.B. King Live at the Royal Albert Hall may be just a little too laid back for some fans, but B.B.'s age must be taken into consideration, and when that's done, this concert is a fitting testament to a man who, like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps going and going and going. The musicianship is stellar throughout, and the ambience is really kind of casual and carefree. It must be admitted that some of B.B.'s onstage patter is just a little questionable, but again slack must be cut for someone of this stature and age. While both the video and audio have some momentary (and in the grand scheme of things rather minor) issues, with a nice set of supplementary interviews and the chance to see the legend live in concert, B.B. King Live at the Royal Albert Hall comes Recommended.

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Independent distributors Shout Factory have officially announced that they will release on Blu-ray B.B. King: Live at Royal Albert Hall. The show was recorded on June 28, 2011. The Blu-ray will be available for purchase on March 20th.

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