One of my favourite albums of recent years has been Larry Millers 2007 “Outlaw Blues” which even after 4 years still gets a massive amount of airplay here at Stanley Towers, so I was really looking forward to finally getting to see him live. However, as I found out the hard way there really is nothing that can prepare you for the onslaught of guitarial magic that descends when Miller enters the ring, no matter how many times you play “OB” or any of his other material.
Watching Miller play is simply mesmerizing and listening to him play is a joy to behold. I don’t think I’ve ever been captivated by one single person for so long.. After 90mins It’s easy to understand why music moguls compare him to guitar legends such as “Rory Gallagher” and “SRV”. His mastery of the fret board is second to none. Far too many of today’s guitarists tend to camp on one part of the neck, but Miller is up and down the neck like a man possessed and those riffs just stream out. Simply glorious!
There are also those who compare Miller to Hendrix, but personally I think that’s a little unfair. From my point of view ‘and in some quarters I could get stoned for saying this’ Larry Miller is much more of a complete package than Hendrix ever was or could have ever been, but that’s just my view.
But, not only is he a fantastic guitarist, but he’s also a great showman and gets the crowd involved every chance he gets with plenty of banter about the Black Country and anything else that crops up. At some points it almost feels like the crowd is in control of the set list.. He just throws a batch of songs out to the crowd and then supposedly plays the one that produced the best response.. I say “supposedly” because no matter what song he mentioned the crowd always produced the save fever pitch response.. but it made the crowd feel good.
Whilst primarily out promoting his latest CD “Unfinished Business” he never lets this get in the way of previous material and gives a good balance of old and new. And talking of new.. Tonight was the first time I’ve heard any material from “Unfinished Business” and half-way through the night I did something quite unusual and alien to me.. I put my hand in my pocket and paid the merch stand a visit.. I didn’t even try to blag a freebee! After listening to the CD a couple of times I think its fair to say that this is IMO the best CD to date and Well worth the expense.. On the whole a it’s been a great night.. its not often that an artist manages to exceed my expectations by so much. If you get chance to catch him live then do it.. If not, just buy the CD..
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