From suited executives to students, hippies and everyone in between, tonight's crowd is a rich and varied one. And it stops chatting as one when the lights go down and Buddy Guy, undisputed blues legend, strolls onto the small stage, his polka dot shirt matching his polka dot guitar.
Chicago's king of the blues is here to plug new album 'Sweet Tea', because, as he says: "They don't play the blues on the radio no more. If I don't bring it to you like I am tonight, then you won't hear it." He then picks up his guitar and does what he does best -letting fly with high-energy guitar histrionics and gritty tortured soulful vocals. The crowd is with him from the start and when he says he wants to play all night, he is met with hearty, unanimous approval.
Buddy is quick to pay tribute to those who came before (and after) him and plays snippets from such greats as BB King, T-Bone Walker, Albert King, Eric Clapton, and his late great partner Junior Wells.
The biggest tributes of the night, however, are reserved for his idol and mentor Muddy Waters and Delta blues giant John Lee Hooker - a soulful rendition of Waters' 'Hoochie Coochie Man' stirs the crowd into song, and a stomping version of Hooker's 'Boom Boom Boom' bowls them over.
The consumate entertainer keeps his audience in raptures, as well as in stitches, with his animated facial expressions and constant one-liners. Meanwhile his band is left wondering what happened to the set list as he launches into such quintessential lines as "One leg was in the east, one leg was in the west, I'm right there in the middle, just trying to do my best."
The music, though, is what it is all about and Buddy storms through classics both old and new. 'Tramp' and 'Baby Please Don't Leave Me' from the new album instantly prove themselves worthy of the coveted 'classics' label. 'Sweet Home Chicago' again gets the crowd singing and then Buddy wanders off through the parting crowd whilst delivering a soulful rendition of John Hiatt's 'Feels Like Rain'. He stops at the bar to try and encourage the staff to sing before making his way back to the stage to crank the pace back up with 'Damn Right I've Got The Blues'.
Keeping the blues alive is clearly Buddy's quest. So when a young man sent his guitar backstage to be signed before the show, Buddy went one better - the aspiring musician was brought on stage to play with his hero. If anyone was expecting just a few chords from this star-struck teenager, they were knocked down when he proceeded to strike out with some exceptional blues licks of his own.
Buddy is one of the last remaining true blues legends - by his own admission, "There is only me, BB King and John Lee left". But while he clearly misses his former colleagues, the blues lives on through him. This man still has more enthusiasm, energy and love for his music at the age of 65 than most musicians many years his junior, and it's an honour and a privilege to still have him around.
