ThermionicEmissions: Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp, Red Bank, NJ 10-11-22

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp, Red Bank, NJ 10-11-22

For some reason, the driving directions were excellent. It was, as they say, the nut behind the wheel that was the problem. Well, that and the Neighborhood Beautification Program, that cleaned all those nasty street signs from view. Garden State Parkway has a new program called PAY TOLL EVERY 100'. There was one cash lane, 70 cents, coins only, and you BETTER have exact amount or the Staties will stomp on your vital parts. Route 173 goes East to the show and East coming back. They call it The Magical Highway. And yiz betta not ask why. if you knows what's good fo yuh. You watched duh Sopranos - you unduhstand.

The Count Basie Hall, renamed to Large Corporate Writeoff Count Basie Hall was very nice, in an old school kinda way. Comfortable seats, no bodies on the floor, and the absolutely horrid Cokes were only $3; we were almost better getting one of the 53 beers or wines. In fact, soda wasn't even listed on the menu boards. They like to keep it a secret. It was a nice, medium size hall, similar to The Keswick (Glenside, PA), with a balcony and generally good seating. After the better part of 3 days, we finally hit jackpot: 11th row, slightly left. That's Jeff's main area. If you sat right, he didn't visit you too much.

For the geekballs like me, Jeff's stacks had changed a bit. Where it used to be primarily Marshalls, the Magnatone was up front, sitting on a Marshall turned backwards(?). There were 2 small cabinets facing out, 1 mic'd. He played 2 Strats: a rosewood board and a reverse headstock rosewood board. On the other side of the stage was a tiny Marshall combo. It was roughly the size of the "5". Rhonda Smith, bass, had an Aguilar stack. There was a small keyboard spot and a monstrous drum kit, so large and shiny, it looked like a Judas Priest show was ready to break out. Earlier intelligence had the Irish lady on cello, who toured with him years back, and Vinnie Coliauta on drums. Jeff has had a lot of serious drummers, but Vinnie is in a class by himself.... he wouldn't have played with Frank Zappa if he weren't. Funny, that. As the first note sounded, the first thing I said out loud was, "That's NOT Vinnie Coliauta," and it wasn't, unless he lost much of his mass and adopted a huge head of long blonde hair. I don't know what the keyboardist's or drummer's names were, but I called the drummer Hurricane. She was a mass of long blonde hair. The fan behind her had her hair blowing all over the place and she was more than animated, hence Hurricane. The Cheap Sunglasses would make Billy Gibbons smile. Hurricane was a mass of hair and hands, using sheer physicality to play. In other words, she beat the living hell out of her drums. And she was good. She was a little over-the-top heavy, but definitely a good drummer. She also mimic'd a drum machine several times. Fun to watch and listen to.

Speaking of watching, the audience was old. Gray hair everywhere. And why not - Jeff's been around since the 60s. But there were also some really high maintenance ladies, whose main occupation seemed to be selfies. and strutting up and down the aisles. A few rows ahead, I spotted a tall, pretty lady, with long hair. Wife was having a blast, people-watching. She counted the number of times a couple of them were up and back (There and Back). There is nothing like 50-somethings in black leather, except maybe 60-somethings in black leather. There was one particularly.... different,... fellow who could not keep his butt in his seat. I was thinking about asking Security if he could be temporarily stapled there for the remainder of the concert, so everyone around could see. Minutes later, Wife asked me if 'tranny' was still acceptable. Uh-oh. Whatever the accepted term was, there was a gaggle of them in front of us. How does she spot this kind of thing? I had to ask where. They didn't have it tattooed on the back of their heads. Ever the people-watcher, she said there were a lot of ladies with Adam's Apples. Oh. Just to make the night more interesting, one of them was the tall, pretty lady I saw. Good for her- she's obviously doing it the right way. Very fortunately, I'm married. Because you don't want to find out about that the hard way, so to speak. All in all, it was great to see a sold-out show, with all sorts of people, except perhaps young'uns.

Jeff did most of a set. This wasn't my favorite Beck concert... it felt a little.... loose. But his worst day is still miles above anybody else. He was mugging it up, pointing and smiling. The playing was pure Beck. It sounded a hair different, probably due to the amp change. Not a ton of pedal-play except for a Leslie-emulator (at last read, it was an H&K Tube Rotosphere - I love mine), a trem, and probably some gain. The keys were a minor concern, at least according to the sound guy. They came up a bit more when sequenced bits were needed, whether or not they were sequenced. I have some video of a few tunes, including my favorite: Cause We Ended as Lovers. Funny, my phone has no trouble with blasting audio, but good luck with pictures. In the 11th row, we had an unobstructed view (except for staple-ass) and it was clear and crisp. On the camera, it looked like we were across the street. I'm glad I got the phone with the good camera. Everybody around me had no trouble.

Jeff then made a rare trip to the mic, mumbled a bit, and Johnny Depp came out. The audience went apeshit and stood throughout the rest of the set. His performance was pretty close to the album - he's not a bad singer. Unfortunately, this was a Jeff Beck concert (for us), so this was an interruption (sorry Johnny, it's your (pl) album). He had the whole bandana, hat, rings, stances thing down, which thrilled the audience to no end. It was kinda like a Springsteen concert: Bruce could stand there and defecate, and his fans would scream in joy, then faint. Depp left after a few songs, and the focus went back to Jeff. The stupid buggers in the audience only stood when Depp was on the stage, not when the master of the strings was solo. A Day in the Life was wonderful (won a Grammy!). Eventually Johnny came back, causing the ladies to go apoplectic, and stand again. Mrs lefty can't stand long, so we sat and watched the concert through everybody's phones. There was a single encore and we were off, once again touring New Jersey, due to lack of street signs. They played the previous night too, which was a first for Jeff, but I wonder what he thinks of his 'new found fame' now that he has a famous acting/divorcing/musical cohort. I think someone screamed a marriage proposal to Hurricane, the drummer, much to Jeff's amusement. After they left, a poor roadie came and collected everything that was lobbed up to Johnny onstage. This is probably his only function. In the Tom Jones tradition, there were probably hotel keys and phone numbers. And condoms.

Johnny Depp is the luckiest man on the planet. Good actor, lady-magnet, and now gets to play with Jeff friggin Beck. They'll probably write him in for president in the next election. And it was nice of Jeff to play in his band.

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Great seats, great musicianship.

Songs were spread throughout his career, starting at Blow by Blow (my favorite album), 2 from There and Back, Guitar Shop, nothing from Wired, and a few more recent tunes. If I were better with names, I'd list them.

We will not miss him whenever he's near. It was a 2 hour drive. I might've stayed home, but Mrs lefty insisted. When non-musicians will do anything possible to see great musicians, there's something there. Eric Johnson is her favorite and she loved Robin Trower recently, without knowing a single song of his. I knew she was mine at her apartment, where I found a Jeff Beck album in her pile.