I was looking for somewhere to stay en route to Barnsley and I spotted that there was a single reasonable seat left in this gig in Symphony Hall so that settled it - Birmingham it was.
First up was Gareth Dunlop - singer songwriter with some nice songs a second guitarist and a poor sound system. He was OK.
Bonnie Raitt had a drums, bass, keyboards and lead guitarist to complement her slide guitar.
She kicked off with 'Made Up Mind' from her most recent album and then did a range of songs from her repertoire carefully crediting the songwriter. 'No Business' a John Hiatt song was early in the set and the next song that really hit home was a Mali influenced song 'Back Around' that had a genuine West African feel about it. This is one of the best things about Bonnie Raitt she brings all sorts of influences into her music and makes them her own. The band helps - all excellent musicians (Ricky Fataar drums,James Hutchinson bass, Glenn Patscha, keyboards and Duke Levine, guitar. Glen in particular was a virtuoso keyboards player and was given plenty of chances to solo.
A tribute to John Prine was her song 'Just Like That' and she was much taken with the fly that stayed on her wrist for the whole song and flew away at the end (I saw it go) relating it to the lyrics of John Prine's 'Angel from Montgomery'
She did two excellent Bonnie Hayes songs written for the Raitt album 'Nick of Time' namely 'Love Letter' and 'Have a Heart'.
The finish to the main set was exquisite - a version of 'Angel from Montgomery'that was her on acoustic with the band joining in and then brilliantly ' Burning Down the House'.
The encore comprised a Mike Read song ' I can't make you love me', 'One Belief Away' and then a barnstorming finish covering B B King's 'Never Make Your Move Too Soon,
Great slide guitar, great songs covered the Bonnie Raitt way, some excellent keyboards and vocals. That'll do nicely.
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