16th January 1997, "Bahnhof Langendreer" in Bochum

A lot was written about Chicago emigrant Luther Allison in the last two years. He made his so called comeback in the USA with too fine CDs on Alligator Records and played all the big festivals in the States. He was honored with 5 W.C. Handy Awards in 1996, too. This success in his home country may be new for him but things in Europe didn't changed for him. If not talking about B.B. King, Allison is still the one original blues man in Europe with the biggest and supportivest audiences over the years. Since he moved to Paris in 1984 he played in Germany for so many times and recorded for german labels. His live shows are known to be great. He used to play with french musicians in the last years.
This time he came up with a brand new band consisting of black/white american musicians. The line-up included horns (sax/trumpet) and a keyboard player. The venue was an old former railroad station. It was really packed with maybe 400 or 500 people. After a short warmup for the band the trumpet player introduced Luther to the stage who hit it with a joyful B.B. King Style song. He quickly changed the mood with the rough 'All the King's horses' from his latest CD 'Blue Streak' with heavy guitar chords. From the first note on Allison's special magic was there - his everyone's heart grabbing passion he lives through his songs. He did Magic Sam's 'What Have I Done Wrong' in a never heard way with loud Wah-Wah guitar and a funky beat. Looking at the songs he played that night he put songs from his latest recording in the center of his show. A groovy 'Move from the hood' and the B.B. like 'Walking papers' sounded fresh as on the CD. The band cut loose on the shuffle 'You don't know' and the uptempo number 'I believe in you'. Luther made a special introduction to 'Watching You' ('Cherry Red Wine' on the Alligator release) - a song dealing with addiction to drinking. He let the people know that he wrote it on a tour in Germany and gave the advice 'Don't drink and drive' before he got into this breath-taking blues tune.
During the set he played with few exception own material. The covers were a medley between 'Little Red Rooster/Hoochie Coochie Man' with him howling like a rooster. The Elmore James slow blues 'It hurts me too' is in Allison's repertory since many years. He spend around 20 minutes on it, walking through the audience (climbing up the empore), playing incredible slide guitar. The people sang along with him without any request. More slide could be heard as the band got into one more James song - 'Dust My Broom'.
To my surprise Allison played several songs from an upcoming album. Luther announced the date of release for March '97. The musical direction of that songs was more funk and bluesrock.
A few words about the band. They gave Allison a great backing and were givin' some solo place, too. Outstanding was the keyboard player with heavy organ sounds and nice piano playing. The horns were good, too. Just the way I like it most - not too much solos but strong support to the rythym of the songs. Comparing these guys with the one's who were with Allsion in the last years they are in my opinion much better for the music Allison is playing today. I remember two concert in '93 when the two saxmen played terrible for my ears destroying much of what Luther build up with his playing and singing. Luther is playing much more straight blues now, but he don't forget his other musical influences - soul, funk and rock.
Ending his set - after unbelievable 3 h and 20 minutes playing with no interruption - Allison did his signature song 'Serious' back from the 80s. A lovely soulful tune showcasing his great voice. Talking about his voice, Luther did some excusements that he might have lost his voice on the day before. But for me it was just a real understatement - he growled and howled in a great way.
Summing up - the audience got great fun, the band cooked and Luther was on top. Just where he belongs to.

All photos by Joe's Corner.
(c) 1997. All rights of this page reserved. Unauthorized copying and publishing prohibited.