Discovering new music, artists and songwriters takes intention and I've found that the excitement around this has never left me. I've always looked to seek out the next cool song, killer band or guitar technique being played somewhere. Recently I had the opportunity to travel to London and my first thought was checking out the music scene and seeing what I could stumble into while in this city. There is literally so much going on that it can be a bit overwhelming.
Well it didn't take long to see that Jeff Beck was performing at the Royal Albert Hall so that was a no brainer. Being a life long guitar player, I was actually amazed at myself for not having ever seen him in concert. The entire experience was just fantastic - the venue (check it out if you ever have the opportunity) was probably the nicest one I've ever been in for a concert, Jeff Beck was awesome and so smooth, effortless and cool to the bone. Finally his band, all the players were top tier, diverse in every way and a total pleasure to watch and hear. I've now built a playlist of his stuff and diving deep.
Well I couldn't stop there so I decided next to find a small venue, singer/songwriter type listening room and found it at the Troubadour. I heard about the days Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and even Adele had played so had to check it out...it was like going to a private party at a friends basement with an awesome act playing - Ashley Cambell & Thor Jensen. Never heard of either so it was a total crap shoot and they killed it. Great vocals, playing, total touch and subtleties rarely heard these days in music. Left that night with some vinyl (yes, love my albums) and digging in now back in the US.
Here's to the next adventure in music discovery out there, can't wait - Brian