Steven Seagal and His Blues Band Successfully Besiege Cvetličarna (2014)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Peter Podbrežnik

Location: Ljubljana / Cvetličarna / Slovenia
Concert date: 23.06.2014
Attendance: 1000
Ticket price: 30 €

Steven Seagal is a legend of Hollywood action movies (lately mostly B-productions), a master of the Japanese martial art of aikido (seventh dan), an environmental activist, a sheriff’s deputy, the star of his own reality show and a good friend of Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. He’s also a surprisingly talented blues musician who first picked up a guitar even before he’d decided on an acting career. It’s kind of funny, in a way, that most fans of Seagal’s film work over here had no idea, right up until his visit to Cvetličarna on Monday with his blues band, that Hollywood’s most famous ponytail had already recorded two studio albums: »Songs From the Crystal Cave« (2005), on which he worked with Stevie Wonder, and »Mojo Priest« (2006). Taken as a whole, neither is nearly as bad a record as you might think, and a third studio album is already in the works, due out soon.

For his musical vision, Mr. Seagal mostly draws on southern delta blues, occasionally spiced up with touches of boogie, country and soul. On stage he’s backed by an eclectically put-together band with some serious mileage behind it, which makes sure things never get boring. Judging by the crowd, the response to Steven’s visit exceeded all expectations. Cvetličarna was packed to the rafters with young and old fans of the acting icon, some of whom weren’t even born yet when he shone in both Under Siege films and On Deadly Ground, probably his best-known and most beloved movies. Only a few people showed up for his musical side, but a handful of those lone specimens were in the crowd too, and there were quite a few visitors from Croatia as well, so the interest in Seagal’s Ljubljana show was truly huge.

Steven’s band, himself included, numbered a full ten musicians: two guitarists, a keyboardist, a drummer, a bassist, a violinist and three backing singers. The mere presence of keys and violin signaled a more eclectic take on the blues, and Steven’s intention to fill out the sound around him as much as possible (and maybe cover up the odd slip-up). Just in case, the band had three guitars on stage, Steven included. One of the guitarists, Canadian Redd Volkaert, was completely redundant, but all three of them still entertained us with their charismatic, ‘cinematic’ looks, on top of a rich palette of chords and some neat improvisational tricks. The standout guitarist of the night was definitely Big Bill Morganfield, son of blues legend Muddy Waters, whose guitar variations, vocal contributions and whole stage performance almost overshadowed Seagal himself, even though Seagal’s stage presence alone did the lion’s share of lifting the concert atmosphere.

The bass slot was announced before the show for fusion master Ernest Tibbs, but for some unknown reason he was nowhere to be seen. His last-minute replacement did a decent job, though. The biggest joke, however, was that Steven wasn’t on stage at all for the first ten minutes, while his band was already stretching the opener »Bad Blood«, with the keyboardist on lead vocals, into a group jam. His arrival had already been announced twice, but the giant you definitely didn’t want to mess with back in the nineties just wouldn’t show up, and the fans were visibly getting restless.

The bearded sensei, who has packed on a good deal of weight in recent years thanks to plenty of food and drink, finally showed up in the middle of a drawn-out blues jam. The crowd erupted as if someone had tossed a loaf of bread into a flock of pigeons, and he slung a guitar around his shoulders. It has to be said that after all these years of diligent practice and countless gigs, Mr. Seagal is by no means a guitar illiterate, and fans of eclectic blues heard a few juicy improvisations from him. What was quite annoying was that you could hardly hear him during his trademark low-pitched singing, otherwise ideal for his brand of blues, because the sound techs didn’t do their job the way they should have, and that went for more than just Steven’s mic. You could barely hear the three charming backing singers all night either, which wasn’t exactly a catastrophe, since at least the male half of the audience was far more interested in the sensual swaying of their hips. The view of the comely young ladies was occasionally blocked by violinist Shad Cobb, who wasn’t mixed properly either and spent the whole show somewhere in the ‘background’. Steven introduced »Aligator Ass« as the product of his enthusiasm for traditional blues from the swamps of Louisiana, while during »Boggie Man« he revealed his soft spot for boogie rhythms too.

For many of those who follow Steven’s musical output more closely, one of the highlights of the concert was the emotional performance of the ballad »My God«, while during a fiery rendition of the blues classic »I’m a King Bee« Steven’s crew bowed to the version by Morganfield’s father, Muddy Waters. Steven wouldn’t be the great peace and environmental activist who swears by the words of the Dalai Lama if he hadn’t reminded everyone before »My God« how important harmony and equality between all religions is. That’s a genuinely lovely message, well worth admiring, though how closely he sticks to such principles in his everyday life is another question. Otherwise, the music stayed in the ‘foreground’ all night, and the friendly, laid-back giant didn’t wear the crowd out with typical American moralizing or any comedy bits, which don’t suit him at all and which some people had feared. For nearly every song, Mr. Seagal swapped to a different guitar model, which he can of course afford with his money, even if some found it a little tasteless, given that he’s no great technical master or guitar hero who could rightfully and deservedly show off his collection.

For the encore, Steven and his crew played »B.B.Q.«, stretching it out with an intense jam. The bearded chieftain, who didn’t let up on his own weaving of shorter guitar improvisations, was slowly running out of steam though, and had to bow several times and grab his knees at the end. The weight of years and kilos can be a real burden, and it’s not smart to overdo it. So the concert by Steven’s blues band was over in less than an hour and a half, because despite his declared healthy lifestyle, Mr. Seagal looked pretty worn out. At the end he just thanked his loyal fans for all their support and, with the band in tow, sailed off the stage, leaving positive vibes behind despite the short set. Despite the sound hiccups listed above, going to Steven’s concert was an extremely pleasant experience in terms of atmosphere, one that will stay a fond memory for a long time. And everyone who thought this would be the first concert at Cvetličarna that wouldn’t need security guards lost their bet this time.