Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Velden am Wörthersee / Bluesiana Rock Cafe / Austria
Concert date: 07.05.2014
Attendance: 70
Ticket price: €26.00 (advance) / €30.00 (day of the show)
Aynsley Lister is yet another blues rock wunderkind from the younger crop the British Isles have produced over the past two decades. He’s a guy with a much less »hyped« name, but no less magical a voice and guitar touch than, say, Joe Bonamassa, and he grew into a musician completely independent of the various music schools that would have squeezed him into established musical frameworks. In fact, he learned under his father’s wing, and as a little kid the two of them played songs by legends like John Mayall, Eric Clapton and Freddie King. By eighteen, Lister had already gone through a few bands. In 1996 and 1997 he put out his first two studio albums with his group, »Messin’ with a Kid« and »Pay Attention!«, which caught the attention of Ruff Records, and he signed a deal with them for a few years. After his studio debut he started opening for blues veterans like Buddy Guy, John Mayall and Robert Cray, and later for Bryan Adams and Fun Lovin’ Criminals. Those shows built his name and opened the door to headlining bigger European festival stages. In 2009 he even opened for southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd while they were touring the British Isles on their »God And Guns« tour.
Aynsley Lister also invited singer-songwriter Till Bennewitz from the German town of Bad Lauterberg along on the tour. I only managed to catch the last few minutes of his “warm-up” set before Lister, but that was plenty to leave a good impression. Guitar, harmonica, a pleasant mid-range, slightly gravelly, almost gently “Springsteenesque” vocal approach, and of course the expected country / folk melodic politeness of his original songs. A gorgeous overture to Lister’s show. One man, one stage. More than enough!
Last year Aynsley Lister released his 10th studio album overall, titled »Home«, and after five years he came back to play Velden am Wörthersee, specifically the local temple of blues and rock, Bluesiana Rock Cafe. He did it with the crew he actually recorded the new studio album with. Keeping him company on stage were the dark-skinned drummer Wayne Proctor , bassist Steve Amadeo and keyboardist Andre Bassing. A smallish crowd of blues rock devotees turned up, and they remembered Aynsley’s show from years back at the very same venue really well! Aynsley came on stage in true British-gentleman style, with a great deal of polish, and greeted everyone politely. The clock struck about a quarter to ten in the evening, and after a somewhat “shy” intro the guys kicked off with a stellar blues rocker, the title track of the new album, Home. With that very first song Lister made it clear that he’s a musician who has inherited, in his personal musical ID, an exceptional talent for chasing full-blooded melodic catchiness. Players in this genre usually have just a rhythm section behind them, but in Lister’s case, with his melodic catchiness, the idea of bringing in keys paid off damn well, as they kept up an incredibly organic warmth of “Hammond-like” sound all along, crossed with bits of piano, and so deepened the contrasts of the moods being caught.
Aynsley is a contagious guy. He’s got incredible charisma. Imagine throwing the faces of Hugh Grant, David Bowie and Scott Weiland into one. His charm is poisonously infectious. He comes across as unobtrusive, genuine, completely natural, and it’s with that authenticity and an honest smile, armed with a typical bag of British black humor, that he “buys” the audience. Even though the concert was split into two parts with a twenty-minute break in between, the first part clocking in at about 50 minutes and the second an hour and ten, the whole thing flew by in the blink of an eye.
Lister used three guitars on stage. With a copy of a Gibson Les Paul he played the songs with a rougher sonic contour and a somewhat grittier sound, while he used the red Fender Stratocaster especially in the numbers that called for more finesse in the solos and a “softer” placement of notes. The third was an acoustic folk guitar, which he used for a few “slide” solo excursions. Lister follows elementary melodicism. He writes his tunes around the permutations of a few chords in which he can develop melody to the fullest. Of course, it’s all pumped up with the recognizable melancholic sonority of British white blues, and at the same time Lister’s expressive power lies especially in his remarkable flexibility in adapting to the mood at hand. The man can be rough when the moment demands it, and in the next one he stuns you with his sophistication and tenderness, which the opening Feeling Good expressed in particular, built up by a catchy wailing guitar in the follow-up. Then there’s the cheeky Straight Talkin’ Woman, the delicate and tender Early Morning Dew, the wake-up call of Free, the “shuffle” With Me Tonight, and the second (closing) “shuffle” Running Out On Me, plus the song Sugar (weighed down with slide guitar), then Hero, as well as the excellent What’s It All About from the album »Equilibrium« (2009).
Between songs Aynsley filled the gaps by telling either Bassing or drummer Proctor to fill the silence with their tricks. Lister was juggling three guitars the whole time, and there was plenty of need to “re-tune” the guitars to a different key, or simply to “tune” the instruments.
The enthusiasm is huge. The quartet comes back out. The crowd was already shouting out in advance the title of the song they were demanding from Aynsley. It was an excellent cover of Prince’s Purple Rain, where Aynsley treated the outro to a nice bundle of solo ornaments that spiced up the song and gave it a whole new expressive dimension. But the crowd still wasn’t quite satisfied. The tremendous excitement wouldn’t die down, and the band came back out a second time. Aynsley asks: »This place is called Bluesiana, right?« After the audience’s affirmative answer, he adds that they’d played less blues than usual tonight, so they’d tackle one more song by his great idol Freddie King.
No question about it. Aynsley Lister is the right address for a first-rate blend of blues and rock into a solid, tangible musical conglomerate, sensually pumped up the whole way with just the right measure of infectious melody. His infectious charm and charisma are extraordinary, and after such a stellar show a long line of blues fans gathered at the official merch table after the concert, asking about the new album from this excellent modern master of white blues rock rhetoric! One more unforgettable concert night at Bluesiana, then!
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