Location: Bluesiana/ Velden am Wörthersee (Vrba na Koroškem)/Austria
Concert date: 19.07.2015
Attendance: 40
Ticket price: 35,00€ (reservation) / 39,00€ (day of the show) / 25,00€ (students)
Still a bit rumpled from three days of partying at Pivo in cvetje, we woke up to a lazy, sun-soaked Sunday afternoon and hit the road north pretty quickly. Where else would we go but Bluesiana? The club, which despite its money troubles has managed to crawl back at least within sight of greener pastures, served up quite a few tasty musical treats this summer, with even more lined up for the coming autumn. This time, a familiar face from Saturday night at Pivo in cvetje had set up camp at the club: Stevie Salas and his crew.
Stevie is one of those guys who stops by Bluesiana at least once a year on his wanderings around Europe. This time, the regulars of this lovable club in Velden got to see and hear the guitar grandmaster of Native American roots twice in the same weekend. And anyone who made the effort to come out to Laško on Saturday night could catch him three times. For this July weekend, Stevie Salas decided to make a concert sandwich out of Bluesiana and Laško. He first played Bluesiana on Friday night, Saturday was reserved for Pivo in cvetje, and on Sunday Stevie came back to Bluesiana.
But Stevie didn’t just bring his outstanding musical talent from Laško to Bluesiana, he sadly brought the unbearable heat along too. Sweat was already running down our backs the moment we walked into the club, and it didn’t help one bit that the club sits in the basement of a house. The heat in the air just wouldn’t let up. But the most stubborn among us can beat even that obstacle.
According to the regulars, Salas’s Friday show was pretty well attended, while on Sunday maybe around 35 people showed up. Because of the heat, the concert started a bit later, which didn’t bother anyone, since we were all outside chasing any hint of a cool breeze, which only blew through on rare occasions.
Around half past nine in the evening, the exact same trio as the day before in Laško took the stage. No fuss, no long intro, they just started playing. Stevie Salas has said many times that he loves playing big stages and festivals, but he handles smaller stages in front of smaller crowds just as well. With a smaller crowd, the atmosphere in Bluesiana is really intimate, which gives both the musicians on stage and the audience a very special concert experience. After the opening Tell Your Story Walkin’, Stevie greeted almost every single person in the crowd individually, chatted about who had come on Friday and who had been in Laško on Saturday, and gave a little preview of what was in store for tonight’s show. For the regulars, Stevie went out of his way and changed part of both the Friday and the Saturday setlist, so even those of us who were seeing him for the second time that week weren’t watching two identical concerts. The intimate club vibe suited Stevie just fine this time, too. He completely loosened up on stage, helped along by the ever-smiling Jara Harris on bass and Matt Sherrod on drums. Whenever Stevie felt the crowd wasn’t joining in enough, he got us back on our feet with banter and cues between the band members and got us swaying despite the unbearable heat. Stevie and the crew never ran out of energy. He worked in both covers and originals, and no matter what the original genre, he wove it all into a funky soul mix that overflowed with dance rhythms and a touch of Latin. The band was dripping sweat from everywhere, and even towels didn’t help anymore – at the end Stevie just pulled one over his head and kept on playing. We heard the originals Stand Up and Blind, plus the evergreens Nishi Girl and Indian Chief. Stevie deftly steered between the loud, distorted sounds of his guitar and a gentler clean tone, keeping the crowd on edge and wondering what would come next. The rhythm section followed Salas’s body language and facial expressions without any trouble, so there wasn’t a single flub to be heard. The stage was brimming with heart and dedication to playing, which hit its peak with a cover of Sex Machine that got the whole crowd moving and singing along.
With two covers, Stevie also remembered his great idol – the indispensable Jimi Hendrix. After a good hour, he slowly wrapped up his show in the sweat-soaked Bluesiana, since the heat and sweat spared not even the instruments. Even though the set may have been on the short side, we in the audience were thrilled with what we saw, and we’ll definitely be back for another Stevie Salas show – next year.
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