I almost stayed home today, but decided to go to one concert, and thank goodness for that. Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, a boogie blues band, played an 8:30 – 9:50 and a 10:05 – 11:00 set, both to a packed Americaplatz. I spent the first 15 minutes of the show trying to figure out where the bassist was (I didn’t have a very good view of half the stage) before I realized it was the keyboard player’s left hand. I knew synthesizer technology was getting better all the time, but I hadn’t realized one could so accurately reproduce the attack and other sonic characteristics of a bass.
The band was simply fantastic. The keyboard player was remarkable even without considering that she was effectively only using her right hand, although her bass lines were quite vanilla. The gimmick of playing with her feet was just icing. Both sets included a 15-minute duet between her and the drummer. Sure, it was excessive, but I and the crowd loved every minute of it. Because of her comping, the guitarist was able to do some pretty interesting things while playing rhythm, hardly ever resorting to strummed chords. Like B. B. King, his leads didn’t show off much technical proficiency, but you could tell he could play. Listening to his solos almost made me want to cry. If a major purpose of the blues is catharsis, this guy can give it to you in spades. Rod himself was a great vocalist and, while perhaps not the greatest harmonica player I’ve ever heard, certainly the best at the festival. I don’t usually comment about drummers because I don’t consider myself competent to review them, but I really liked this guy as well. Furthermore, the individual members worked exceptionally well together. By far the best show of the festival.