Porretta days 3 and 4

Day 3 at Porretta was not a vintage one. The highlight of the evening were the Blues Paddlers, also known as Samuel and Davis. There was an outcry earlier in the year with Sam Moore's wife criticising them for ripping off the style and performance of the great Sam and Dave. No doubt as a result of this they changed their name, although probably not their act. I saw Sam and Dave outshine everyone, even Otis himself, when the Stax Volt show played Croydon in 1967. These two are not in the same league but they are fun to watch and pretty good vocally as well. They kicked off with two Sam and Dave originals, 'Soul Man' and 'Hold On I'm Coming' wearing red shirts and dashing around the stage in a frenzy. Davis then continued solo with Wilson Pickett's 'Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You' before Samuel returned, wearing an ornate military style jacket to sing 'A Change Is Gonna Come'. Davis came back on stage, similarly dressed as they performed several Sam and Dave style numbers from their new album 'That's What We Do'. These included 'Power Of A Woman's Love', 'You Didn't Want Me To Have It' and 'Rock With Me Baby'. For their final number they returned carrying large paddles which they used to good effect on inter actions with the audience as they sang the title song from their album. This was a strong set and they were well supported by the excellent Bo-Keys, with the addition of the veteran Stax engineer and guitarist Bobby Manuel, who then received a Sweet Soul Music award from festival supremo Graziano Uliani and MC Rick Hutton (see below).

Earlier there was a brief appearance by the Over Soul Marching Band from Perugia followed by a decent set of Soul and blues by Portland, Oregon based Curtis Salgado. Curtis has a good voice, as he showed on a couple of O V Wright songs 'I Don't Need Nobody But You' and 'I Was Born All Over', P J Proby's Cajun style song 'Niki Hoeky' and several of his own including'Let Me Give You Something', 'Summertime Life', '20 Years Of B B King', 'Walk A Mile In My Blues' and 'I Got Better Things To Lie About'. Next came a song we can all relate to: "The Longer I Live The OlderI Want To Get'. He finished with some rock and roll in the form of 'Slow Down'. This was a solid set with good work from his own band which included Eamonn Flynn on keyboards.

I didn't watch much of the later acts as the packed arena was uncomfortable but from what I saw the next act Robin McKelle was more rock than Soul. And the Califfo Irish bar provided a good refuge from the busy street outside.

Sunday at Porretta always starts with a gospel performance at the local church and a press conference which as usual was rather chaotic and largely just a photo op with some of the artists. The evening show comprises short sets by most of the artists but this year it included a set by Mighty Mo Rodgers which was excellent. Backed by the Luca Giordano band with Sax Gordon, whose mural in the town was finished this weekend, the soon to be 81 year old put on a set which was varied, with blues, soul and even some reggae, and very enjoyable. He began with 'Memphis Calling' from his new album of the same name, and included several new and original songs, including 'Sing For Your Supper', the bluesy 'Love Love Love', 'Working The Chitlin Circuit', 'Bad Luck Won't Let Me Be' and 'Bring Back Sweet Soul Music' which got Mo reminiscing about Memphis in the 60s and Stax. The reggae song 'Prisoners Of War' was excellent, as was one of his earliest recording 'Blues Is My Wailing Wall'. Mo has been around for many years - in fact he played keyboards on Brenton Wood's 'Gimme Little Sign' and produced an album by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in the 70s - but he clearly remains at the top of his game. The set was great, as was the band.

The remainder of the evening featured brief sets by Charlie Wood (3 numbers), Katrina Anderson (2 including a decent version of Dr Feelgood), the Blues Paddlers (2), Curtis Salgado (1) and Robin McKelle (2 including a melodramatic version of 'I'd Rather Go Blind'). It was good to see a couple of numbers from John Nemeth (photo below) who I missed the previous night. His voice and harp playing were very good on 'I Will Testify My Love' and 'I Can See Your Love Light Shine'.

Finally it was the turn of Bobby Rush to take the stage with 'Chicken Heads', a duet with Mizz Lowe on 'Take My Love', and a rap about the unfairness of the justice system. As a finale most of the artists took to the stage for a joint effort on 'Take Me To The River'. Once again the Bo-Keys provided great backing. Porretta is over for another year. Will I return? I'm not sure as the number of original artists continues to decline and true Soul was lacking. But it's been a great few days as ever.

Here are a few more photos of the festival. This is Eamonn Flynn and Conor Brady from the first evening.

Here's one of the great Terrie Odabi.

This is Mononeon, who I later learned is actually Dywane Thomas Jr, who was the bass player in the Marvell Thomas band which played at Porretta in previous years.

Here is Scott Bomar, leader of the Bo-Keys.

Here we have the Norman Sisters (Shontelle and Sharisse) who provided backing vocals with the Bo-Keys.

Here's another photo of the great Bobby Rush.

And here's another of Mizz Lowe.

Here's John Nemeth receiving a specially produced painting with Rick Hutton.

The Joy Gospel Choir sang at the local church on Sunday.

Here's one of me with the great Hi keyboard player Archie 'Hubbie' Turner.

Finally here's one of me with the Blues Paddlers aka Samuel and Davis. Apparently they don't have a preference about which name they are known by.