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| Gary Clark Jr. at the Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY |
While Gary Clark Jr.'s sound is that of an experienced musician who could hang with the best of the Blues legends, it's hard to believe the man is only 32. This mature sound is the result of spending his formative years dividing his time between the Texas nightclub scene and his neighborhood church, all the while devouring Soul, Funk, Pop and Hip-Hop while he learned his craft. In other words, Tupac Shakur and Parliament-Funkadelic informed his sound as much as BB King, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis. Clark transformed the Capitol Theatre into a giant Blues club when he hit the legendary Port Chester venue on September 6th.
After an opening set from The Sisterhood, a duo comprised of Rock Royalty's Ruby Stewart (Rod's daughter with Kelly Emberg) and Alyssa Bonagura (daughter of Kathie Baillie and Michael Bonagura of Country band Baillie & The Boys), Clark kicked off his show with "Bright Lights," opening with the geographically-appropriate line "Woke up in New York City." For the next two hours, Clark and his backing band entertained the crowd with a mix of bluesy, melodic ballads, high energy dance-able songs and slow, heavy rockers that gave Clark a chance to really shred and let loose under the smoky lights. The setlist featured a bunch of new songs from his latest record, 2015's The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, including "The Healing," "Church," and "Shake." Clark and his bandmates, bassist Johnny Bradley, guitarist King Zapata and drummer Johnny Radelat, also played songs from his Blak and Blue including "Travis County", "Please Come Home" and "When My Train Pulls In." Clark also took time to give a shoutout to his manager Scooter Weintraub, wishing him a Happy Birthday from the stage and crediting him for helping to get Clark to where he is now.
The audience, an especially lively one for a Tuesday crowd, enjoyed Clark so much that after his final song, they broke out into cheers of "Gary! Gary! Gary!", encouraging Clark to come out for an encore. Of course he obliged, leaving the Westchester crowd with great memories of one of their last Summer nights of 2016.
Check out my photos from the show below!
