Bonnie Raitt
Fox Theatre
Saturday, Sept. 14
Inside a theatre as gorgeous as the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, the expectations for any show here run high. Built in 1928, it makes you feel like you'revstepping back in time when the discovery of ancient civilizations in the early 1920s informed architecture, creating a quasi-exotic aesthetic that cobbled together elements from Indian, Chinese, Persian and Burmese cultures.
An artist like Bonnie Raitt absolutely fits this 5,000-seater. Her voice – a truly stunning voice even at the age of 75 – can truly fill the room with an otherworldly experience.
Just seeing her name on the marquee of the Fox Theatre gives this sort of expectation that it’s going to be elegant. It’s going to be classy. It’s going to be really good.
Of course, she performed the hits at the Fox show. “Something To Talk About,”from 1991’s “Luck of the Draw” album, was the first song to get the entire seated audience up and on their feet (wouldn’t be the last time either). Her version of “Angel From Montgomery," written by John Prine, didn’t seem to leave a dry eye in the theater.
Bonnie’s band could pick it up, too, doing that roadhouse, backroom blues sound like few others can. It matched wonderfully with her opener, Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band. They blended Southern blues guitar licks with a brass section and drummer who added this big band swing sound that, put against the simple-yet-sophistcated backdrop of a draped curtain, fit the Fox Theatre and the audience perfectly.
And yes, if you’re wondering, Vaughn is the older brother of another legendary blues guitarist from Texas, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The best moments of Bonnie Raitt’s show, which covered 16 songs with covers of Annie Lennox’s “Little Bird” and “Right Down the Line” by Gerry Rafferty, came when she performed alone on stage with an acoustic guitar.
This is when her voice could really breathe. Her deep love of blues was truly on display. Her haunting, stripped-down and honest-to-the-original version of “Devil Got My Woman” by Skip James floored me. (I haven’t been able to find a proper recording of it, but there are live versions of her performing it on the web.)
For one, it turned me into a fan of Skip James, who is an underappreciated name in the lexicon of blues. Secondly, you could hear Bonnie Raitt putting herself into the song through her soul – an impressive feat considering she’s been playing it live for years. You would’ve thought it was the first time that night – a vulnerable offering to the crowd, hoping they’d be into it.
There was also her kindness from the stage. She made a point of thanking her crew and the staff of the theater for making the show possible. It feels like a small gesture, but it cut through the room and made me understand that even after the Grammys and success, Bonnie Raitt is still down-to-earth from her spotlight on the stage.
Even after all these years, that voice is still being used to create beautiful things and send beautiful messages.
