After three cancellations in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the fantastic band of Bernard Allison (USA) is now scheduled again on Saturday night, January 14, 2023 in theater Calypso. We couldn’t wish for a nicer start to our new blues year.
Theater Calypso, Markt 4, Wijk bij Duurstede. Hall open 20.00 hrs. Showtime 20.30 hrs. Entrance €17.50. Tickets via theater Calypso
Bernard Allison is the youngest son of legendary and much-missed Chicago bandleader Luther Allison. Of course, with a father like that, you get the blues from the very beginning. At 12 he was already playing excellent guitar and at 18 he played with his father at the Chicago Blues festival and received much acclaim. A week after high-school, he went on tour for many years with Koko Taylor’s Blues Machine. Then he was bandleader with his father’s band and after Luther’s death in 1997, Bernard continued the family blues tradition started a solo career alongside it with much success in Europe.
Our programmer is a big fan of Bernard. In 2010 he met his band for the first time. He was immediately sold and wrote at the time in Bluesmagazine, “I had seen a lot of good blues by then. Dutch bands, Americans, English, one performance even better than the other. Really all blues of the highest order, like Primer, Popovic, Parker, Siegal, Sas, King Mo, Oberg, Twelve Bar Blues Band, Steckel, Paardekooper, BB-King, Veldman Brothers. Absolute highlight was Joe Bonamassa on November 7 that year live in Carré. Wonderful classical ambiance, beautiful light, excellent sound, fantastic blues and blistering guitar work. Truly phenomenal, enjoyment with a big G. I was firmly convinced that nothing could top that in 2010. But …….. then it was Sunday afternoon, November 20, 2010. On the advice of Henk Hak I bought tickets for a nice blues afternoon in Henk’s Hooglandse café de Noot with Bernard Allison. Never seen him before, but according to Henk highly recommended. With Joe still in the back of my mind, I carelessly went to Hoogland, had a beer, a nice crowd and then the band started. ………….. Am I hearing this correctly, am I not drunk? …. man this is BLUES like little I have heard, felt and experienced until now. What Allison and his band displayed there in the Noot was truly over Bonamassa! What a pace, what tight blues, what an ease, what fun and what a high level. I didn’t know what hit me. Speechless standing there watching and listening. And was I the only one who was intoxicated (maybe one too many beers?) by this American, well, all around me was a room full of speechless people who could not believe their eyes and ears. CLASS! And it didn’t stop, over 3.5 hours these men played on and on, one song more catchy than the other. It was really great. Of course we looked back at the bar. What is the secret of Bernhard and his men, what makes this so unreal good, why can’t other bands do this? Fortunately, Henk offered an answer: …… “FEELING” …. “It’s in the blood of these guys and you feel it, you see it”.
