REVIEW: Taj Mahal LIVE @ The Factory Theatre

(Photo by:  Lachlan Douglas Photography (@Somefx))

Friday 1st April 2016 at The Factory Theatre

Reviewed By: David Barr

It was a full house at the Factory Theatre on Friday night to see and hear Taj Mahal, a blues and roots troubadour extraordinaire.

Taj performed a solo acoustic set which focussed on his early rustic Delta blues, particularly from his 1969 classic album, ‘Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home‘. From this he covered ‘Fishin’ Blues’, ‘Annie’s Lover’, ‘Six Days on the Road’, ‘Stagger Lee’ and a lecherous ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl’. Even earlier songs included ‘Corinna’ and Dust ‘My Broom’. Taj also covered ‘It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry’ from Bob Dylan’s 1965 ‘Highway 61 Revisited‘. The concert, with one exception, did not include any songs from his world music forays into Caribbean and African music. That exception was a warm and humorous New Hula Blues from his Hawaiian period.

Crowd video of Taj Mahal live on stage at BluesFest 2016

Wearing a Stetson and sporting a beard, Mahal is a larger than life figure with a wonderfully expressive gravelly voice and jaw dropping guitar technique. Although seated, he connected to a rapt audience with warm humour and sly saucy asides. At one stage he said  “I feel like we are hangin’ out listening to good music”. And we were hanging out on his every word. Taj Mahal has been called an international treasure. We were lucky to be there. Check out our podcast interview with Taj Mahal on Drive Tuesday.