SOFIA BLUES MEETING 2010
ERIC SARDINAS, The Patch Blues Band, Vadviragock Blues Band,В Kamen The BarrelВ & Vlado Radulov
01.03.2010, Sofia Live Club. Sofia - Bulgaria
words byВ Metal Willie, photo: Dee DeeВ 

LET THE DEVIL TAKE YOUR SOUL AND REJOICE!

Last time I went to Sofia Live Club, the place was almost unbearably overcrowded, the promoters having sold more tickets for the Steve Lukather gigВ than was perhaps reasonable, given the venue's capacity and the sweltering Summer heat that no amount of air-conditioning was going to alleviate.

That was a Friday though, this is a Monday and we don't have the famous Toto guitarist on show tonight. Which is no bad thing, since it's still a rather good turnout and people can actually concentrate on the music rather than a desperate battle against asphyxiation.В 

Opening the Sofia Blues Meeting 2010 were two of the local scene's most colourful and vibrant figures - veteran blues singer Kamen Doychinov and respected jazz and blues aficionado, professor Vlado Radulov (who has had his own jazz radio show on National Radio for over 30 years) on piano. This is one endearing and passionate duo and they're well barmy too. Doychinov, who used to be a massive man, has lost some weight, but not his famous bluesy growl.

After a few numbers he leaves us in the playful hands of the mad professor, who proceeds to charm us with a mix of old urban blues and cabaret humour before being escorted off stage (he is, unfortunately, almost blind) to warm applause.

Next up we have Vadviragock Blues Band, who stroll out onstage all decked out in white shirts. We Bulgarians tend to have a soft spot for Magyar r&b artists thanks to the Hobo Blues Band and their role in early 1980s Hungarian cult film ‘The Bald Dog’, screened here in 1987.

Well, these guys are no Hobo Blues Band, but they quickly win the crowd over with a mixture of covers (among them ‘Foxy Lady’ and ‘Hard to Handle’) and original material, some of the latter sung in their enigmatic native tongue.

They have a frontman of rather impressive size who, funnily enough, informs us that one of the songs is about "a fat woman".

It's now time for tonight's host and main driving force behind the festival - Vasko the Patch -В  to hit the stage with his Patch Blues Band. He's been playing the blues for so long that, in this country, he's become synonymous with it. With his young son (drummer for hot new metal band Odd Crew) in the audience, Vasko steers his Blues Band through a carefully picked set from a very rich back catalogue.The crowd respond with vocal support.В В 

Last time I saw ERIC SARDINAS was almost ten years ago, when he supported Steve Vai (to whose label he is currently signed). It was a most riveting set that converted many new fans to Sardinas' brand of resonator guitar raw hardcore blues rock. Many of them are in attendance tonight, expecting more of the same.

Well, this show simply smokes the previous one, not only because Eric's the headline act and can play a much longer set, but also because, in a club setting, you can experience all his charisma and soul up close and personal.

While for the women this means going wobbly at the knees at the sight of this dashing southern rocker of Italo-Cuban heritage, for us boys it means we can really enjoy the magic he coaxes and wrings out of his dobro guitar with aplomb. No neutral will remain passive after the opening chords of a Sardinas set, the man is not only ultra-talented, but onstage he seems entirely possessed.

Ерик и неговия съкрушителна They say Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil for music and I suspect Sardinas may have followed in the footsteps of one of his idols (he actually plays some Johnson tonight) for the guy plays the hell out of his instrument in almost unreal incendiary fashion. Eric and his wicked Big Motor band (Levell Price on bass and drummer Bernie Pershey) take us on an emotionally charged journey through delta blues, chicago r&b and southern rock territory at the end of which we're all in a state of blissful daze.

"I feel that I explain my blues by the way that I play them. You have to be yourself because it's such of an honest music. If you're not being yourself it shows, it comes right through," says Eric who used to play on L.A. street corners when he first moved there. You'd better believe it, bro. В 

GALLERY