jj cale @ belly up 3/29/09

jj came on at around 9pm for an unplugged gig in solana beach supporting his "roll on" record. The set, though, was full of excellent standards with just a couple new ones in the middle of the show. The band was in top form - jj on guitar, some sort of semi-acoustic job, and his four backers on respectively: a casio keyboard, fender bass, drum kit and electronic drum kit supplying tabla. It was a fine show with jj in fine form with the feel of grasshopper in breadth: he played two or three instrumentals. the crowd sucked - screams of magnolia (which he encored with) and after midnight thruout the night. Due to the unplugged format there were also "turn it up" and "louder" screams to which jj didn't acknowledge. He played quiet and cool and it was kick ass all around. His guitar work was impressive and seemingly un-rehearsed. The chops and vocals are still there. The one cover was a jimmy reed tune the tabla player sang. After midnight and cocaine were of course covered. The dude continues to amaze me - he stands for everything fine and independent in modern rock and roll and still, nobody gets it.