Review & Photography by Ritchie Birnie for MPM
The five octave range Blues Goddess returns to Scotland and as always puts on an incredible live show. She never fails to deliver.
This is a long time coming for me, two years ago I had planned to see Sari in our Capitol city but the night before I had a bad accident and missed out and to show the compassion of this woman I even got a personal message to say I was missed and I hope I recovered quickly. That statement tells you why this woman is so loved far and wide.
Like all her interactions during the show you really get the feeling you know this wonderful woman and if you get to speak to her you instantly know the kind of person she is. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to say hi as I had to leave to catch a train but I was so grateful to finally be in the presence of her brilliance once again.
She kicked the show off with three tracks back to back from her album with the super talented Robin Trower. “The Circle is Complete”, “The Distance” and title track of the album “Joyful Sky” were extremely powerful. The live environment gave them a more robust feeling and Ash Wilson owned the guitar parts and made the songs pop with clarity.
We went back to the debut with “Ain’t Got No Money” and Sari joked the song and meaning were timeless. I still remember the first time I heard this live and I passed that venue ( The beautiful Cottiers Theatre) on the way here tonight and I still think of Sari instantly the moment I see that church as the show had such a big impression on me and the rendition tonight has no lesser of an effect.
We stay with Force of Nature for “Demolition Man” and the lazy guitars and sultry tones is just Blues heaven. This is followed up with the stunning “Ordinary Life” which for me is entwined with New York due to the video but the song is just beautiful and this showcases Sari’s many talents.
After another visit to the Robin Trower album we settle on what is my all time favourite Sari number both live and recorded in “Damn the Reason”. For me this song encapsulates the singers strength, power and passion.
The difference this song has today is the incredible backing vocals from the fretboard twins. Boy can they do a doowop.
The previous song and “Aunt Hazel” are linked by the influence of Sari’s friends we are told so I do have to ask the question did her mother not tell her these people were bad influences or is there a common denominator here?
We get the meaning behind the song “Beautiful” and it goes to show just what an impact that parents can have on their children and what a job Sari’s have done as they produced one of the nicest people on the planet.
We get treated to a brand new song tonight in “Highway 69” and Sari told us this has been a struggle to complete and has been incomplete for some time but I am so glad that this rocky, sultry little number has been finished and I look forward to hear it on the upcoming album.
After “Valentina” where Sari always has that mischievous glint in her eye and a very upbeat “Maybe I’m Fooling” we settle into the last three songs and tonight they are all covers. Sari finishes the main set with the one and only “Black Betty”. Probably the song that put the lady on the map, first played live in none other than Carnegie Hall and no matter how many times she has played it live it never loses its power. If I had a choice between the original and Sari’s version Sari wins every time. Her performance always leaves me shaking.
For the encore we get a cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You” and this is sublime. It also show the talent of the band behind this powerhouse as we get incredible solos. The final track of tonight took me back to the first (and last) time I heard it. It was in the church I previously mentioned and it was the engine room behind sari that night but this band just killed Zep’s “Rock’n’ Roll”.
Some people may say three covers in a set when you can fill it with all original material is not on but these tracks went down a treat and I can assure you you will never hear them done like Sari does them. Take that and add how much fun that band had playing them I say shut your mouth.
Sari for me is one off the pinnacle artists for Blues and if I had to give a triachy for that genre playing today I give you Beth Hart, Joe Bonamassa and Sari Schorr. Her name rolls of my tongue if anyone asks me to mention a blues great. She should be on everyones bucket list to see live and I promise you will not be disappointed.