Live Review: Booker T Jones

For anyone who loves a bit of old school soul and electric blues, Perth Festival's Chevron Festival Gardens were where you needed to be last Friday night. Playing host to one of the world's most prolific musicians, American singer-songwriter and producer Booker T Jones, it was all about letting your hair down and basking in the glory of the king of modern soul with a glass of wine in hand.
Chin-strokers, businessmen, old ladies in long skirts and pearls, young hipsters, tie-dye donned hippies and soul music appreciators all came together to bop, clap, wave their hands in the air, hip-shake and jive to the Tennessee-born gentleman and his band's swinging tunes. Indulging the audience with stories from his childhood, including his joy playing the baritone saxophone on Stax Records' first hit Cause I Love You by Rufus and Carla Thomas, Jones reminisced about the life and times on the road as Booker T & The MG's. The title tune from the band's 1971 record Melting Pot followed with much praise from the appreciative crowd.
Take Me To The River was a delightful long jam which had heads nodding and the band smiling out into the crowd, and Born Under A Bad Sign saw Jones show off his skills on the electronic organ, not to mention his powerfully sultry vocals. The band's cover of Knockin' On Heaven's Door had everyone swaying and whispering the lyrics, aside from a couple of tipsy old ladies who took it up a notch karaoke style.
But it was Green Onions – Jones' classic instrumental tune which he co-wrote for Booker T & The MG's and was a hit in 1962 – which was the highlight of the delicious evening. Well, that, and the band's drummer revving up the crowd with his freestyle rhymes during the encore which resulted in repeated chants of “hell yeah” and some fist pumps from the older, slightly more alcohol-fuelled crowd. Definitely a sight to be seen.
Booker T Jones and his talented partners-in-crime put on quite the show. There was plenty of grooving and stomping and the band appeared to be really enjoying themselves up on stage with Jones politely thanking everyone for “joining us for the evening”. Even if you tried, there was no way you'd have had a bad evening watching Booker T Jones; put simply, he was just charming to watch.