The Blues Band

Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

He loved the theatre, loved the audience and the audience certainly loved him. Paul Jones fronting the Blues Band – arguably the most successful in Britain – gave an awesome performance in harmonica playing.

He was ably supported by Dave Kelly, Rob Townsend, Gary Fletcher and the legendary Tom McGuinness in an evening of authentic blues music.

Most of the music came from their latest CDs, namely Bungay Jumpin’ and Starting All Over Again. There were no weaknesses in this band, all were top quality musicians playing at the highest level.

My own particular favourite from the first half were San Francisco Bay, Jim Canaan, Without You, That’s

My Way, and I’m Moving On.

Could the evening get any better? Well it certainly did with Dave Kelly and Tom McGuinness combining vocals with superb guitar playing.

Not to be outdone, Gary Fletcher on bass with Rob Townsend on drums provided superb backing and were stars in their own right.

The numbers that stood out for me in this wonderful second half were If You Love Me Like You Say You Do, Go Go Little Quennie, Blue Collar, and Shake Rattle and Roll.

The evening of course belonged to Paul Jones – how long can he continue to perform at such a high level of consistency – only he knows.

To a standing ovation he led the band into encores which included Let The Good Times Roll, You’ve Got to Move, and So Bad.

There will always be a special Shrewsbury welcome for a very special band.

Derek Ruddock