Davenport, Iowa
March 2, 2019
By Phillip Smith; March 3, 2019
The first time I saw Anthony Gomes, the year
was 2012, and he was opening up for the legendary B.B. King at the
Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids. The
sheer exuberance in his performance and mastery of guitar grabbed my full
attention. Saturday, March 2nd,
he gave a stellar performance at the Redstone Room in Davenport, Iowa. With Gomes on guitar and lead vocals,
he was joined on stage by bassist Sean Holland and drummer Jeremy
Howard.
From
the git-go he rocked out with “Nasty Good”, and “Your Mama Wants to do Me (and
Your Daddy Wants to do Me In)”, from his latest album Peace Love & Loud Guitars, an album which was a PhillyCheezeBlues
blog pick of the week in January. He also
tore it up on his ode to Crown Royal with “Purple Whiskey Sack” from his
2006 album, Long Way Home.
His
cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” was outstanding. Gomes was totally in his element, as he
let loose on this one. I was glad to
hear “White Trash Princess”. It’s one of
my favorites on the new album, as is the title track “Peace, Love, and Loud
Guitars”. “Blues in the First Degree” also made the cut,
and it sounded great. It was such a joy
to hear him play the new material.
For
the encore, Gomes brought the show to close, splendidly ripping it up on
his stately homage to the King of the Blues, with “Come Down”. It was magnificent, as was the show. I can’t wait to see him perform again.
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* All photos by Phillip Smith
