The Tedeschi/Trucks Band @ Olympia, Paris - April 28, 2014

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Derek Trucks is the greatest rock guitarist of the pat twenty years. And the band he and his wife have formed by fusing their bands together plays the most beautiful music ever created: a fusion of rock, soul, blues and jazz in the style of great seventies bands like the Allman Brothers Band, Santana, Blood Sweat & Tears, Derek & the Dominos, Mad Dogs & Englishmen...

Jonny Lang @ Olympia, Paris - April 28, 2014

Jonny Lang, like Kenny Wayne Sheperd, Joe Bonamassa and tonight's headliner Derek Trucks, was a nineties blues-rock child prodigy who released his first album at the age of fourteen and hit it big on the circuit two years later with Lie To Me. After an appearance in the Blues Brothers sequel, it seemed like he was on his way to superstardom.

To be honest I stopped following him after that but I was glad to see him open tor the TTB on this occasion. He played a very good set with a stripped down band. The material is a little generic (nothing really stands out) and leans more on the rock side of the blues-rock spectrum, but his adult voice is very strong and his guitar chops have only gotten better with age. A good choice to warm up the jaded, lazy crowd in the old, stuffy Olympia.

Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine @ 104, Paris - April 23, 2014

The records Jello has been cutting with his new band the Guantanamo School of Medicine are probably the best since his days as the lead agitator of seminal band Dead Kennedys. A mix of trashy surf-a-billy, spy movie themes on steroids and punk-rock barre chords, the new material stands proudly alongside old classics like California Über Alles, Holiday In Cambodia and Police Truck.

Wishbone Ash @ Divan du Monde, Paris - April 10, 2014

Road warriors Wishbone Ash are touring behind an excellent new record titled Blue Horizon, and they played a few excerpts last night but the bulk of the set was their performance of the classic live album Live Dates in its entirety and in sequence.

This was the absolute best possible setlist from the band. Muddy Manninen is now Andy Powell's guitar buddy and they harmonise together perfectly like  in the good old days of Ted Turner. No, not that Ted Turner obviously.

Highlights for me were those three tracks from Argus: Warrior, King Will Come and Time Was, that were played and sung beautifully as well as the guitar pyrotechnics of Lady Whiskey and Phoenix.

A great night of classic rock for guitar enthusiasts.