In the age of “Guitar Hero," in which anyone with a few hundred bucks to spend on a video-game system can feel like a world-class shredder in a matter of minutes, what's the real deal still have to offer?
For one, the living, breathing version doesn't necessarily burn out after it's been on for an extended period. British guitar god Jeff Beck, who's been making jaws drop for nearly half a century now, pointed up that happy fact at his stirring show Tuesday at the El Rey, the first of two sold-out nights, one that was as much a master class as entertainment experience.
In fact, a number of other high-profile guitar slingers, including the Paul McCartney Band's Rusty Anderson, looked on with regular-Joe (and Jane) fans in fascination, admiration, frustration and exhilaration at the full spectrum of possibilities Beck unleashed from his instrument of choice, a vintage white Fender Stratocaster.
Beck pulled a rainbow of sounds and effects from the guitar -- most without going near the foot pedals of the guitar switches on the floor, during the hour-and-45-minute set, which consisted far and away of instrumentals. Some were elegant ballads built on the utter purity of tone Beck can produce, others rock, blues, funk, progressive rock and jazz-inflected numbers.
Then he sent an already agog crowd into apoplexy when near the end he peeled off the instantly recognizable first few notes of Curtis Mayfield's 1960s spiritual “People Get Ready."
A bolt of electric anticipation shot through the SRO crowd. Sure enough, out from the wings stepped Rod Stewart, his onetime band mate, who strolled to the mike for an intensely beautiful reading of the song that was a pop hit for him and Beck in 1983.
