Photo by: Wes
Orshoski
When Ray
director Taylor Hackford refurbished and expanded his 1986 Chuck Berry tribute Hail!
Hail! Rock ‘N’ Roll last summer—to mark the 20th anniversary of
the part-concert, part-documentary film—it revived some long-festering negative
opinions about the pioneer. In it, Berry appears unapologetically disconnected
from his fans and aura; he’s sort of a soulless, time-card-punching star whose
backing bands are often comprised of local musicians whom he doesn’t know, and
meets only moments before each show.
And so if scores of the hundreds packing
B.B. King’s during Berry’s recent visit to Gotham expected that version of the
complicated innovator to show up, what they got instead was a family man, who,
if not exactly warm, was a bit fuzzy, and charming—even if he teetered out of
tune from time to time. Barnstorming his way through classics like “Roll Over
Beethoven,” “You Never Can Tell” and “Maybellene,” the 81-year-old Berry thrust
his hips, wagged his fingers and tongue and, yes, even duckwalked, through an
hour-long show that at moments flashed the grit and raw flavor of a stop on the
juke-joint circuit some 50 years ago.
Instead of faceless locals, Berry was
joined onstage by his guitarist son, Charles
Berry Jr., and daughter/harmonica player/duet partner Ingrid Berry Clay, both of whom (especially the latter) shared the
spotlight with their dad, who in his trademark boat captain’s hat and red sequenced
shirt made slight detours into gospel and slow-burning blues. But of course it
was old favorites like “My Ding-a-Ling” and “Johnny Be Goode” that had the
generation-spanning audience grinnin’, hootin’ and hollering in step with
Berry.
The
set stood in stark contrast to peer Little
Richard’s recent performance at the club, where he played only 45 minutes,
routinely baffling fans with rude and abrasive comments. Instead, Berry ensured
that the show was a celebration of rock from start to finish, bringing the gig
to a climax by bringing more than 20 female audience members of all ages to
dance alongside him and the band. Yet, however charming he was through the
night, once Berry hit the one-hour mark, the business-focused side of him
finally emerged, and he made his way through the throng, teasing the crowd with
a return that he never intended to make, before slipping behind a few dancers
and down the back stairs.
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