Jeff Beck
London Royal Albert Hall
Or the Johnny Depp show featuring Jeff Beck.
★Even the best make mistakes. Even Jeff Beck, regularly fêted – importantly, by his peers as much as by fans and the media – as the greatest living guitarist. Beck’s mistake tonight isn’t going with an almost all-covers set, including coruscating versions of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s soft-toexplosive You Know You Know and Billy Cobham’s pumping Spectrum, the sublime pair ’Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers (Syreeta) and Nadia (Nitin Sawhney), the latter burbling with expressive quarter-note flurries, and a glorious journey through The Beatles’ A Day In The Life. Nor is it his choice of band members. Far from it; a cellist adds new colour to familiar tunes, and Anika Nilles’s playing is less bombastic but no less effective than that of Beck’s recent-years drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. At 77 (78 when you read this), Jeff Beck live is still outrageously brilliant.