Live | Lance Lopez Band – Harmonie – Bonn [GER]

31 October 2024

Lance Lopez obviously wasn’t kidding around during our interview earlier today in which he stated that two-and-a-half-hour stage time is nothing out of the ordinary to him. The American power trio takes possession of the stage at 8PM only to leave at 10.30 PM. Not because they’re worn out but due to curfew rules! If it hadn’t been for this local enforcement the tireless trio easily could have gone on for another thirty minutes or so. Not that that was needed though because by that time the trio already managed to convince its audience. The combination of genuine talent and a prolific work ethic paid off in a generous way with Lopez as undisputed frontrunner. Blessed with a deep brown powerhouse voice and astonishing guitar skills makes him a complete performer and with eight studio albums under the belt is it not hard for him to fabricate a dynamic setlist. 

THE BAND AND THE BLUES

Accompanied with fellow Nashvillians Tommy DelRossi (drums) and Logan ‘Greasy’ Greeson (bass), two experienced and reliable sidekicks, Lopez sets out for an adventurous ride exploring the many sides and facets of the blues. The title track of his most recent release `Trouble Is Good’ puts things in motion, immediately clarifying that these guys are not in a rush of any kind. With a spiritual, instrumental somewhat George Harrison esque intro and outro this live version clocks no less than fifteen minutes. A batch of songs of his latest effort plus the tongue in cheek party rocker ,,Down To One Bar Follow’’, follow before Lopez reaches all the way back to his 1999 debut album `First Things First’ by means of ,,The Brick’’;  a laidback and somewhat funky feel-good tune which has a bittersweet story to it (which I won’t get into here, I leave that up to Lance himself).

Songs like ,,Love/Hate Relationship’’ and ,,Mr Lucky’’ (dedicated to his mentor from long way back Lucky Peterson) emphasize on Lopez’ versatility but the best songs of the set turn out to be the lengthy (14 minute!) slow blues vehicle ,,Nothing But Smoke’’ (with Lopez firing on all cylinders) and the infectiously groovy ,,El Paso Sugar’’ of his `Higher Ground’ album. What a killer track that is! 

THE ENDING OF THE SHOW

By that time the nicely filled room (an attendance of 200+ on a Wednesday night is quite admirable) has witnessed enough to declare the Lance Lopez Band a class act. The title track of the `Tell The Truth’ album serve as tonight’s set closer but after a short break a steamy version of Mountain’s ,,Love Is Worth The Blues’’ marks the definite ending of the show. And for a power trio this is a magnificent song to finish off with. Then this; don’t get fooled by the setlist database website Setlist.fm because ,,Spanish Castle Magic’’ (a regular Lopez set closer) was NOT played as final encore. I wonder who put that falsehood up there and question mark their fact checking department.  

All photos by Stan Novak