Matt Walker & Ashley Davies AND Guests. I was well under prepared for what the true implications of what ‘Guests’ ended up meaning. Without taking anything away from Walker and Davies who in their own right are stellar musicians with plenty to offer, we must all hail to the guests. Without doubt more gigs should have the words ‘and guests’ appended to their title. Earlier that night, in fact immediately before this gig I was at the Bendin’ the Blues gig in the Festival Theatre that showcased three tenuously linked and oddly labelled ‘blues’ acts. This precursor to this particular gig worried me as I was quite sure that in the form of Derek Trucks I had seen possibly the most astoundingly talented, ridiculously gifted yet permanently exciting guitar player in the world at the moment. Was this to bode well for the next show, with me riding this wave of guitarific ecstasy or would the humbleness of the Wah Bar and Matt and Ashley’s often understated work become yet another victim to that beast we call comparison. Well the question became irrelevant as the duo came on to a stage filled to the brim with two drum kits, guitars all over the place and additional percussion. The scene was starting to inspire a little excitement within me even despite the fact that my brain had been well and truly bent by the three hours of live music already.

So after a couple of acoustic numbers by the duo on came Jesse Harris, banjo in hand allowing us first to taste a little, chilled-out jam session followed by a couple of his own songs, that were interesting enough. He’s recently penned a number one hit for Norah Jones, and while that is not the greatest of recommendations, his songmanship was well established by the time he humbly left the stage. This little intro to the collaborative nature of the gig was followed by a second foray into the acoustic wanderings of Walker and Davies which then lead picture-perfectly into the announcement that the ‘will-be-legend very very soon’ Derek Trucks was to appear. This arrival was deemed enough for a lifetime in my mind, a winding, disorganised jam with his finger picking skills would make my day but in tow on came Guy Pratt alongside him whose dexterity with both hands on the bass is simply a marvel. I’d just seen an hour and a half of Trucks and my lord, another half hour of his southern ‘without the fried bit’ rock was amazing. After this, a short interval was taken on the promise that the awesomely loud and ideally demented Backsliders were coming up to join the party.

What I didn’t know was that The Backsliders and Matt Walker have been working on an album together recently called Beat The House under the name Angry Tradesman. This was welcoming news given that improvisation may have run its course and some well-written blues was required doctor’s order style and that’s what we got. Rob Hirst may have found it a little difficult to deal with the two drummers at one time thing but pretty soon he warmed right up and some terrific noise began to come from the front. They played together for nearly an hour and I was content. If it wasn’t for Fiona Boyes forcing herself on the stage near the end, something close to the best a disorganised set of sometimes strangers jamming could get would have occurred.

If the gig was meant to be about Ashley Davies and Matt Walker I’d probably talk about them more, but as it was they provided a well attended co-ordinator role providing the crowd with the soft and folksy breaks between jams that added well appreciated contrast to the gig. This is what the Adelaide International Guitar Festival should be about. Talent and ability bursting forth from the stage in an ever-changing mix of surprise and grandeur. I’m simply wowed by the fact that at 11 o’clock on a weeknight for $25 you can see what I have just described. We’re privileged.