Adelaide. It is early December once again and I find myself wandering around this South Australia town in search of guitar music and the chance to see and talk to some pickers. Yes, it is once again on, the 2nd Adelaide International Guitar Festival ( AIGF ). It was a hodge-podge of international players this year. For example, Jesse Harris was fantastic on banjo and was paired up with Lior for one evening concert, but the connection to a guitar festival was stretched. Along with Derek Trucks (Artist In Residence) and his band, we also had an intriguing mix of Australian players who proved that their live presence is something that everyone should experience.

The AIGF was a delight for the people who attended last year, but some nights the guitar players and bands outnumbered the punters at the late night gigs. There was blistering playing then by Luther Dickinson, Jorma Kaukonen and Jeff Lang in 2007 and some brilliant sessions in The Wah Bar. This year, with a switch of theme from Hendrix to AC/DC, you could tell that the promoters were looking to grab a hold of the local audience and it appeared the numbers were up.

The festival slotted into first gear on opening night with yet another (failed) attempt at a World Record of guitarists on It’s A Long Way To The Top and the grand finale night on Sunday was a Tribute to AC/DC that went for over 5 hours and included most of the artists who had been in town all week.

Amassed between these two events were some interesting mash ups of musicians and some very special moments that really worked. The Roots gig at Elder Park drew a huge crowd where Ash Grunwald, Mia Dyson and Xavier Rudd had the crowd enthralled with their virtuosity. The other Elder Park Gigs were a very loud, but not hugely attended, Rock set with Shihad, Grinspoon, Magic Dirt and the eclectic and unknown to this crowd, Adrian Belew and His Power Trio. Adrian may play with King Crimson and had stints with Zappa and Bowie, but this South Australian crowd split after Grinspoon. I saw it coming, but Adrian and the Slick siblings, along with the promoters certainly did not. Most of the people in attendance were not born when Adrian was a bit more well known.

Most of the highlights were in The Wah Bar that opened each night at 11PM and closed when there were blisters on guitarists fingers. We were treated to some fairly new Australian talent on the scene. I am talking about The Mason Rack Band and Rob Sawyer and Band. With very lengthy sets, Mason showed that he is Howlin’ Wolf/Death Metal meets Tom Waits and I highly advise you to see this man play Weisenborn. Rob Sawyer was a rootsy, electric, trippy young man, who was losing his pants (literally) during the first half of his set. After he got his pants under control, he had the small crowd in attendance using the dance space at the Wah admirably.

It was the 3rd of December and The Derek Trucks Band, Fiona Boyes and The Fortune Tellers and The Backsliders had people crammed into Festival Theatre for 3 hours of Bending The Blues, as the gig was titled. Fiona is one of the best finger pickers on the planet and she kicked up some dust with her smoky style of blues. The Backsliders hit us with the volume of Dom Turners slide up against the wall of drums, Rob Hirst. As my wife would say, The Derek Trucks Band was the cherry on the icing.

They whet our appetite for Saturday night with an hour of music that ranged from jazz, rock, and blues and reached to Qawwali. My Favourite Things, Dylan’s Down In The Flood and Days Is Almost Gone from the upcoming release, Already Free, were highlights. Anyday, made famous by that Derek and his Dominoes was a bit of a surprise that Mike sang beautifully with the ensemble grooving behind him. Bursting out of there I knew in my soul that we had not seen the last of Derek that evening.

Ashley Davies and Matt Walker were hosting and performing in The Wah after that gig and I was excited for some more music and some more blues. Of course it turned into a jam fest with Derek Trucks, Dom Turner, Guy Pratt and others mixing it up. Fighting the jet lag Derek played for another 20 minutes or so and seeing him with maybe a hundred or so people will remain a very special memory as the hairs turn silvery on top of my head.

The AIGF is an intriguing animal and a beautiful and warm event. The care they offer the players, the fabulous sound and great PR and staff make it a fun place to hang out. My concern is for the livelihood of the gathering. After losing a packet in the first year, as most festivals will, this year was supposedly much better in ticket sales. It also may be to the fact that the International Acts this year may not have commanded the fees of last year. It did appear that many of the Festival Theatre gigs were well attended, but that compared to a Country Gig at Elder Park that was moved inside (due to lack of interest) must have been a hard Stetson to swallow. The only gig that I knew for sure was going to be a sell out was Saturday Night in The Wah Bar with The Derek Trucks Band.

Along with the music their were some great panel discussions on Artist Management, The Blues and Australia and even an open interview with Derek Trucks. Once again, the number of punters was never more then 50 or 60 and that is a sad thing. My thoughts, if anyone is listening, are to make it a shorter event and possibly look for a better time of year that is not nipping at Christmas. IT may be difficult to find another open timeframe in The Festival State, but I hope it is discussed.

One more interesting night in The Wah Bar remained for me on Saturday evening when Derek and His Happy Minstrels took to the stage and showed us that the DTB is not just about a guitar. Well, quite a bit of it is, but Mike Mattison on vocals, Todd Smallie on bass, and Yon Rico Scott on drums filled the room with funk and more. Joining them were the slight but nimble Count M’Butu on percussion and Kofi Burbridge on keys and flute.

Let me say that missing this gig was a mistake. You should be jealous and kicking yourself. Even after more then a decade together, the core of this band still feels like it has not peaked. I know that does sound like tripe if you hear their records, but I believe they still have their best ahead of them. Derek repeated some titles like My Favourite Things, but took the hinges off the song and showed us around a bit more. Whipping Post was traditionally called for, but went unheeded. Dom Turner joined the band for a jam that was certainly was the highlight of the night for me. I think it was the highlight of the week for Mr. Turner as he and The DTB seemed quite pleased with the sounds.

As I flew out of Adelaide early on Sunday to return to my family, I had dreams of Angus and Malcolm Young joining in at Elder Park on Sunday. They jammed with Adalita Srsen, Matt Walker and Rolf Harris and the ghost of Bon Scott wailed along. We rocked through the clouds and then the mellifluous voice of our chief purser told me Sydney was on the horizon. I awoke and wondered how it would have sounded and hoped the last night in Adelaide was as enjoyable for everyone else as was my week.

Have a Merry Christmas people!