Review: Buddy Guy @ Buddy Guy’s Legends
Buddy Guy @ Buddy Guy’s Legends, January 27th
Every January, Chicago blues fans brave the city’s schizophrenic weather and flock to the 700 block of south Wabash. Their destination, Buddy Guy’s Legends to experience none other than blues deity Buddy Guy, at home in the flesh. To many it would not be a new year without Guy’s traditional winter residency; loyalists would even say that Guy’s shows set the tone for the year ahead.
Each year, Guy returns to sweet home Chicago to perform a month’s worth of sold-out shows, 16 to be exact, at his South Loop club, Legends. For 20 years Legends was located at 754 S. Wabash; that was until Guy’s landlords, Columbia College, gave his bar the boot to expand their campus. As a result, Guy bought a new place up the block at 700 S. Wabash, replicated and upgraded his 20 year old masterpiece, and re-opened during the summer of 2010.
January 2011 marked Guy’s first residency at the club’s new address. There were people packed into every nook and cranny for show #13 on January 27th. About three or four rows of tables lined the middle of the room, all of which were dominated by Buddy Guy vets, aka experienced patrons aware of the benefits to unite together and arrive early. For everyone else it was standing room only surrounding the club’s perimeter. Looking around there could not have been a friendlier or more welcoming atmosphere.
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