Eric Burdon

One of the great voices of the British Invasion, Eric Burdon seized B. B. King's last Monday evening with a 90-minute barrelhouse set of some 15 Animals hits and blues standards. It was an evening of highlights for a performer who, when inspired as he was at B. B.'s, can be gripping and even mesmerizing in his vocal maneuverings. Burdon still features a booming baritone which he plays off with deft phrasings, manipulated melody lines, and shifts in pitch and tonalities, sometimes all within a song, as he did with his rocking cover of "River Deep Mountain High."

Nearing 70 years of age, Burdon opened with an impressive "When I Was Young," more introspective than the rambunctious and angst-ridden original, but nonetheless powerful and unsentimental. "I was a rotten little bastard," he quipped near the end. He followed with a faithful and wailing rendition of "Don't Bring Me Down," featuring the funky Hammond B-3 of Texan Red Young, and, then, the familiar reggae version of "Don't Let Be Misunderstood," showcasing Burdon's neat phrasings.

With hardly a weak moment in the 90 minute-set, Burdon tore through blues standards like Ray Charles's "I Believe to My Soul," John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom," which stomped to Terry Wilson's bass lines before melding into Chuck Berry's "Around and Around," Mississippi Fred McDowell's "Red Cross Store," which Burdon recorded on Soul of a Man, his 2006 release, and which, on this night, featured Billy Watts's stinging slide. Shortly after, Watts commandeered "It's My Life" through its serpentine guitar lines as Burdon belted out the anthem with clarity and renewed conviction.

Despite his rough Newcastle roots, his often turbulent private life, and sometimes tough demeanor, Burdon has clung to the politics and vision of the Summer of Love. It was in evidence throughout the set: in his sincere version of "San Franciscan Nights," introduced with stories of Janice Joplin and Jim Morrison, in the working of Lennon's "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier Mamma" into "Red Cross Store," or in his new single, "An Invitation to the White House (It Was a Dream)," a somewhat conventional arrangement of a talking blues in which Burdon tells of pleading for peace with the President. Always an expert interpreter, Burdon drove the set to its conclusion with "River Deep Mountain High" and his still moving take of "House of the Rising Sun." He closed with the rave up "I'm Crying," an Animals' original delivered with enthusiastic and almost celebratory Ahs from Burdon and his band.

For the encore, Burdon returned to the stage with keyboardist Red Young for Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out." As he did throughout the night, Burdon riffed off Young's flexible jazzy blues on the electric piano or his funk on the B-3. Midway through the classic, the full band returned for a blues workout before concluding the evening with the always rousing "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," which morphed into a new song about New Orleans, "The River Is Rising," concluding with the chanting chorus of "No More War" from The Night (2001).

Although he dug deeply into his catalogue, Burdon, with the exception of perhaps "San Franciscan Nights," did not try to tap into any nostalgic impulses of the audience. Instead, Burdon's blues took on renewed urgency, especially in an era of war, economic strain, global warning, and natural disasters - all referenced unobtrusively throughout the evening. It was an exceptional performance, one that makes us anxious for his scheduled 2011 CD release.