An intimate audience didn't“t stop Wild T and the spirit from giving it his all during a spellbinding early show at the Slice, Sunday, May 26.
The revamped Wild T and the Spirit including new bassist Ray Ray Treeze and longstanding drummer Trevor Bigam played for a least two hours straight.
Local favourites the Eric Braun Band including guitarist / vocalist Eric Braun, his dad Ken on drums and bassist Jon Bateman started their show around 6:30 p.m.
They played blues classics with a solid groove, soulful vocals and tasteful guitar playing from Eric Braun.
“Use” Me was a highlight near the end of their set, which also included a hot version of Jimi Hendrix’s “ Voo Doo Chile (Slight Return), though Wild T and the Spirit are known for playing plenty of Hendrix.
The Eric Braun band were called back for a couple of encores of ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid” and “Tennessee Whiskey,” for a touch of Chris Stapleton styled soulful country music.
Wild T and the Spirit just wanted to play. So after a quick break, they took the stage and didn’t give it back for close to three hours.
They opened with a newer song “ Start It Up For Me,” one of several new songs Toronto based bluesman Wild T aka Toney Springer was to introduce in the show.
He started with some blues classics like “ I Play The Blues For You,” Blues was the order of the day though Springer effortlessly added spurts of two handed tapping into his songs just to show how good of a guitar player he is.
He hasn't played the Slice since July 2014. ,” Since then, beloved bassist Gunther Kapelle passed away and they released a live album featuring his groove, so it was great to have Wild T back at the Slice.
Most of the show mirrored the 2015 “Live ” album.”
Springer looked completely blissed out, beaming throughout his set. He added a little musical humour by adding a few bars of Christmas carols into his solos, wishing the audience a merry Christmas.
To add to his upbeat mode, he went reggae with a cover of Bob Marley’s “Jammin’”
He played a new song “ Wandering River,” which was more straight ahead blues, but he also laid down some more two-handed tapping.
While he will sometimes do a full Jimi Hendrix tribute show, he opted to jam on a couple of Hendrix classics “Hey Joe” and a cover of Hendrix’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower,” which he described as a cover of a cover of a cover. He added a few favourite Hendrix tricks like playing his sparkling blue Stratocaster with his teeth,
After that a song called “ Driving Fool,” was an uptempo highlight.
The band also played an extended funky jam on James Brown’s “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.”
He welcomed a couple special guests on stage.
Eric Braun joined them to jam on some Rolling Stones.
Shawna Romolliwa improvised a spontaneous blues song while Wild T and the Spirit jammed over her lyrics.
Jolene Draper joined them on stage for another song.
The band wound down the show with a couple more songs featuring Eric Braun.
They were called back for an encore just before 10 p.m. and played one of Wild T and the Spirit’s ’90s hits “ Midnight Blue,” before calling it a night.
— By Richard Amery, L.A Beat Editor
