Will Hoge at Bonnaroo

This review originally appeared on my blog altrjiranga mitjina on July 1, 2005:


Most people have heard of the famous quote about Bruce Springsteen...."I have seen the future of rock and roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Now I'm not going to argue that point. But I will say that if there is a future for rock and roll it will be due to people like Will Hoge.

Will played what they called the cafe tents at Bonnaroo. These were small tents set up that sold beer or coffee. They had tables set up and probably held a hundred people if everyone was jammed together. From what I gather this was the first year they did this. The state of Tennessee was pushing Bonnaroo to feature more local acts. So Bonnaroo decided to use these cafe tents to showcase some of the local acts. Will is from Nashville and got the call to come play. He played two shows at the fest.

Will played the first show like his life depended on it. He played as if this was going to be the last show he ever played and decided to go out in a blaze of glory. This was the third time I've seen Will play and all times he's given a great show, but there was something about this one that was more intense. He played with an intensity that most performers never exhibit.

All the shows I saw at Bonnaroo were great, but Will played more with his soul and heart than almost anyone else there. (I have to say Joss Stone gave a soulful show also.) It's hard to decribe, but you know what it is when you've been to one of those shows. You can walk out of a show and think it's great, but than every now and than if you get lucky you walk out of a show and feel like you've been beat up, as exhausted as the singer, like the singer has taken your life and just looked inside it and told you secrets that you never imagined. That was what this show was.

Will knows his rock history. He dedicated Bye Bye Johnny to Johnnie Johnson, the pianist that played with Chuck Berry and helped shape the future of rock and roll. He always throws in a few covers that work great. My only complaint is that normally he ends his show with no instruments or backups at all. He steps away from the microphone and just sings, with nothing but his voice powering the lyrics. It's a great ending, this time he didn't. But it still was a great show.

The first time I saw Will he opened for John Hiatt, during John's acoustic tour. Will perfomed with just his guitar and no band. Normally opening acts aren't worth listening to, but he was great. After his show he stayed around selling copies of his cds and signing autographs and talking to anyone that wanted to talk.

Will and his band travel all over performing. They've released a couple cds, their newest one is a live cd. Go to WillHoge.com and check him out.

It's nice to know that there is still a future for rock and roll.