Seated on the floor, standing at the bar, sharing chairs and huddled around barrels, audience members squeezed themselves into the Lowlander for Dan Patlansky’s first acoustic gig of the Festival on Tuesday.
Seated on the floor, standing at the bar, sharing chairs and huddled around barrels, audience members squeezed themselves into the Lowlander for Dan Patlansky’s first acoustic gig of the Festival on Tuesday.
Patlansky is known for his ripping blues riffs and loud, in-your-face rock guitar but with the release of his new acoustic album Wooden Thoughts, Patlansky is touring a solo blues acoustic set, something he hasn’t done thus far in his career.
Using a loop pedal to create the backing for his pieces, he dips heavily into the blues of yesteryear and performs pieces by the likes of Eddie James Son House and Robert Johnson.
The set features many of the songs from his new album, including the infectious Miss Owee as well as pieces from his back catalogue.
On Tuesday 2 July he also performed a song he’d written that very afternoon, a strong funk influence coming through in the piece, a slight deviation from the guitarist’s usually blues-oriented playing style.
Patlansky left Johannesburg for the first time as a touring musician in 2004.
During his show he told stories of his travels and tours, taking the audience on the road with him before driving his fingers into the strings and letting the music choose the direction.
Patlansky will be playing alongside South African music veteran and the most identifiable female rock voice of South African music, Karen Zoid, On Friday 5 July in the Monument’s Guy Butler Theatre at 9.30pm. Their show is called ‘Karen Zoid & Dan Patlansky in Concert’.
