B.B. King, perhaps best known by today’s young folk for being on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air once, is a living legend, but even he’s not immune to being booed, apparently. The 88-year-old guitar god played St. Louis’ Peabody Opera House on Friday, and according to the Post-Dispatch‘s Daniel Durchholz, it was a memorable show for all the wrong reasons.
King sat center stage and spoke, sometimes in non sequiturs, sometimes inaudibly. He flirted with women in the first few rows and made a few ribald comments, without apology. “I like to have fun,” he said. “I love who I am and what I do.”
For a while, the audience was with him, laughing at his jokes and asides. But it was 45 minutes into the show before King performed anything resembling a song. Even then, his playing was shaky. He explained that he and the band had been off for two months, causing him to lose confidence.
After a capable run-through of “Rock Me Baby,” he played “You Are My Sunshine” and asked the crowd to sing along. The house lights came up and King began noticing individuals and waving to them. As the song went around again and again, nattering on for — and this is not a misprint — 15 minutes, audience members began to heckle, yelling out requests or simply calling for King to “play some music!” Some walked out. (Via)
King sadly couldn’t understand the insults being thrown his way, probably because he’s 88 YEARS OLD, and the music awkwardly stopped. Finally sensing trouble, King began playing one of his signature classics, “The Thrill Is Gone,” to calm the crowd, but afterward, he “completed just two more songs.” Oh well, King’s allowed to play a stinker once every nine million shows (and that’s just since 2010).
