Featuring Ann Wilson, Paul Rodgers and Jeff Beck
BB&T Pavilion
Camden, NJ. • Saturday, August 4, 2018

    The Stars Align Tour brought its 19-city North American Tour into the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, N.J.,  for a night that brought the three artists delivering what they do best. While Wilson and Rodgers brought their amazing vocals to their sets, Beck brought his amazing guitar solos to his set.

    Wilson kicked off a 40-minute set with a cover of the Who's "The Real Me", followed by the Heart classic "Barracuda". She then took a minute to say welcome to The Stars Align Tour and that she would not be doing material from that point in her career. She did play another original, “Fool No More”, coming off her 2015 album The Ann Wilson Thing. Her next album, slated for release in September, Immortal, is to pay tribute to famous rockers who have passed away the last couple years. She played three of that album’s songs and a few other covers before exiting the stage.

    Next, Paul Rodgers came on stage bringing his amazing vocals to the already amped up crowd as he opened with Free's "Little Bit of Love" and then Bad Company's "Can't Get Enough". Rodgers told the crowd that the evening's set would be from his two early bands Free and Bad Company. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Free, so touring as a solo artist he is pulling heavily from that period. He then dedicated Free's "Woman" to his wife and ended his set with Bad Company's “Rock n' Roll Fantasy.”
    He returned to the stage and played a cover of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues" and then Free's "All Right Now," letting the audience sing the chorus to close out his set.

    Next, it was time for Jeff Beck, one of the greatest guitarists of all time and he did not disappoint tonight. He's never really been the guy with the best stage presence but the magic in his fingers makes up for that. His 17-song set was his usual instrumental - only songs and other covers from other artists.  It’s hard to keep a crowd entertained with instrumental songs but with his band, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (Frank Zappa, Sting, Herbie Hancock} bassist Rhonda Smith (Prince,  Chaka Chan, Beyoncé, George Clinton) and cellist Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, they held down the music and put their thumping beats into everyone in the audience. The band  played stellar versions of many of the cover songs. Part-time singer Jimmy Hall then made his way to the stage for "Morning Dew." I think it brought a little excitement to the crowd just to have someone singing. Hall also sang on Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", and Stevie Wonders’ "Superstition." To close out their first set, they played a blistering instrumental take on the Beatles’ “A Day in The Life.”
    Then Beck and Freebairn-Smith came out and did an intimate duet from a Middle English hymm called :Corpus Christi Carol.” Jimmy Hall and Rhonda Smith joined them onstage for a show closer, "Going Down", a song written by Don Nix in 1969 and frequently played by Beck.

    If these Stars Align anywhere you can catch them, do yourself a favor and check this show out - it is a must see!

– Gary Crouthamel, concert photo journalist