JEFF HEALEY BAND

JEFF HEALEY BAND (Red Box, Dublin)

GUINNESS SEEM to take the job of organising a Blues Festival pretty seriously. Along with mainstream blues acts like Eric Bibb they brought in an exponent of the roots of that music in Ali Farka Touré, and the genre’s modernised, souped-up lovechild in Jeff Healey. It’s blues, Jim, but not as we know it.

A blind, 32-year-old Canadian, Healey started playing at the age of three, and has already won two Grammy Awards in the US. Playing the guitar on his lap, he uses all five fingers on his fretting hand to get an unbelievable sound out of his instrument. He plays at a ferocious pace, and you’d really have to say that he’s a guitarist who does blues, rather than a blues guitarist.

Purists might complain that this sort of stuff is too loud and rock-oriented, but no-one could fault Healey’s showmanship or sense of style. He clearly enjoys playing in Ireland (“Coming home”, he called it) and is prepared to give it loads for his dedicated fanbase. The tight four-piece band were given energetic workouts through twelve-bars, funky rock and slow blues, and they never allowed the set to flag.

Healey albums have been thin on the ground since 1991’s Hell To Pay (he’s due to release one late this year), so the material was largely taken from the tried and trusted. ‘I Need To Be Loved’, ‘See The Light’ and ‘Angel Eyes’ would be obvious standouts, but he is better known for covers like ‘Roadhouse Blues’.

That said, playing other people’s songs is a long and honourable tradition in blues, and Healey is none the worse for it. We’ve heard it all before, but when it barrels along like this, who’s counting?

• Tom Fabozzi