There is a huge difference between having obvious musical talent and putting on an entertaining, engaging show. The Dana Dixon Blues Band definitely has the former: that is undeniable. But whether or not the band are unique and innovative enough to hold the attention of a packed crowd fully for an hour and a half is less certain.
Dana Dixon heads up this four-man band, and her self-taught harmonica-playing is simply astonishing. Thought to be one of the top five harmonica players in the country, to achieve such skill and precision through pure hard work and self-discipline is highly impressive. Equally so is her husband’s musical talent on the guitar, which was demonstrated several times with some simply mind-blowing solos which received deserved applause time after time. The pair of them outshone their bassist and drummer, but these two completed the blues blend perfectly.
However, as the gig wore on, it became obvious which audience members were true blues fans and which were merely curious. It wasn’t that the music wasn’t good: it was just extremely repetitive, and as such there were one or two listeners that began to lose interest. While the structure started off as impressive, it became tiresome and predictable, and a lot of the ‘original’ music had very similar chord progressions to familiar blues classics, which called the songwriting talent of the band into question. While the more upbeat numbers worked a lot better than the slower songs, there was no room to dance properly, with listeners only able to bob their heads up and down awkwardly in response to the energetic rhythms.
