Article & Photos: Jim Summaria
photo: Jim Summaria
Tab Benoit at the Des Plaines Theatre, February 23, 2025
Review & Photos by Jim Summaria
A very cool-looking dude with long, curly hair and beard walks confidently onto the Des Plaines Theatre stage. The spotlight hits him, and with a thick Cajun accent he informs the audience, "I came here to play for y'all." And play he did! Tab Benoit (pronounced ben-wa) put on a show that had one jaw-dropping moment after another.
Armed with his signature 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline guitar, Benoit lets the crowd know that he doesn't use pedals or any gimmicks. He makes it clear that there is no auto-tune for him. Everything they're about to hear comes from the strings and the knobs on the guitar. He lets everyone know that he plays without a playlist and plays what he feels at the moment. And it's up to the bassist and drummer to follow his lead. It all works because they have great chemistry together. Benoit’s rock solid bassist, Corey Duplechin, has been with him for decades.
Benoit’s expressive guitar playing has many flavors to it, including rock, Cajun, Chicago Blues and a whole lot of Delta Blues. His soulful voice complements the genres. A comparison to Otis Redding could be debated. He has a commanding stage presence and enjoys conversing with the audience. He's a good story teller, something he picked up as a college student when he did standup comedy. He considers his followers as a friend base and not as a fan base. His music is honest, passionate, raw and authentic. He sells his vocals and guitar solos with intense enthusiasm that keeps his audience enthralled. Thus he prefers live performances over studio work.
Benoit is a Baton Rouge area, Louisiana native and has been performing since the 1980s. He began playing as a teen at Tabby's Blues Box. He was soon discovered and offered a record deal. His first album, Nice and Warm, came out in 1992 and was well received. Critics compared him to Albert Collins and Albert King. Unfortunately, he signed a long term contract with the record company that forced him to make studio albums that he felt fell short of his expectations. Benoit had to wait until the contract expired before he could make the kind of album he wanted. He formed his own label called Whiskey Bayou, and recently released his first studio album in 13 years, I Hear Thunder. He produced, engineered, mixed and mastered the album. He wrote all the songs with his pals Anders Osborne and George Porter, Jr.
He has received many honors in his career. He's twice been named the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and was inducted in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He's won several Blues Music Awards and has been nominated four times for a GRAMMY. He opened up Tab Benoit's Lagniappe Music Cafe in his hometown of Houma, Louisiana, to give young artists a place to perform. He's a concerned conservationist and founder of Voice of the Wetlands, an organization that promotes preservation and awareness of the coastal wetlands of Louisiana. He's been honored for his efforts by the state and the governor.
Benoit doesn't play many songs in his show but each one is lengthy with extended, smoking hot leads. The rockers are played with high energy and the slow blues are played with great passion. His vocals are emotionally rich, not only in a bluesy way, but with a touch of the Memphis Stax sound.
He opened the show with "Medicine" from the 2011 album of the same name. The song starts with a boot stomping beat that leads into a blistering tour-de-force blues rock song. His guitar work is excellent and his growling vocal adds the right amount of texture to the song. His version of Toussaint McCall's "Nothing Takes the Place of You" had Benoit playing his best slow blues lead of the night - a solo so good that it penetrated the listener's soul.
He played four songs from his new album: "Why, Why," “The Ghost of Gatemouth Brown," "Still Gray" and "I Hear Thunder." Each one had its own personality. "Why, Why" is a catchy tune with a funky beat and Benoit's lead guitar work is a blues shredder's delight. "The Ghost of Gatemouth Brown" has a Joe Walsh sounding "Funk 49" influence with Benoit again demonstrating his guitar prowess. "Still Gray" is pure country with Benoit changing guitar and vocal styles to complement the song. The song that blew the roof off was the encore "I Hear Thunder." His guitar lead just kept building, much to the delight of the audience. It reminded me of a lead that Alvin Lee would pull off.
A song that really cooked was the rockabilly sounding "Hot Tamale Baby." His solo was highlighted by an amazing scratching technique that wowed the crowd. His boogie groove version of the Muddy Water's tune "Why Are People Like That?" changed the tone of the sad lyrics into a party song.
Vocally the song of the night was Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine"from Benoit's 2002 Wetlands album. If you closed your eyes you'd swear it was Otis singing - a slow R&B ballad that showed Benoit's unlimited talent range.
Benoit is an amazing artist. He can be high energy or pensive. The song dictates where he will go. He plays what he feels, which creates magical moments. No two guitar solos are ever the same. He left the stage after two encores to the roaring approval of all in attendance. Benoit has been quoted as saying that "music is the healer of the soul." On this night he supplied the cure.
Photographer Jim Summaria and writer Mark Plotnick are co-authors of ‘70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts available on Amazon.
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Jim Summaria began professionally photographing rock concerts in 1973 at the age of 19 when he became the staff photographer for the Chicago rock concert promoter Flip Side Productions. Jim's photos have been published in numerous books, magazines and CDs. His rock ‘n’ roll photos have been viewed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum and Hall of Fame on Rt.66 and the Grammy Awards. Jim and writer Mark Plotnick co-authored the books Classic Rock: Photographs From Yesterday & Today and the October 2024 release ‘70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts.
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