Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival

0 Shares

Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival

AVA Amphitheatre

Tucson, Arizona

July 14, 2024

by Mary Andrews

Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival made a stop at Tucson’s AVA outdoor Amphitheatre on a stormy night. The allstar cast celebrated the blues with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. The cast of entertainers will change during the summer and it was announced that this was the last night for Eric Gales, Samantha Fish, and Warren Haynes. It was a who’s who of today’s blues musicians. Guns’n Rose’s Slash, is one of the world’s most admired guitarist in existance today.

They were in a hurry to get the show started due to the weather being unpredictable. Eric Gales opened the festivities with as much guitar swagger as the law would allow. My only complaint was that the set was much too short being only 30 minutes (four songs). Gales packed in riviting rendions of “You Don’t Know the the Blues,” “Voodoo Child,” “Kasmir,” and “Back in Black.”

Samantha Fish followed Gales with another kickass 30 minute set. Fish performed here last year as a part of Buddy Guy’s last tour. It was obvious that the crowd rememebered her guitar prowess as they were out of their seats clapping and dancing to her hard driving guitar licks. Her four songs included “Kick Out the Jams,” “Bulletproof,” “I Put a Spell on You,” and “Somebody’s Always Trying.” Fish was on fire. She brought out her surprise guest, Warren Haynes, for a song and then it was quickly over.

Warren Haynes and his band extordinaire took the stage after Fish. His band included John Medeski on keysboards, Kevin Scott on bass, and Terrence Higgins on drums. Haynes was playing guitar. (Apologies if I missed someone.) The 45 minute set included “Man in Motion,” “Banks of the Deep End,” “Hattissburg Hustle,” but also the song that the fans kept shouting for throughout the set, “Soulshine” was performed at the end of the set.

Slash’s set was the main event at the end of the show. The set was filled with classic blues songs like “Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Stormy Monday,””PapaWas a Rolling Stone,” and “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.” Warren Haynes was the first guest to join Shash during his set and before the evening was over, all of the previous performers joined Slash during the set.

The S.E.R.P.E.N.T. festival runs through August 17th with more excellent acts including Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, Larkin Poe, Keb’ Mo,’ Robert Randolph, ZZ Ward, and special unannouced guests. If the show comes to your area, do yourself a favor and mosey on down to the show. You won’t regret it.