This is Bet Harts delayed return to the Symphony Hall. As anyone who reads any of our reviews knows well down our list of favourite venues, due to its overzealous staff and the beautiful surroundings encouraging Velcro pants. But needs must and the need to see one of our favourite artists is long overdue. Beth Hart is as usual on fire tonight, no surprise there. She knows no different way with her raw, emotional vocal and ability to touch people with not only her songs, but her very candid dialogue regarding her previous addictions and Bi-polar, but surprisingly in a humorous way.

Kicking off with ‘Tell Her You Belong To Me’, followed by ‘Waterfalls’, just to warm the audience up, before telling them that when she was approached to cover an album of Led Zeppelin songs. She was very nervous, no one else was I would guess, she has the pipes for anything end of. Mesmerizing everyone with ‘When The Levee Breaks’, awesome, before taking up a seat at the piano with a soulful bluesy ‘Your Heart Is As Dark As The Night’, and belting out ‘Bad Women Blues’, and a vitriolic, ‘Love Is A Lie’.

At one point Beth and her brilliant band – including Jon Nicholls, a very underrated guitarist in our opinion, who has been with Beth for 29 years – all join her at the front of the stage for a pared down segment, which made it even more personal. With Beth spending much of her time sat or stretched out on the stage, before resuming full on with a superb version of ‘Sugar Shack’, the only other Led Zep cover, surprisingly was ‘No Quarter/Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’, as powerful but as sensitive as you can get, wow, just wow.

And all to soon our visit to the church of Beth Hart is over, leaving all again counting the days until we can all come to witness one of the best vocalists around, period. Our only gripe is from a personal point is that we would have loved more Led Zeppelin tunes and please don’t make us come to the Symphony Hall again next time, but if it’s got to be its got to be. To see Beth, we would walk over broken glass.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe