EMP Museum celebrated the opening of its latest Jimi Hendrix exhibit as well as Jimi’s 70th birthday with an all-star concert at the Sky Church Saturday night. The show featured several notable performances — I especially enjoyed Eric Gales’ and Vernon Reid’s contributions — but the performer who delivered the best renditions of Hendrix classics was Mike McCready. Of course, if you’ve ever seen Pearl Jam live or listened to “Yellow Ledbetter” then you already know McCready loves himself some Hendrix, but these two covers are especially good.
Check out his performance of “Voodoo Child,” where he does double duty on vocals and guitar, as well as “Machine Gun,” where Brandi Carlile does a great job matching the intensity of McCready’s wailing on guitar with her soulful vocal delivery. Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) and Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees), who are McCready’s sometimes bandmates in Walking Papers, round out the band in the performances. Look for a review of the concert and photos from the show later this week.
