Hanging out with the Pope? Just one of the many stories B.B. King related at the Casper Events Center on Saturday. Photos by .
“I thought I might be taking a chance driving four hours to see ,” says Reverb photographer , who trekked up to the in Casper, Wyo., for the Saturday show. “I hadn’t seen him since the early ’80s. Was he still the King? Shame on me for entertaining that idea.” According to Carney, the blues legend killed it with wailing guitar, endless jokes and deft storytelling in front of a crowd of 3,000.
“I had to fight back the tears, while photographing B.B. King and band,” Carney says. “Tears of joy, and tears from his innumerable damn funny jokes he was constantly telling. B.B. improves with time! He can still sing gently and ‘scare your pants off, with his loud belting vocals.’ B.B. could succeed easily as a stand-up comedian. One of his stories: in his years of touring 40 countries, he met with his favorite Pope, Pope John Paul II. B.B. said before John Paul was the Pope, he was a poet (a poet and a guitarist). B.B. admired John Paul greatly and gave him a sister guitar to Lucille, his own famous guitar.
“Another BB story concerned a new song he played, a song he says his kids do not like called ‘See That My Grave Is Kept Clean’ (go figure). B.B. also related the story of pulling up to a venue recently and seeing a fan holding a sign on a stick that said ‘Last B.B. Concert Ever.’ He wondered why the person thought that, then asked the Boulder crowd, ‘What do you think? Do you want me back here to play again?’ Of course the crowd screamed ‘yes!,’ and B.B. agreed. He heaped praise on his fans for being so faithful and covered his face, probably for 20 seconds, while the crowd cheered. Touching, to say the least, as he came off like a genuinely kind and gentle person.”
Check out Carney’s photo essay of the evening:
Brian Carney is a Denver freelance photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. Check out more of his work .
