It was billed as Booker T & the MGs with special guest Eddie Floyd. The 105-minute late-show on Sunday turned into an unforgettable soul explosion. In August 2007, the MGs played a great show at the Dakota; this time was even better.

 First, there was an hour of instrumental classics drom the MGs. Highlights included Steve Cropper’s crying guitar on “Summertime,” “Green Onions” smothered with Cropper’s swampy guitar and the goose-bumping-inducing, great groove of “Time Is Tight.”

Then came Floyd, singing an array of soul classics associated with him, the vintage soul era or Cropper as a songwriter.  Included were “Raise Your Hand,” “634-5789″ and “Soul Man,” during which two dudes dressed up as the Blues Brothers (a Halloween leftover?) were invited onstage to make fools of themselves. During Otis Redding’s “Get on Up,” a woman named Tiffany got up onstage (by Floyd’s invitation) to dance. She was a dancing fool, doing a wonderful post-modern Tina Turner rooster that had bassist Duck Dunn, Cropper and Floyd going wild.

Floyd capped his 45 minutes with his classic “Knock on Wood,” and then the MGs returned for “Dock of the Bay,” for which songwriter Cropper traded verses with Floyd. Then the MGs closed with “Double or Nothing” showcasing this marvelous Hall of Fame groove machine led by organist Booker T. Jones.

Booker T & the MGs with Eddie Floyd will play two shows again Tuesday night at the Dakota.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 3:50 am and is filed under Concerts, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.