Two and a half years ago, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay made a prediction regarding the local fortunes of guitar virtuoso Keb’ Mo’: One day, he will stop in Tampa Bay to rock a bigger venue than downtown Clearwater’s 750-seat Bilheimer Capitol Theatre. Despite originally being booked there last Wednesday night, the 69-year old broke through by getting his show moved to the more spacious Ruth Eckerd Hall, due to social distancing concerns.

After spending the last year following the depressing, yet convenient trend of live stream performances, Keb’ Mo’ hit Ruth Eckerd’s dark, backdrop-free stage at the promised time of 7:30 p.m., without the aid of an opening act, or even a backing band. “You’ve got a lot of nerve!” he immediately jokes. At this point, he was probably just happy to be out of the house. On the other hand, he made the hour-and-a-half affair feel like he was still at home, just with music loving guests.

Opening the second show of Keb’s three-date stint in Florida was 2009’s "Government Cheese,” with the only backup being the hearty laughter and singing coming from the crowd, as he ripped up his signature National Reso Rocket—one of four guitars he would rock that night. “What have y’all been up to in Clearwater?” he asked during a break in between songs. “Winning the Super Bowl!” an audience member called out, which received thunderous (to an extent) cheers. After the Bucs’ historic win last Sunday, you may have seen Tampa fans partying together without masks, possibly triggering yet another damn COVID-19 spike. Any similar idiocy was tolerated at Ruth Eckerd Hall, which has cracked down hard on its no-BS protocols since reopening for major shows in December.

Thanks to the venue’s valiant efforts, local concergoers got a look at a part of what Keb’ did during his time in lockdown—he composed a brand new song about the pandemic. “We’re all just waiting on the medicine man,” he sang. Having been brand new and performed only once-if-ever and all, you’d probably expect a flub here and there—there were moments where it felt like he was in the zone on guitar, and was just making the lyrics up on the spot.

“The end is coming? Pigs are flying?”

“This is a disaster,” Keb’ chuckled. He plans to release it as a single pretty soon.

Once everyone got another dose of laughter, he returned to playing from the songbook that fans came to hear, starting with the title track from his most recent album, Oklahoma. A Jackson Browne-free "Just Like You” was also dusted off in ideal timing if the Black Lives Matter movement comes to mind when you listen to the chorus. Following the solemn tune was his famous reminder that “Life Is Beautiful,” back-to-back against “I Remember You.” “You audience people, you always get your way…I know who I work for.” he jabbed.

Throughout the show, masked up fans in the socially distanced crowd tried to make conversation of sorts with Keb’ in between songs. And most times, they would get acknowledged either by Keb’, or a few hundred applauding fellow fans. One requested the blues classic “Walking Blues,” made famous by Robert Johnson. Despite remarking how it’s just one of those songs that you’ve got to know, it took a refresher sheet to convince Keb’ to play it a few songs later.

When the time came, he soldiered his way through as best as he could, even if he had to pause every few bars during every part past the first verse. “Let this be a memory you forget,” he said at the end of the song. No need to do that—there’s nothing like a little authenticity in life, you know?

Not much more commentary came out of Keb’ after his error-infested salute to the often-forgotten greatest guitarist that ever lived. For the remainder of his set, he would stick to lesser-known, yet still fresh, material—“One Friend” made the lonesome folks misty-eyed, “Shave Your Legs” brought back the laughs and whoops, and of course, he threw in “the song about having no more forks to give,” “Muddy Water.”

“Better Man” capped off Keb’’s main set, after which about a quarter of the already scaled-down group of fans left the room. The joke’s on them, because they didn’t get to hear Keb’ play an encore that featured “Old Me Better, and an unexpected finale of “She Just Wants To Dance.”

But fear not, as Keb’ Mo’ isn’t the only guitar maestro that Ruth Eckerd Hall has booked in the last few months. Keb’’s fellow Experience Hendrix Tour alumnus Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd are in town May 13, and it was just announced this week that Joe Bonamassa—who opened for B.B. King at the age of twelve, will play with a power trio for the first time in twenty years on March 29.

Life is beautiful.

See a list of Tampa Bay’s “Safe & Sound” live music venues here.

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