Eric Bibb, Oscar LaDell @ The Gov, Adelaide 28/4/2026

Around 1953, the blues had a baby and they called it Rock n Roll. Having been born that year, my life has been consumed with watching and listening to the evolution of Rock n Roll. Sometimes, however, it is good to go back to where if came from, the blues, and there is no-one better playing the blues at the moment than Eric Bibb.

The Gov was set up with tables throughout the room and chairs placed for those not dining. With a low-light ambiance and candles on each table, the room could easily have been in any 1940’s southern American Blues venue. The only thing missing was cigarette smoke.

American born, New Zealand raised and currently living in Melbourne, bluesman Oscar LaDell proved to be the perfect opening act. Armed with nothing more than a guitar and raw talent, he held the entire room in the palm of his hand. It’s a rare feat for an opener to command absolute silence, but there wasn’t even a murmur floating around the venue as he played.

His short set was a mix of new songs, older songs and a beautiful cover of Poco’s Keep on Trying. Slow Burning Love was written “when I was nineteen and despondent”, a typical blues theme and Oscar closed out the set with two songs, Dream of You and Hurts the Same, from his 2024 album, No Blue. Throughout the set, the audience showed respect for the artist with some even rising, to give him a well-deserved standing ovation at the conclusion.

Eric Bibb strolled on stage, dressed in a white suit and hat, and took a seat at the front of the stage with his guitar. “So happy to be back at The Gov” he told us before diving into the old 1941 St. Louis Oden cover of Goin’ Down Slow playing solo. Not a sound was heard throughout the venue, except the sound of pure blues flowing forth from the stage.

Eric then introduced his band, Staffan Astner on guitar, Glen Scott on bass and keyboard and then Nina Simone’s “forever drummer, Paul Robinson. “He’s my forever drummer now” Eric quipped. With a new album, One Mississippi out, Eric played the title track, explaining it was written with Janis Ian, who he went to high school with. With band in tow, the sound filled the room.

Of course, no “Blues evening” would be complete without a Lead Belly cover and Eric obliged with Alabama Bound. For five minutes the atmosphere shifted, transporting us back to the 1920’s.

The Happiest Man in the World was preceded with the amusing story about how he wrote the song and his wife said “who is it about?” “It’s not often you get a song about marital happiness in a blues song” Eric said. Ain’t that the truth. The song was lively and up-tempo and at the conclusion paved the way for Eric to welcome his wife Ulrika to the stage.

Eric had written a song called Dance Me to the End of Love, then discovered Leonard Cohen had written a song called that. “You can’t copyright a song title I discovered, so I stayed with it” With a voice of an angel, it was Ulrika’s soaring vocals that filled every corner of the room. A soulful gospel song in Send Us Brighter Days had Eric and Ulrika duetting and leading the audience into singing the song as well.

With Eric again solo on stage, he played the Walter Davis song Come Back Baby. “It was written in 1941” Eric told us, “1941 was a great year for the blues”.

Energy peaked as the band came back on stage, Saucer ‘n’ Cup being rolled out before Glen Scott moved to keyboards for Bless Us All. “I was watching the news the other day and I turned it off,” laughed Eric. “Then I picked up my guitar and wrote that song.” The song was an instrumental but the highlight of the evening with all four on stage playing as one. At song conclusion Eric said “I turned on the news again to see if things were picking up but had to turn it off. Then I remembered this song”. Got to do Better came forth, loud and furious, shaking the walls.

For the final two songs, Eric stood up and let “blues fever” take hold. The drums were hit harder, the guitars played louder and wilder and the vocals more intensified for Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down and In my Father’s House. People stood up and danced as the band rocked everyone. The band took a bow to a standing ovation and exited the stage.

Though the set list teased an encore, the band did not return, however, Eric and Ulrika, quickly made their way to the merch stand to meet the fans and sign autographs.

During the evening, fans were calling out for songs. Eric told them “Thanks for calling out for songs we haven’t played in three decades. Maybe we will come back to The Gov one day and do a four-hour set”. Based on the magic witnessed tonight, there isn’t a person in that room who wouldn’t be there to see it. I would be there

Live Review by Geoff Jenke