Buddy Guy, 78, burns down Keswick Theatre once again

When gritty blues guitar god Buddy Guy sings "74 Years Young," about chasing women and leaving tracks, he's not whistling in the dark. He's a bad man, whether singing of mad carnal bliss or playing wild, passionate, superfast licks.

He also wasn't being accurate - he himself is now 78 years young - when he sang that tune Friday at the Keswick Theatre. But Guy was at his most incendiary, speedy, and poignant - and every Buddy-head there, especially those who'd witnessed his prowess many times in the past, knew it right away.

He's a guitarist of ferocious technique, firing off salvos of sadness, rage, longing, and exhilaration. He was also a showboat. Wearing a blue shirt louder than his ax, Guy sliced and diced his way through the highs of "Damn Right I've Got the Blues" like Ron Popeil on meth. As he screamed his vocals with trademark edgy quiver, he roamed the guitar with his left hand atop (rather than below) his fingerboard, just because he could.

Even when proceedings slowed for "a song so funky you can smell it" - "Five Long Years" and its tale of "shucking steel just like a slave" - Guy was hotdogging, rolling his hips lasciviously and talking about the good love he gave one woman who "had the nerve to kick me out." There was more sexual command in Guy's heavy, breathing howl and guttural licks on "Someone Else Is Steppin' In" than in all of Fifty Shades of Grey. There were cackling, low mumbles, and country plucking whenever Guy felt it, particularly on "What'd I Say," done up as a salty bossa nova, and a nasty, tangy "Meet Me in Chicago."

Backed by a nimble band capable of boogie-down piano runs and rough, taut rhythm, Guy's guitar and vocals sped into full-tilt frenzy whenever things grew calm. He ran through the room - stomping, soloing - and filled the air with chatter, interacting with the loud crowd. By the time he brought up opening act Quinn Sullivan - a raging guitarist in his own 16-year-old right - for a simmering version of Cream's "Strange Brew," some might have thought Guy might be weary after all that energetic riffing.

But no. "When's curfew?" Guy cried out. "We're gonna break it."