Crossroads 2023 took place at the weekend and saw a huge array of big name guitar collaborations grace the stage of LA’s Crypto.com Arena, including John Mayer jamming with H.E.R. and Joe Bonamassa trading licks with John McLaughlin on Jeff Beck standard, Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers.
One of our favorites of the clips to emerge so far is another Jeff Beck-inspired jam, this time a take on Going Down (aka I’m Going Down) featuring contemporary blues guitar gurus Eric Gales, Samantha Fish and Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram.
As the veteran player, self-proclaimed contender for Joe Bonamassa’s blues rock crown and host of the set, Gales – armed with his Magneto U-One RD3 signature guitar – is the leader of the pack here.
However, Going Down proves the ideal foil for the trio of guitarist/singers, with the three of them able to trade the vocal spotlight and alternate solos at will.
Fan footage shows Fish gets much of the initial limelight – unleashing some fizzing, rock ‘n’ roll laced licks from her go-to white SG – but when it comes time to hand over to Ingram, the latter is seen struggling to get a sound from his Tele Deluxe.
Any guitarist watching the clip will have felt that ‘heart in the throat’ moment of an onstage malfunction and Ingram is momentarily left prodding his pedalboard as Fish and Gales briefly vamp.
Fortunately, Ingram figures out the issue before thundering back in with a solo that seems initially powered by a little manic energy but then flows beautifully into some buttery bends.
Gales then punctuates proceedings with his own run, before passing the baton back to each of his guests for a few final bars.
While Going Down was not penned by Beck, it was written by one of his collaborators, Don Nix – who also played with Steve Cropper, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn and other Stax session regulars in The Mar-Keys.
The song was first popularized by Freddie King, but Beck recorded the track a year later, in 1972, and performed it regularly in his shows. Poignantly, it was chosen as one of the three tracks performed at Beck’s funeral.
If you’ve not checked out the weekend’s other big Beck tribute – Joe Bonamassa and John McLaughlin’s performance of Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers, we suggest you get right on that…
