Jeff Healey — Notodden Blues Festival, 2006

Filmed live concert of Jeff Healey at the Notodden Blues Festival in Norway on 5 August 2006. A virtuoso Canadian guitarist, blind since early childhood and famous for playing his guitar flat across his lap, Healey delivers here one of his last major captures before his death in 2008. On the Norwegian festival stage he moves through electric blues, rock and blazing covers — from “How Blue Can You Get” to a reworking of Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane”. This full show, recorded by Norwegian television, conveys all the power and sensitivity of his phrasing, between flamboyant solos and a soulful voice. A precious live capture for rediscovering a towering blues-rock guitarist at the height of his art, before a captivated audience. Founded in 1988, the Notodden Blues Festival is one of the major blues gatherings in Northern Europe and has hosted the biggest names in the genre. The capture, produced by Norwegian public television, guarantees remarkable image and sound quality. This filmed full concert is a precious testimony to Jeff Healey’s stagecraft in his final years.