On Friday, Sept. 6, the Findlay Toyota Center played host to one of the most influential musicians of her time, Bonnie Raitt.

Raitt, who is a critically acclaimed roots and blues musician who mixes a bit of rock, folk and country into her playing style, dazzled the just over 4,000 people who were lucky enough to catch her that night with a set list of 17 songs in total.

The opener for the night, a British band called The James Hunter Six, came on stage and played its mix of traditional blues mixed with a bit of 2Tone, old classic Rock ‘n’ Roll, a hint of funk and soul, and a dash of all-around good times to an audience that, for the most part, had never heard of the self-proclaimed busker and his backing band. They left the audience dancing in their seats.

Hunter, who has been in the music industry for more than 30 years, came out with a joke to help liven up the room by saying, “This is where they all told us to be, right here in Prescott Valley. And I mean EVERYONE in England told us to get out and come here…”, and from that point the audience was his.

As the set ended, and the final stragglers found their seats before the lights dimmed and the headlining act for the night took the stage, there was a brief conversation with Raitt’s lighting engineer. I had the chance to ask him what it was like to do lights for her, what each night involved, and he responded that it was an honor to be able to work for her.

He said Raitt has about 60 songs that she can pull from every night for a concert, which makes each show a special and individual experience all onto itself. He stated that the set list that is made up every night is more of a guideline of what COULD be played, but that his earpiece was directly linked to Raitt’s and her guitarist so he knew of any sudden changes to the set, which happened more often than one might think.

And because of this, her set lists are heavily guarded.

This proved to be true on this night, as Raitt and her backing band on their fourth song of the night where she announced that she had changed her mind for the opening night of this leg of her tour and wanted to play John Hiatt’s “Thing Called Love.” She also later changed the set list around and introduced the song “Blame it on Me.”

Throughout the night, Raitt talked about her newest single, “Made Up Mind,” off of her 2022 album (and 21st studio album, Just Like That), as well as celebrating 40 years with her bassist and drummer. She also talked about the altitude and how she hiked Goldwater Lake.

By the end of the show, everyone in attendance was on their feet giving the multi-Grammy winning artist a full-hearted ovation.

Her set included the following songs, as a full setlist was not available for this show: I Sho Do (The Bluerunners cover); God was in the Water (Randall Brambiett cover); Thing Called Love (John Hiatt cover); Blame it on Me; Hear Me Lord (Oliver Mtukudzi cover); Million Miles; Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About; Angel from Montgomery (a John Prine cover) and more.

About The Author

Chris Ortiz

News Editor

Chris Ortiz is the news editor for the Prescott News Network.

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