B.B. King’s Blues Club Opens With a Toast and Good Show

B.B. King raised a glass Tuesday at the new Universal City nightclub and restaurant bearing has name and toasted the invited audience.

“I hope this can be the beginning of a very, very long friendship,” he said.

The beginning ?

For blues fans, the love affair with King has been going on ever since he started making records nearly 45 years ago. He’s perhaps the most influential electric guitarist in blues history and certainly one of the most revered blues figures, period.

But he’s hoping that B.B. King’s Blues Club--sister to a club that opened in his hometown of Memphis two years ago--will showcase the blues as a vital and fresh art form.

If it’s half as vital and fresh as King’s performance Tuesday--which was followed by a later, open-to-the-public show--the club will achieve his goal.

Celebrating both the opening of the facility, located on the second floor of CityWalk, and his recent 69th birthday, King and his eight-piece band were remarkably vigorous and inspired, covering all bases of modern blues and concluding with a spirited version of “The Thrill Is Gone,” his 1970 pop hit and signature song.

Before the show, while greeting such well-wishers as Ike Turner and Gladys Knight on the patio, King said that the venue was inspiring--and not just because he gets a percentage of the take for lending it his name.

“I wish we could have had clubs like this when I was just coming up,” he said. “It has that old feeling, and we’re hoping we can keep that feeling.”

B.B. King’s Blues Club does have as much of the feeling of an intimate Southern club as you could reasonably expect to find in CityWalk’s prefab urban environment. The design--three levels with no spot much farther than 30 feet from the stage--gives as much intimacy as is possible for a 500-capacity club.

The decor, too, gives an old Southern feeling, with many features--including pounded metal ceilings and a copper Greek revival entrance--coming from old Southern homes.

Naturally, much of the talk in the crowd was about the difference between King’s and the other new L.A. club trying to create a similar environment: the House of Blues. The consensus was that B.B. King’s seems more natural and cozier than the House of Blues (which is twice as large) and has less of a “Hollywood” feeling.

One difference is that B.B. King’s will be “strictly blues and R&B;,” said Tommy Peters, the club’s managing partner, in contrast to the House of Blues’ eclectic booking policy. National touring acts will be booked on Fridays and Saturdays. (Upcoming shows include the Chris Cain Band on Friday and Saturday, Maria Muldaur on Sept. 30 and blues guitarist Phillip Walker on Oct. 1.)

A house band will perform Monday through Thursday, while Sundays will alternate between a Detroit night with a band featuring members of Was (Not Was) and a New Orleans set including former members of the Meters. Sundays will also feature a gospel brunch. A smaller room, called Lucille’s after King’s famed guitar, is also being readied, with plans to host acoustic blues and related acts.