There couldn't have been a more appropriate setting for a blues concert -- slate-colored skies, dimming daylight and a deluge of rain -- except maybe for some back-alley bar, neon beer signs in the window and cigarette smoke permeating the room.

"The show must go on," Castro told a hardy audience of about 400 people on the Long's Park lawn. "You guys are tough."

Castro, 51, and his four-piece band played a nearly 90-minute, 12-song concert at the amphitheater.

The rain started 10 minutes before the show, prompting audience members to open an array of striped umbrellas and colorful ponchos.

Castro and the band (Randy McDonald of Harrisburg on bass guitar, Keith Crossan on the saxophone and Chris Sandoval pounding the drums) then walked onstage and launched into a rockin' version of (what else?) "Right as Rain."

"Just like a storm," Castro sang, "Out on the sea, so it is, baby, with you and me." Noah must have been smiling down on Lancaster just then.

Although blues music relies heavily on stories of heartbroken lovers and the untimely end of romantic affairs, Castro played nearly the entire concert with a smile, proof that while the blues are blue, they can be fun to listen to.

Castro, a California native, was the star, at times mournfully and slowly crying out through his blue-and-white guitar, and at other times delivering infectious, hard-driving hooks that had audience members dancing and splashing their feet in the grass.

If you closed your eyes you could almost hear the resurrected spirits of late blues masters Muddy Waters and Stevie Ray Vaughan return to the stage.

Castro's set list included songs from the band's early days in the 1990s and from his new album, "Soul Shaker." Many of the songs stretched out over eight minutes, in lengthy jam sessions during which Castro and the band showed off their talents.

Castro told the audience toward the conclusion of the concert the show must end early because "some weather" was closing in, then he launched into "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven."

"I got to play these blues," Castro sang. "I got work to do. I got a whole lot of livin' to do. It sure feels good to be alive."

The song finished, and shortly afterward, lightning flashed in the distance, followed by a low rumble of thunder. blog comments powered by Disqus