Preview: Eric Gales returns to ATX!

Eric Gales triumphantly returns to Antone’s in Austin, TX for two SOLD OUT shows on Tuesday and Wednesday May 11th and 12th, 2021. At 20% capacity and socially distanced seating, Antone’s has gone the extra mile to keep attendees safe while bringing us the experience we have all missed so dearly.

Seeing Eric Gales in concert is a must for any blues lover, but seeing him in Austin, TX has proven time and time again to be extraordinary. The first time I saw him in Austin, TX in 2018, I was fortunate to speak to him before the show and he explained to me that,

Texas ain’t a place you can come and be joking around you know, there’s some heavy hitters here and I gotta do my thing!

While I first thought Eric was speaking figuratively, I was proven wrong when I arrived for the show that night and found myself surrounded by some of my favorite Austin guitarists (including Eric Tessmer and SEFO). The heavy hitters he was speaking of were literally in the audience anxious to get their own experience being the fans. Throughout that night, watching their enjoyment of Eric’s show was a treat in and of itself. It was also very fitting as I had Eric had just told me about some of his own favorite concert experiences as a member of the audience.

I asked him about his first concert experience and he immediately replied,

“It had to be Albert King, in Memphis where I’m from, I think I was about 11 years old and it blew my mind, it’s just the whole power that the guy had, it was undeniable”

He then went on to describe the first time he saw Austin’s own Eric Johnson in concert,

that is sketched in my brain as one of the most highly inspriational, moving performances that I saw and that impacted me. 

Expanding on his love for Austin as a city, Eric then talked about his specific love for Antone’s as a venue and the last time he played there,

It’s been etched in my brain, how massive of an outcome, the show that I did the last time I was here, so if I top that, that’s gonna be… stupid! And what I mean by top that, I mean the crowd and the energy, its crazy and I can’t wait. .”