By Jeff Wilson
Enquirer contributor

On Friday Bogart's hosted bands that came from different continents but met in the same place musically, somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

And while the headliners, Spiritualized, hail from the UK and the influence of blues on their music is sometimes subtle, the evening's best moments came when the band played raw, dirty rock and roll steeped in the spirit of the blues.

Spiritualized is touring in support of a new record, Amazing Grace. In some ways a departure for the band, Amazing Grace contains (for Spiritualized) short songs with minimal overdubbing. It stands to reason, then, that the crowd of 300 would see a stripped-down version of the group.

Stripped-down is a relative term, however. Throughout the show Spiritualized had at least seven musicians on the stage, and three of them were guitarists who constantly found new ways to add layers to what was already a huge soundscape.

The leader of Spiritualized, Jason Pierce, sat on a chair at the side of the stage. Never looking at the crowd, he faced his band members instead.

Not your usual front man, but his position on the stage was the mark of a strong band leader as opposed to a shy one. When the tempo picked up and the volume increased Pierce stomped his feet and banged chords vigorously like an old blues man, galvanizing the other band members. They responded by playing superbly.

On "Come Together" bassist Doggen offered a menacing bass line while the rest of the band created a thick and heavily-distorted wall of sound. "Walking' with Jesus" featured a raunchy slide guitar solo that was as inspired and soulful as Pierce's singing.

Things opened up during a fifteen-minute "Cop Shoot Cop," which alternated between a drunken R&B groove and free jazz. Joining them for this song was Brian Olive from the opening act, the Soledad Brothers, who wailed on the baritone saxophone.

The strongest number of the night was "Run," which wedged together J.J. Cale's "They Call Me The Breeze" and the Velvet Underground's "Run Run Run" in a manic fashion. A feisty, hard-edged blues trio, the Soledad Brothers played a solid 45-minute set. During several rave-ups the drummer, Ben Smith, proved that he knows how to shift gears quickly and take the band with him.