| It was definitely
a strange and different scene walking through the Potowatami
Casino to get to the Northern Lights Theater where Dave
Mason with opening act John Mayall and the Blues Breakers
were set to perform. But the theater itself is a wonderful
room to see a show. It has a nice large stage, the acoustics
are great, and I don't believe there is bad seat in the
house. And on this night there was a full house
of appreciative listeners on hand.
 The
Bluesbreakers opened the show doing a couple songs with
Buddy Whittington and Johnne Sambataro (from Dave Mason's
band) exchanging lead licks. Together they were great. Then
Jonnie left and the Bluesbreakers continued on soon to be
joined by John Mayall - known as the "Father of British
Blues" - and now a member of the "Order of British
Empire." At age 74, John is still a great harmonica
player. The rock solid drumming from Joe Yuele, solid bass
of Hank Van Sickle, and the amazing guitar mastery of Buddy
Whittington made for proof again that John still has a good
ear for talent. They played a bunch of material from the
new album - In the Palace of the King - reworking
the songs of Freddie King.
After a short intermission, Dave Mason
and his band came out rockin and blasted through a hitlist
of favorites. Dave Mason tours all the time - and this band
was very tight and expressive, together forming a solid
soundscape behind Dave's soulful singing and guitar hero
leads! Rock and Roll is meant to be played like this.
|
This
is one of several songs he performed from Alone Together
- which is considered a classic recording and all 8 tracks
are sweet. Mason told me that he spent two years composing
these eight songs! The album was beautifully produced -
richly textured with acoustic rhythms and tasty leads, and
an all star cast of contributing artists. I listened to
this on the headphones a lot back in the day. The original
1970 US Blue Thumb LP pressing was on multicolored vinyl,
in a triple fold-out picture sleeve. Each one of these disks
was unique - and there were no track markers, so you could
not just play one song. . . Instead, you listened to this
in its entirety - the way a good album is intended to be
played. Think of it as the opposite of iTunes!