John
Mayall - 70th Birthday Concert
(& the
Bluesbreakers and Friends)
Performance 
Production 
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John
Mayall - 70th Birthday Concert
Performance |
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After 38 long years, John Mayall and Eric Clapton finally reunited on stage and tore through some of the greatest rock and blues songs ever produced. Do I really need to say any more before you run out and pick this one up? Well, for all you stubborn fools, who are not easily convinced, I'll give you a few more reasons why you should. Back in the summer of 2003, the father of British blues, John Mayall, celebrated his 70th birthday by fulfilling a long-standing dream of his to bring together some of his old Bluesbreakers' bandmates for an unforgettable live concert event. The 70th Birthday Concert was recorded on July 19, 2003 in Liverpool, England, and was also a benefit for UNICEF's fight against child exploitation. Along with Clapton, who played with Mayall on the landmark 1966 Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album, former Mayall and Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor also showed up to wish the old man a happy birthday and lend his fretboard skills to a few numbers. The DVD begins with the concert already in progress, with the current incarnation of the Bluesbreakers jammin' away as they await the arrival of Mayall to the stage. Moments later Mayall walks out from behind the drum kit and is greeted by a raucous applause as he proceeds to lay down some bluesy harmonica riffs. The band, featuring Buddy Whitington on guitar, Joe Yuele on drums, Hank Van Sickle on bass, and Tom Canning on keyboards, then proceeds to tear through three songs from their 2002 album Stories. For the next four songs Mick Taylor joins the band onstage and adds some impressive lead and slide guitar work. Taylor is certainly Clapton-smooth and skilled, but jeeezus could the guy have looked any more uninspired up there?! Not exactly a great showman, but he can definitely lay down some serious slide guitar. "Blues For The Lost Days" was an early highlight, which featured a smokin' Hammond organ solo (man, I love that Hammond sound), as well as a great clean-toned guitar solo from Whitington. It certainly didn't take long for me to realize that Whitington could more than hold his own in the presence of Clapton and Taylor. I actually enjoyed his guitar work the most throughout this concert. Taylor finished off his portion of the set with an outstanding performance of " Oh, Pretty Woman", which he originally covered on Mayall's 1967 album Crusade. Eric Clapton joined the proceedings about half-way through the concert just in time for "No Big Hurry", a song from Mayall's 1995 album Spinning Coin. Wait a second. Eric Clapton takes the stage to jam with Mayall for the first time in 38 years, and they lead off with "No Big Hurry"!?! Not that the song wasn't a pretty decent new Mayall number, but how about starting off with a BANG such as "Steppin' Out" or "Hideaway". Even the next song, "Please Mr. Lofton", was pretty lame, and it featured guest trombonist Chris Barber more than it did Clapton. Eventually, next as a matter of fact, they finally got to the great string of Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton songs that the crowd was eagerly anticipating - "Hideaway", "All Your Love", "Have You Heard".... please! It doesn't get much better for a fan of that legendary album. The main problem I had with this part of the show, was the same problem I had with Clapton's performance on his One More Car, One More Rider DVD. The guy just refuses to crank it up and be HEARD! His guitar was either mixed criminally low at the soundboard, or he purposely left his volume down to keep a low profile and not upstage the rest of the band. Eric, it's okay. Upstage the rest of the frigging band! I don't think anyone's feelings would have been hurt. Whitington simply owned "Have You Heard" and "Hoochie Coochie Man". Laying down some of the best guitar solos of the night, his powerful tone and passionate execution should have inspired Clapton to turn it up a notch, but he just continued to let Whitington upstage him. I certainly hope he can remember where the overdrive knob is when he and Cream reunite this year. Maybe I'm a little over critical of old Eric, but it's only because I've heard how brilliant he can be. Hey, call me selfish. This DVD was meticulously produced. Offering both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and a brilliant anamorphic widescreen video transfer. You couldn't ask for more. The DTS track was especially bold and clear sounding with excellent instrument separation, deep bass, and good use of the rear surround speakers. My only complaints are that both surround tracks do not utilize that center channel at all, so this takes away some of the depth of the front soundstage. When using the equally impressive Dolby stereo track, the center channel is employed when using the Dolby Pro Logic decoder, so this may be a viable alternative if that bothers you. Also, as mentioned before, Clapton's guitar seemed to be mixed very low compared to the other musicians. The picture and camera work were nearly perfect. The only bonus feature was an interview with Mayall. It's too bad they couldn't have dug up some vintage Bluesbreakers' concert footage, or gotten Clapton and Taylor to say a few words about their experiences in the band. Wearing a pair of black jeans, black tank-top, and sporting a long, gray pony-tail, Mayall looked incredible for a man of 70 years, and his performance was grand. I'm glad he finally got his birthday wish. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - April 2005 |
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Set List |
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Running Time: 123 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - December 2003 |