Flea introduced the opening act Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, and joined them on stage for a song.
Josh Klinghoffer fits in real well with the band. From a distance you can almost mistake him from John. They keep his guitar sound and backing vocals real low in the mix though. Flea’s bass was quite dominant, not that that’s a bad thing.
Out of the new songs “Monarchy of Roses” is my favorite.
Chad’s drum solo was really cool.
I thought having a percussionist for all songs was a bit of overkill, as it takes away from the Chili Pepper’s classic four-piece sound.
Very nice setlist with some surprises, like “Breaking The Girl,” “Pea,” and “Freaky Styley.”
Favorite songs of the night: “Dani California,” and “Californication.” Just wish they would have turned up Josh’s guitar for the solo in “Dani.”
01. Monarchy of Roses
02. Can’t Stop
03. Charlie
04. Otherside
05. Look Around
06. Breaking The Girl
07. The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie
08. Right On Time
09. Throw Away Your Television
10. Under the Bridge
11. Did I Let You Know
12. Pea
13. Factory of Faith
14. Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder cover)
15. Californication
16. By the Way
Encore:
17. Chad & Mauro Jam
18. Freaky Styley
19. Dani California
20. Soul to Squeeze
21. Give it Away
22. Final Jam
I was lucky enough to get to meet Black Country Communion before the show. We were taken in to the venue, Cirkus, and got to wait for a couple of minutes in front of the stage. It was so cool to see all the equipment set up, and we posed for pictures in front of the drums. The guys were all really nice. I got them to sign the vinyl Black Country Communion 2 album, and some pictures I brought with me. I also got my picture taken with all of them. I had brought a white marker for them to sign the vinyl with, and Jason commented on how Swedes are always prepared, which is completely true, at least for me – I don’t leave anything to chance!
Glenn was a really nice guy. He posed for pictures with both my wife and me, and just seemed like a genuinely friendly guy. You can tell that he is a veteran rocker, cause he really knows how to make his fans feel comfortable around him. I don’t think I’ve met a celebrity with that kind of charisma since meeting Steven Tyler over 14 years ago. When Glenn was signing one of the pictures he commented on that he really liked it, and that it was taken at the first Black Country Communion show that they did, which was a show case in front of industry people. Joe was in a bit of a hurry cause he had to go do an interview. But I did get to take a picture with him, and I asked him if he was coming back to Sweden with a solo show soon. Joe responded that he wouldn’t be back this year, but next year. When Glenn left he said ”Hej då” and ”Tack så mycket” in Swedish (”Goodbye”, and ”Thank you very much”). It was cool because his pronounciation was really good. Wonder if he has some sort of ties to Sweden? Old girlfriend perhaps? When we left the venue, we got to leave by way of the stage. It was so cool to get to walk right by Joe’s Marshall amps, and see his racks filled with guitars. I think there were two racks, and both were packed with guitars.
The show itself was fantastic. There was no opening act, which was really nice. I had checked their setlist online before hand, so I knew what they’d be playing. The band took the stage to the sound of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” They opened with ”Black Country” followed by ”One Last Soul.” I was struck by what an amazing bass player Glenn Hughes is. Like my wife said, Glenn PLAYS the bass, he doesn’t just play back up. I also really like all the rock star poses he does with his bass – they are truely his own. Joe got to do ”The Battle for Hadrian’s Wall” from 2, and ”Song of Yesterday” from Black Country Communion. ”Hadrian’s Wall” was played on a Music Man 6/12 doubleneck guitar, with Joe playing the Led Zeppelin inspired main riff on the 12-string. I think I can safely say that ”Song of Yesterday” was my absolute favorite song of the evening. As you can see in the video below it turns in to a 10-minute monster when performed live.
Actually, ”Cold” is tied for number one as favorite song. It is such a great song written by Glenn, and as he explains in the beginning of the video, it’s about saying goodbye to friends and family that have passed that he never got to say goodbye to. The song is great on the album, but it’s even better live. Glenn has such an amazing voice. It’s hard to believe that someone can hit all those high notes at 59, since many singers get a lower register over time. But not Glenn, he keeps wailing away like time’s been standing still since the early seventies. I urge everyone to check out the video of Glenn playing ”Cold” on an acoustic guitar during a press conference in Spain earlier in the year. My wife actually complemented Glenn on this version during the meet and greet, and he said it was originally written for acoustic guitar.
The band ”covered” Joe’s song ”The Ballad of John Henry.” This was one of the best songs of the night, and I’m really happy they’ve decided to include it in their repertoire. I noticed that Joe played the song on a Les Paul, which makes me wonder about the tuning. I know that he usually plays it on a baritone guitar, since otherwise you have to tune down the low E to a B. He must use really heavy gauge strings on that one! After a keyboard and organ solo by Derek Sherinian, the main set ended with the excellent ”Sista Jane” which ended with the outro to The Who’s ”Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
It was nice how they ended the show with Glenn’s Deep Purple classic ”Burn.” It has made me appreciate Deep Purple in a different way, not that I didn’t like them before, but there’s just so much good music out there that at some point you just lose track of what you should try to listen to. In conclusion I’d like to say that Black Country Communion is a great live band, with a joy for performing which is very apparent throughout the show. They make me think of another great ”super group” – Chickenfoot, who have a new album coming out in September. My thanks to Black Country Communion for coming to Sweden, and thanks for a great meet and greet.
01. Black Country
02. One Last Soul
03. Crossfire
04. The Battle for Hadrian’s Wall
05. Song of Yesterday
06. I Can See Your Spirit
07. Save Me
08. Cold
09. The Ballad of John Henry (Joe Bonamassa song)
10. The Outsider
11. Keyboard & Organ Solo by Derek Sherinian
12. The Great Divide
13. Sista Jane (w/ The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again outro)
Encore:
14. Man In the Middle
15. Burn (Deep Purple cover)
The dimly lit club is packed, there’s that hint of tobacco smell that exists even though smoking in bars has been banned in Sweden for years. On stage the four musicians are working their way through a long jam. There’s guitar solos, bass solos, drum solos, and the singer is wailing away on a harmonica. The audience is eating it all up, singing along and yelling their praise between songs. If you were to close your eyes you’d have no way of knowing that the guy playing the harmonica is 77 going on 78 years old, and that with my 33 years, I’m probably one of the youngest people in attendance.
This was my first time seeing John Mayall. I’ve always wanted to go see one of his shows, but just like with Eric Clapton, there’s just never been time. Mayall started the show solo by playing harmonica and singing “Another Man” off of the classic Beano album. Then the rest of the band; bassist Greg Rzab, drummer Jay Davenport, and Rocky Athas on guitar, joined Mayall on stage. The first song they played was “All Your Love.” Now, I know all blues purists out there will hate me for saying this, but to me that was the song I had wanted to hear the most. Rocky really did justice to Clapton’s guitar parts, pretty much playing the solo note for note of the album version.
John Mayall himself did not play guitar at all during the show. A real shame if you ask me. However, he did play a mean piano, and that harmonica – man, need I say more? It’s quite amazing how after all these years, Mayall seem to have lost none of his vocal range. He did however have a binder full of lyrics lying on his piano, but who can blame the man? When you change up the set as much as Mayall does on a nightly basis, remembering lyrics must be really tricky.
Out of the songs that Mayall played from his latest album Tough, my favorite was his version of “Nothing to Do With Love.” Actually, the first five songs of the night, “Another Man,” “All Your Love,” “Oh Pretty Woman,” “Chicago Line,” and “Nothing to do with Love” were fantastic. I loved Mayall’s harmonica on “Chicago Line.”
In “Mama Talk to Your Daughter” the audience got to sing along with Mayall, and like I wrote earlier, the audience was very responsive, much more so than many rock audiences I’ve experienced. Now, a big reason why the concert was so good is thanks to John Mayall’s fantastic band. Once he was done with his Clapton-homage of “All Your Love,” guitarist Rocky Athas got free reigns to wail away to the delight of the crowd. But my favorite by far was bassist Greg Rzab. The man is an amazing bass player, and he has great stage prescence. He played some great bass solo’s for which he got massive applause, and just served as a great sidekick to Mayall, bringing some youthful (it’s all relative right?) presence to the show. In fact, while leaving the stage before the encore, Rzab did a little moonwalk!
The song that brought down the house musically was the closing number of the main set, “Room to Move” – probably the only John Mayall song with any kind of chart success as far as I know. Well, Mayall and the band treated us to what must have been at least a 15 minute version of the song. Everyone got to take a solo. Even drummer Jay Davenport, who had stayed in the background for the entire show, put on a great jazz-flavored solo. And this is also where Greg Rzab really got to shine, with a bass solo I’ve not seen the likes of since seeing Stefan Lessard of Dave Matthews Band two winters ago. But most amazing was Mayall with his harmonica solo that goes in to that scat/beatbox solo thing.
After playing one encore, “The Sum of Something,” the last song on Tough, the band left the stage, and Mayall proceeded to shake hands with the people closest to the stage. I was one of the lucky few who got to do so. We actually got eye contact and I said “thank you.” It was a pretty cool experience to get to shake the hand of such a blues legend, and it is something I will never forget.
When I got out to the bar area I actually ran in to Greg Rzab as well, and quickly got to shake his hand, and commend him on his playing. Upon leaving it turned out that John Mayall was actually selling, and autographing his Live in London DVD out in the lobby by himself. Of course I had to get in line, and get an autograph. It was pretty funny because he was taking care of the whole business himself, and by the time I got up to the front, he had a pile of money lying on the chair next to him. I told him that I really enjoyed the show, and that I think “All Your Love” is fantastic. He said thanks, and also said that a lot of the songs they played that night was on the DVD. As if this wasn’t enough I actually got John to pose for a picture with me.
Thanks for a great show John Mayall – hope to see you around Scandinavia many more times!
Setlist:
(Incomplete, the first five songs are in the correct order. Comment below if you remember any more songs that were played.)
Start: 20:57
Another Man (Mayall solo)
All Your Love
Oh Pretty Woman
Chicago Line
Nothing to Do With Love
Blues for the Lost Days
Mama Talk To Your Daughter
01. Bridge Burning
02. Rope
03. The Pretender
04. My Hero
05. Learn to Fly
06. White Limo
07. Arlandria
08. Breakout
09. Cold Day in the Sun
10. Long Road to Ruin
11. Stacked Actors
12. Walk
13. Monkey Wrench
14. Let It Die
15. Generator
16. Times Like These
17. Young Man Blues (Mose Allison cover)
18. All My Life
19. Skin and Bones
20. Best of You
21. Tie Your Mother Down (Queen cover)
22. Everlong
Now listening to:
