John Mayall keeps ‘Moving Out and Moving On’ with Holland blues show for the ages

The legendary 82-year-old British bluesman made a rare West Michigan appearance Wednesday, playing the intimate confines of Holland’s Park Theatre. Local Spins contributor Mark R. Smith interviewed the icon and provided this review of the show.

 

The intimate Park Theatre in Holland served as the gathering spot for the new and the old on Wednesday night.

The “new” was actually the 82-year-old blues legend John Mayall.

In a pre-show interview, Mayall refused to succumb to the temptation of reminiscing about his long career, which started in the early 1960s, and instead wanted to talk about his excitement for a newly recorded disc featuring Joe Walsh on a couple of cuts and the new direction he is taking with his band which is now a stripped-down trio with no lead guitarist.

The “old” was the crowd which consisted mostly of those who have followed Mayall’s long career in the blues and his role in introducing the likes of Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Coco Montoya, Walter Trout and countless other guitar hot shots to the blues world.

They were looking forward to a guitar showcase with Mayall playing happy ringmaster to the proceedings and looked worried as the spare stage set up clearly announced the absence of a lead guitarist.

Happily, though, both new and old found common ground as Mayall and his band worked their way through classics such as “Blues for the Lost Days,” where he reminisces about the legends who influenced his long career, “Moving out and Moving On,” which featured Mayall on guitar and economical yet powerful soloing from his tight bass and drum rhythm section, and the slightly psychedelic “Flooding in California,” which had the crowd moving and grooving.

As Mayall noted before the show, the absence of the lead guitarist gave him nowhere to hide in the mix. So, he was forced to elevate his game on keys, guitar and harmonica. While newly the sole occupant in the spotlight, Mayall rose to the occasion.

Sonny Landreth’s “Congo Square” was delivered with rollicking keyboard flourishes by Mayall that made you forget the slinky slide guitar that normally is the centerpiece of the tune, and the keyboards and harmonica that propelled the rest of the set list similarly made the absence of a lead guitar irrelevant.

Mayall noted that he changes the set list every single night — on an ambitious U.S. tour that has the band playing 31 shows in 38 days in September and October — to keep things fresh for himself and his audience. And with the re-imagining of his tunes without a lead guitar, there is no danger of hearing a by-the-numbers version of his greatest hits.

While it is tempting to admonish those not in attendance for missing a legend, the “new” John Mayall is on a roll that he predicts will last for a long time.

Blues fans new and old should rejoice.

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