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Your cart is empty.It's a warm summer's Saturday night, July 19, 2003 in Liverpool England and the eager audience patiently waits. In celebration of John Mayall's 70th birthday and for the benefit of UNICEF's fight against child exploitation, The Bluesbreakers (Tom Canning, Hank Van Sickle, Jo Yuele and Buddy Whittington) kick off with "Jacksboro Highway." After a few more numbers the place erupts as John Mayall appears to a standing ovation. The Godfather of British Blues has arrived and straight away he's playing fantastic harmonica and keyboards. Then (and after 38 years since they first played together) the "friends" and soul mates are reunited to a tumultuous reception as Eric Clapton appears on stage. Joining them is Mick Taylor and British Blues pioneer, Chris Barberas as they blast through nearly 212 hours of stunning blues. From blues standards to classics from the "Beano" album and on to contemporary Bluesbreakers material, an ecstatic Liverpool crowd laps up one of the finest nights of blues this millennium.
TAR
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2024
This is a great CD of a tribute by legendary blues musicians who have matured to greatness under the Blues tutillage of John Mayall who taught them all he knew from the early 60's. The tribute includes Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Walter Trout and many more.I listened to John Mayall when I was 15 yrs old, found him a great blues player, bought his albums and I am now nearly 70yrs old and still think he's great!
Axis, Bold as Love
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2020
John Mayall's 70th birthday celebration concert is how a party for an elder statesman of the Blues should be conducted. On this recording John will forever be 70. As of today, (Friday, March 13, 2020) he is at least another decade older. He is still performing and will always be England's elder statesman of the Blues. His finishing school for the Blues has some of music's most famous names. Even his journeyman side musicians were never less than solidly professional, some even stellar. His recorded output is without equal. He is faithful to the Blues, but when he steps out for some strange, he usually pioneers a whole new sub-genre of popular music.Buy this disc to honor John Mayall. Buy this CD to hear excellent blues played with love and appreciation. Buy this CD to plan your own 70th birthday party. Buy this disc to hear what happens when friends gather to celebrate one of their own.[N.B., On this date, the USA and most of the world are in the first six-months of a pandemic. Historians and radiologists please note this was the novel CoronaVirus or CoVid-19. Some of us may not have made it to 70, as the elderly, senior citizens, and immune-system compromised were being hit hard.]I wish I could have been at John's Concert Party, but at least I can toast him anytime I put this CD on the box. Now you can, too.
Bruce Gough
Reviewed in Australia on March 21, 2019
The "Father of British Blues" did not disappoint. Top stuff!! Top support artists!!
miroslav
Reviewed in Canada on June 8, 2018
Only the best
Chris Wagner
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2017
I am putting together what I call the " jukebox". It consists of tunes I grew up with from the 40's through present day. It is a big and fun project and includes various genres from "long hair" to jazz. Eventually I will get all of them on to a stick drive and have non stop music whenever I want. All these are great tunes in my opinion.
eric
Reviewed in Germany on November 27, 2012
Über zweieinhalb Stunden erstklassige, live in dem Jahr, in dem Mayall 70 Jahre alt wird, aufgenommene *), Bluesmusik vom Altmeister des Blues John Mayall und etlichen seiner Musikkumpels, von denen einige ihn früher durch seine Musikerkarriere begleiteten.*) Recorded live at Liverpool Kings Dock, 19.7.2003Hut ab, wenn man bedenkt, dass er, heutzutage mit 79 Jahren noch immer aktiv ist. Er jedenfalls ist ein ganz großer.
Mark Anderson
Reviewed in Canada on August 20, 2011
John Mayall is known as the "Father of British Blues." He began performing in the 1950s and he's still going strong.Over the years, Mayall's band has been an incubator of musical talent. Mayall alumni include, Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor (formerly of the Rolling Stones), Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac).This is a live performance in England in honour of Mayall's 70th birthday. It's a great album from start to finish. The material and the musicianship are first rate. There are also guest appearances by former Mayall lead guitarists Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor.If you're not familiar with Mayall, this album would be a good introduction to his music. If you are familiar with Mayall, buy this album. It's superb, right up there with the best material of Mayall's lengthy career.I saw John Mayall perform at a small club in Victoria, B.C. last week. It was an excellent show. The man is 78 years old and he can still outperform musicians 50-60 years younger than he is. His current band is great; if you get a chance to see John Mayall perform, make sure you take advantage of the opportunity. This guy is one of the giants of the blues.
Gavin B.
Reviewed in Canada on June 8, 2004
John Mayall was already the elder statesman of the British blues revival when Eric Clapton, a refugee from the Yardbirds, joined Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1965. Mayall celebrated his 70th birthday in 2003 and this two disc, 19 song compliation is a persuasive reminder that Mayall still can righfully claim his royalty as leader of the most enduring British blues band and a singular performer in his own right.Mayall performs a set of music with his current line-up, a short set with Mick Taylor, and final set with Eric Clapton and Chris Barber. Tribute concerts, like this, look good on paper but frequently are mediocre because the guest musicians usually play on autopilot and sleep walk their way through a set-list of songs they hoped to never play again, or, worse, had just plain forgotten the chops. This is not the case with Mayall and this Bluesbreaker 70th Birthday Tribute. These highly esteemed musicians pull out all the stops for the man who, in most cases, mentored them, offered his guidance and showcased each of these great musicians at the threshold of their lifelong devotion to playing American blues.When Clapton launches into his early blues signature song,"Hideaway", a Freddy King instumental, it's elementary observation that Clapton is nearly incapable of playing anything without using his searing slow-handed tension/release style he prefected as a Bluesbreaker. I always thought Mick Taylor should have never played second guitar to Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones. Taylor was just too good a guitarist to play second fiddle to anyone. Mick has stayed under the radar since leaving the Stones in 1975. It's great to reappreciate Mick Taylor's enternally lingering single note sustains and expressive tonality of his Fender slide guitar, as he plays with as much conviction as he did at 19 years old in his debut on John Mayall's Bluesbreaker Crusade album. You will not hear any better sixties British blues revival music than the 19 live-wired perfomances on "70th Birthday Concert".The band plays so many encores that a gaggle of cops show up to cite the band for breaking curfew law. The Bluesbreaker crew plays on in defiance of the constabulary, and Mayall wryly remarks to the crowd, "It's okay we'll pay all the fines latter." That's what the blues is all about, folks. It's John Mayall's best album in thirty years and is highly recommended as one of the best live music performance CDs of the new millenium.
The Woj
Reviewed in Canada on April 4, 2004
Anyone who is a fan of Mayall's music or the 60's & 70's British Blues Scene (Yardbirds, Ten Years After, Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown etc...) will find this two disc set to be "white boy blues" nirvana (for the uninitiated, before you get on my case about the previous term "white boy blues", enter it in the music search box and see what comes up, okay?). Having Clapton & Taylor on the same stage is pure magic. Eric must feel the need to show he's still got the "slowhand", because his playing here is 10 times better than any of his recent, more commercial albums. The guitar playing on this album also reminds me of the "guitar battle" scene from the movie "Crossroads". The players just don't sit back and go through the motions (even Eric), they rip away with abandon and a sense of real competition. Not necessarily trying to upstage one another, but to show each other they mean business and have killer chops too. My favorite moment is during the solos of "Blues For The Lost Days".Buddy Whittingham rips off a solo with playing that would make Stevie Ray look down and smile. Mick Taylor's solo follows; and it's as if Mick is talking thru his Les Paul to Buddy saying "is that all you got big boy?". Taylor follows with a solo for the blues history books that ends with a "fuzz-wah" pedal flurry that left me stunned. Mayall's singing is also really good, better than most of his studio releases.So I get a little carried away! You almost have to with this set. Two discs of music at a reasonable price. My only regret is the absence of Peter Green; his contribution to Mayall's legacy is as great as any.Regardless this is a must, add to cart!
Pete Eskesen
Reviewed in Canada on December 2, 2003
A superbly recorded live album which not only showcases current Bluesbreaker Buddy Whittington but also features two of the greatest guitarists from the British blues boom - Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor. This was the band, and Clapton and Taylor (along with Peter Green) were the guitarists, who made the blues popular all over the world and helped gain respect and recognition for a host of American bluesmen - people like Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. It's testament to Whittington's phenomenal abilities that he is not out of place in this revered company. The Bluesbreakers are as tight and energetic as ever. Mayall himself is a phenomenon - a bandleader who surrounds himself with great musicians and who clearly commands their admiration and respect. He shows no signs of slowing down. This is a historic gathering and a very fine album.
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