Last night I decided to go to the brand new Venice West to catch what was billed as John Mayall:The Final Shows.

Mainly after looking up who is playing guitar (Carolyn Wonderland) and checking her out as she has her own solo career. WOW.

He is playing and singing just fine though the mic is turned up to 11 because whenever anyone else speaks into it it would just about blow what's left of my eardrums out. He is using sheet music/lyric sheets but rarely looks at them. But it's obvious he is suffering from dementia. He is introducing the band between every song. Ozzy does it too but it seems John is unaware ("Let me introduce my fine orchestra"). But it's most apparent when 2 songs after Early In The Morning he introduces it again and later on he also introduces another song for the 2nd time when his bass player goes over and changes the sheet music. But I am still not getting the same "YIKES" vibes I get watching Phil Collins or Brian Wilson as he is clearly in a zone and really enjoys playing. He's been on tour for over 60 years.

Anyway, it's past the 90 min mark and they are jamming along and it seems like he is wrapping it up the way he says "we sure enjoyed playing for you." Carolyn is getting a lot of my attention so when out of the other corner of my eye I see a woman heading toward the stage and I figure she is going to help him off the same way he was helped on when I see he is starting to slump over his keyboards (he plays standing up). Others join and they are trying to either hold him up before gently letting him down and trying to wake him up before the club owner, drummer and two other people grab a limb and carry him off.

House music starts up, bass player asks for the music to be turned off and asks for "silence and prayers". After about a minute the club owner comes out and says John's okay, house music restarts and everyone starts to file out.

Caroiyn looked really shaken up.

Been to thousands of shows and never seen one end quite like that.

He's 88.

In other news I kind of liked the place though it was jam packed and it's hard to find a spot to stand where I am not in someone else's way. The westside seems underrepresented in live music entertainment options but this place is getting some great bookings (Fishbone, Michael Franti, some shows are sold out) so hopefully it can hang on.

wow!

reminds me that something like that happened to chuck berry onstage several years ago (though he was a couple years younger then john at the time) and this was caught on video

i don't think he passed out but he slumped over the keyboards at one point

think he came back out and finished his set

He did the intro think in Berkeley too. Amazing he is still performing but sad to see the effects on aging.

The guy is 89 in November!!

Prayers for John’s well-being. He’s a good man. I enjoyed seeing and meeting him seven years ago when he was still in great form. Hope his people have the sense to get him off the stage and into proper care pronto.

Sad...seems it's all been downhill since he had a bad case of Covid a couple years ago.
I was fortunate to have seen him in 1982 at the Roxy in L.A. for the Bluebreakers reunion with Mick Taylor and John McVie, and then much later at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in 2003.

At 88 years of age he's had quite an amazing career. Hope he gets some rest and relaxation.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Sad to hear that about John.

I used to go see him at least once a year when he would tour here in Massachusetts so I was sad to hear he was semi retiring and only playing select local shows but understood it was his time.

I had him sign the debut Klook's Kleek and Beano albums a few years ago at a show in a small tavern here in Mass. He was a real gentleman and always had time for his fans after the shows to sign autographs and chat.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-02-28 21:19 by oldschool.

Prayers up for John Mayall- a long and distinguished career, sounds like its time to retire.

video: [www.youtube.com]

God bless him. If I was John Mayall I'd like to check out while performing music with Carolyn Wonderland at my side.

As the English say, JM is topping off his retirement fund. Or dementia fund. Just having fun here. I saw him a few times back in the good old days. One time was with Mick Taylor, when he was fresh in the band. NYC Central Park, Summer music festival.

My personal (non) encounter with the man. I was in the small departure lounge in Minneapolis on July 4, 1995, heading back to DC on the redeye. My lady friend and I were the only people there. In walks John Mayall, tan and super fit, long silver hair combed back, wife beater tee shirt and a fringe vest, some kinda leather pouch/mojo bag around his neck, silver turqouise Native American jewelry . The guy looked like a patriarch from the Bible or hippy fitness guru ...maybe 15 feet away. Jaw dropped, brain froze in shock/disbelief. F*ck me...its him..Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, British Blues.
Then a little voice said, get a grip youre in your late thirties. Dont be a starstruck fanboy. I smiled and nodded. He raised his eyebrows, set his stuff down and headed over to the little bar/cafe down the terminal. (After I left my friend got his autograph and mailed it to me- she was a nice looking blonde and Mayall is something of a ladies man) Heard subsequently he is not particularly approachable or fan friendly. So there you have it.

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roryfaninva
My personal (non) encounter with the man. I was in the small departure lounge in Minneapolis on July 4, 1995, heading back to DC on the redeye. My lady friend and I were the only people there. In walks John Mayall, tan and super fit, long silver hair combed back, wife beater tee shirt and a fringe vest, some kinda leather pouch/mojo bag around his neck, silver turqouise Native American jewelry . The guy looked like a patriarch from the Bible or hippy fitness guru ...maybe 15 feet away. Jaw dropped, brain froze in shock/disbelief. F*ck me...its him..Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, British Blues.
Then a little voice said, get a grip youre in your late thirties. Dont be a starstruck fanboy. I smiled and nodded. He raised his eyebrows, set his stuff down and headed over to the little bar/cafe down the terminal. (After I left my friend got his autograph and mailed it to me- she was a nice looking blonde and Mayall is something of a ladies man) Heard subsequently he is not particularly approachable or fan friendly. So there you have it.

Interesting Rory as the times I have seen him at small venues he always took the time after the shows to sign autographs and chat with us fans.

interesting story roryfaninva ... but
please what sort trousers was he wearing ???



ROCKMAN

Cut off jeans! Levis I believe.

Yep musta been him .... Thanks man .....



ROCKMAN

Keith did that in 1976 on stage

I saw Clapton pass out on stage in the early 70's, in New Jersey. Very drunk and he must of shot up a bad batch of dope. People were throwing beer cans and garbage, hitting him and booing. He wasn't playing very well when he stumbled to the ground, lying face down, and we thought he could be dead. After about 10 minutes he got back up and he picked up the beer cans and threw them back into the crowd and started playing again as if nothing happened. He was young then, no excuse. Mayall is a legend and at his age, you can understand it. Yeah, he's done a mile or two.

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BitchKeepsBitchin
I saw Clapton pass out on stage in the early 70's, in New Jersey. Very drunk and he must of shot up a bad batch of dope. People were throwing beer cans and garbage, hitting him and booing. He wasn't playing very well when he stumbled to the ground, lying face down, and we thought he could be dead. After about 10 minutes he got back up and he picked up the beer cans and threw them back into the crowd and started playing again as if nothing happened. He was young then, no excuse. Mayall is a legend and at his age, you can understand it. Yeah, he's done a mile or two.

Clapton looked like a zombie at the Concert for Bangladesh

This has nothing to do with that but on the mystery drive I found some John Mayall shows including a Mick Taylor show of marginal quality I will be posting to the other forum when it's tracked out.

More on the mystery drive (and any Stones was strip mined out of there decades ago but I still sometimes find something related as we are talking thousands of shows)

[ijwthstd.blogspot.com]

"We want to thank everyone for their concern and well wishes for John, who had a health issue at the end of his show on Sunday. Fortunately he is doing well (exhaustion and dehydration) and he’s recuperating at home. We’d like to thank Carl and the staff at Venice West for their wonderful support and kindness on the night. You were great!"

[www.facebook.com]

THE AUSTRALIAN --- 26 February 2022



ROCKMAN