Last John Mclaughlin US Tour EVER

Seriously? I'm a huge fan and haven't seen him in years. Heck, I remember seeing John and the Orchestra at the old Santa Rosa Theater on Telephone Road an age ago. This was not long before it became an adult theater of some sort. Peter Frampton opened before anyone knew who he was, and then the Mahavishnu Orchestra blew the doors off the place. I swear there were cracks in the ceiling after the concert that weren't there before. Jan Hammer played keyboards (he was fantastic!) and Jean-Luc Ponty, the French jazz violinist (electric, in this case - he played with Zappa, as well), was amazing. They played material from The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, and Between Nothingness & Eternity. This was in 1974, I think. Saw him/them at other times, as well. McLaughlin? To borrow a line from one of my favorite flicks, Almost Famous, his guitar was incendiary. Incendiary! I'll have to check for tickets here in Austin. You need to drop the "G" in the thread title, though.

His last concert tour? Wow. How time flies. If anyone loves jazz-rock fusion, you can't miss this. I've run out of adjectives to describe just how good McLaughlin is.

 

I've got tickets - far out!

 

Who was on drums? Billy Cobham?

 

Yes, he played drums that night and was as good as you might imagine. Truly amazing talent. I got the electric violin player wrong, however. It was Jerry Goodman. I mixed him up with Ponty, probably because I saw him play with the Orchestra later. The year's wrong, as well. It was April 8, 1973.

 

Just got back from the concert at the Paramount in Austin. Too ****ing much! The stage was set with two complete sets of drums, 3 keyboards, one a Hammond B-3, and several bass guitars. Jimmy Herring and his band opened and were tremendous. Then John and his band played. Amazing! What topped it all was when both bands joined together to do the Mahavishnu Orchestra's best from the early 1970's. There were 2 superb electric guitar players, one a legend, 2 bass players, John's dude playing a 6 string, the guy on the Hammond B-3, the other keyboard player, who turned out to be a stunningly good drummer on one song, the 2 drummers, and the electric violin guy, who also played keyboard. Nine people in the band, the wildest group I've seen since the last time I saw Zappa. The Paramount is a great venue for this sort of thing and we had great seats. Too much!