John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Friends: 70th Birthday Concert [Blu-ray]

Liverpool's King's Dock on July 19, 2003 was the venue for a long awaited and much anticipated reunion between Eric Clapton and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. The occasion was both a celebration of John Mayall's 70th year and a fundraiser for UNICEF. Also invited to the party were former Bluesbreaker and Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and veteran trombonist Chris Barber. If you're a lover of the blues it doesn't get much better than this. The show ran for around two and a half hours and the film is now presented here in its entirety for the first time.

TRACK LISTING 1) Southside Story 2) Kids Got The Blues 3) Dirty Water 4) Somebody's Acting Like A Child 5) Blues For The Lost Days 6) Walking On Sunset 7) Oh, Pretty Woman 8) No Big Hurry 9) Please Mr. Lofton 10) Hideaway 11) All Your Love 12) Have You Heard 13) Hoochie Coochie Man 14) I'm Tore Down 15) It Ain't Right 16) Talk To Your Daughter

Bonus Features Three tracks from the concert that had to be cut from the original DVD issue for space reasons:

1) Grits Ain't Groceries 2) Jacksboro Highway 3) California Plus: Interview with John Mayall.

Not all that many blues musicians (or any other kind, for that matter) live to 70, so British bandleader John Mayall had good reason to celebrate when he reached that milestone in 2003--and celebrate he did, with the admirable, 137-minute John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers: 70th Birthday Concert to show for it. Mayall, a capable if not exactly stellar singer and multi-instrumentalist, is best known for the many fine players who passed through his band over the years, and Eric Clapton, the most renowned of the lot, is on hand here, as is former Mayall/Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. Clapton sings several tunes in addition to playing his trademark stinging solos on "Hideaway" and "All Your Love" (two of the tunes most responsible for the "Clapton is God" graffiti seen around London in the '60s), while Taylor is mostly impressive as well. But arguably the best guitarist on the Liverpool stage this night is current Bluesbreaker Buddy Whittington, who more than holds his own in the company of his more esteemed predecessors (check out Whittington's superb solos, informed by both Buddy Guy and jazz, on "Blues for the Lost Days" and the 17-minute "Have You Heard"). Indeed, this may well be Mayall's best and most versatile band ever--no mean feat for a guy now in his fifth decade on the scene. A Mayall interview is the disc's sole bonus feature. --Sam Graham