I have been a Johnny Winter fan since I first heard the opening notes of "Rock Me Baby" on Still Alive and Well at thirteen years of age in 1972. Over the years, I have loved listening to several other players: Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, Alvin Lee, and Eric Clapton being the most notable. But when it comes to blues and high-energy rock, none of these greats impacted me as much as Johnny. He introduced me to the blues. I had seen him live three times prior to this show, and I have never seen anyone else play with the power and feel that Johnny demonstrated during those performances.
A group of eight of us attended the show at the Phoenix. We were about 30 feet from the stage in a sold-out room. The opening band was okay—a very attractive female singer with a Joplinesque voice, mostly performing covers. I never quite caught her name, but they were an adequate opening act.
I have read the other postings on this site regarding Johnny's health, but I felt that perhaps they were overstated. Johnny, even in his prime, always looked more like a white-haired 'Olive Oyl' than a Schwarzenegger. I found his appearance to be the same as in the previous times I had seen him, but his mannerisms were nothing like what I remembered. It’s quite obvious that he is now almost completely blind, which would explain the side-to-side sway that has been noted in many other reviews. Think Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.
What disturbed me the most was his playing. The man I had seen on previous occasions just wasn’t there. "Hideaway" was slow and repetitive. "Got My Mojo Working" was a little better, but once again, it lacked Johnny's trademark energy. It wasn’t until he performed the slow 12-bar "Black Jack" that I got any real enjoyment out of the show. While it didn’t feature the blistering leads that Johnny used to play, it did have some very nice progressions, and that classic Johnny feel was once again evident. He finally pulled out the Gibson Firebird and demonstrated that, even though he can’t (or doesn’t) play like he once did, he is still the finest slide player the world has ever seen.
His encores, "Johnny Guitar" and another song I can’t remember, were okay, and by that point, most of the crowd seemed to be into it. Johnny's bass player and drummer were rock solid.
I have very mixed feelings about this show. If I had heard this band in a bar without knowing who they were, I probably would have enjoyed it very much. But because I have seen Johnny live before and been electrified on those occasions, I feel that Johnny is past his prime. One of the guys who attended the show with me, who had also seen Johnny in the early seventies, agreed that he wasn’t the same performer but was still very satisfied just to be in the same room as a legend. If you look at it from this viewpoint, Johnny can still be gratifying. However, I wish I had not attended and instead kept the memories of past shows when he was the greatest live guitarist I have ever seen.
— Steve Latimer
