Daytona's, 8501 Fort Smallwood Rd., Pasadena

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Hey once again,

The show on Friday night at Daytona's was quite an event. Daytona's is a small venue with a capacity of maybe 350 (just a guess). The tickets didn’t sell well up front at all. I got mine from Ticketmaster the night before, and it was only the 29th ticket sold. However, the place was packed to capacity by showtime.

A local Baltimore blues band, Kelly Bell, was the warm-up act, and they were pretty darn good. Their set was just shy of an hour and a half (again, just a guess as I didn’t have a watch). They were recording for a live CD that night, so it makes sense they played that long.

The set change took about half an hour, and Johnny took the stage as soon as it was done. This was the first time I’d seen him since 1992. Even though I’ve been on this list for nearly a year and heard all the reports, I was somewhat surprised by his appearance. He was moving slowly but with purpose. One thing I noticed up close was his level of blindness. He walked on stage with his eyes closed, picked up his guitar with his eyes still closed, and kept them closed for the entire show – not once did he even glance at the neck of his guitar.

Johnny played the white laser, but had some trouble getting it started. The stage crew worked on it for a few minutes, but once it was up and running, he was ready to go.

He was a man with a purpose that night. He opened with "Hideaway" (no surprise there – I’ve seen him 18 times, and since the early '80s, he’s always opened with that song. It’s a cool blues tune, so no complaints from me!). He did pretty well but was somewhat repetitive with the lead, though it was an extended version. He followed with "Sen-sa-shun/Mojo" and did another extended version. By this point, the crowd was going wild, singing along with the "Got my mojo workin’" part.

Next, he played "Boogie Real Low," and he was really tight on that tune. Then came "Sick and Tired," which was very well done, followed by "Black Jack," during which the crowd went absolutely nuts. Again, he extended the song, and it was clear he was on top form.

Johnny switched to the Firebird and did "The Sun is Shining," delivering a great rendition with spot-on slide playing. He then introduced something new: He turned to Mark Epstein , and they faced each other to perform "Going Down" (I think it’s an old Fleetwood Mac song?). The new drummer took the lead on vocals, with Epstein helping on backup, but it was clearly an audience participation song, with the crowd singing "Down, down, down." It was incredibly funky—probably the funkiest version of any song I’ve ever heard Johnny do. It blew me away!

He finished the set with "Johnny Guitar," and the crowd loved it, singing the refrain. It seemed like a natural replacement for "Johnny B. Goode" as a crowd favourite. His encore was "Drop the Bomb," and though his lead parts weren’t as sharp as they are on the album, the crowd was absolutely electric throughout the show. It was a fantastic experience.

I stood right behind the video camera guy, who’s producing the documentary I mentioned in my other letter. I ended up guarding him, keeping people from bumping into him. I’m a big guy, so I’m good at that! One observation I made was that Johnny’s fingers seemed very stiff, and his ability to fret quickly seemed hampered by the condition of his hands. He did a great job, all things considered. It didn’t seem like something that would improve over time, though, and he definitely wasn’t his old spry self.

After the concert, I went to the bus. I’d never done that before, but I’m glad I did. I got to talk briefly with Mark Epstein, who’s a really cool guy. He’s thrilled to be in the privileged position of playing bass for Johnny. Two guitars were sent in for signing, one of them a dobro (sp?). I felt a bit silly sending in my ticket stub for an autograph, but I hadn’t planned on hanging around the bus, so I didn’t have anything else with me. There were a lot of faithful fans waiting, and even though the film crew was on the bus for over half an hour, about 50 people stuck around hoping to see Johnny or get an autograph.

Overall, it was a fantastic night, and I’m really glad I went.

Wilk

Hey folks,

I saw Johnny last night at the same venue where I saw him in February this year.

I won't rehash the playlist—it was exactly the same as before, no new surprises, though that’s no complaint. He still had the same cast of characters with him.

He hit the stage around 11:15, and the first thing I noticed was that he was moving much better than in February. His health seems to have improved significantly. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like he leaped onto the stage—he still needed help with the steps—but he was able to walk with less assistance, and the "grandpa shuffle" was gone.

He still didn’t move around much, mostly staying at the mic, except for a few interactions with Mark during lead parts. Of course, he and Mark faced each other for the entire song "Going Down" (the one that Gino sings). And yes, he still rocked back and forth the whole time, but overall, he needed much less help.

His playing was still somewhat repetitive, but there was a noticeable improvement in the quality of his guitar work. Yes, there were a couple of flubs, but I’ve always caught one or two in nearly every one of the 18 shows I’ve seen.

However, he stretched out more and had a lot more impromptu lead inserts in his playing. You’ll forgive my lack of technical jargon since I don’t play guitar, but he threw in some pretty hard tabs at certain points in the lead breaks. Overall, his playing was much improved. He was hitting the frets better than he did in February, and with his apparent health improvement, he had more energy and was more at ease. There were actually a few lead parts that blew me away—a glimpse of the Johnny of years gone by.

When he pulled out the Firebird for "The Sun is Shining," he absolutely tore the place apart! His slide playing was fantastic. I’m still amazed by the fact that, in my humble opinion, he is head and shoulders above anyone else who has ever tried to play the slide guitar.

The crowd was surprisingly small—by no means a sell-out. But those who were there were mostly Johnny fans and gave him the respect, shouts, screams, and applause he so richly deserved.

I was right up front, just about 8 feet away from him. One thing that really struck me was the joy he clearly felt from being in (what I’ve come to understand is) his favorite place in the world: playing in front of his fans. At several points, it was clear that he could genuinely feel the love from the crowd.

To be clear, he’s by no means back to what I consider his peak, around 1993, but he’s obviously doing better than he was a year ago. Even his singing has improved—not by a huge degree, but improved nonetheless.

Wilk