Review and Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Danny Zelisko Presents (https://www.dannyzeliskopresents.com/ )
Venue: Celebrity Theatre (https://celebritytheatre.com/ )
Date: Friday November 19th, 2022
Tour: World in Changes 2022
Danny Zelisko and Celebrity Theatre have had a long history of bring great artist to Phoenix. Celebrity Theatre has been at it for over 50 years and Danny Zelsiko has been promoting acts since 1974.
In the past few months together, they have brought us 60s icons Micky Dolenz of the Monkees and Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros., Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp, Steve Vai, Rick Springfield, Men at Work, John Waite, Billy Idol and Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues.
So now they pulled together three great artists from the 70s, Dave Mason, Al Stewart and Tom Rush. Each of these artists are remarkable themselves, but to see them all together in one concert is amazing.
The Celebrity Theatre is one of the few venues that has a rotating round stage. It also allows the audience to sit right at the stage. Since the audience sits around the stage, it means that everyone has a great seat and is probably never more than 100 feet from the stage. Tonight, they had the stage rotating. So Dave and the band performed to different sections of the audience as it turned. Some people don’t like this but I have no issue with it.
Dave Mason
Dave Mason has had a phenomenal career. Dave was one of the founding members along with Steve Winwood of the English rock band Traffic. Dave played with Traffic from 1967 to 1968 and a short jaunt in 1971. From this short period came on of the all-time great hits, “Feelin’ Alright?”. Dave was friends with Jimi Hendrix. One night they got a preview of Bob Dylan’s song “All Along The Watchtower”. Jimi recorded it for his album Electric Ladyland with Dave played 12-string acoustic guitar. Dave has since record it and plays it at almost every concert I have seen. Dave has also performed with Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and Delaney & Bonnie.
In 1070 Dave released probably his best solo album, Alone Together. I remember owning this album and wearing it out and having to buy another copy. Unfortunately, the album did not do well in the USA, but I love almost every song on it. It is one of my top 20 albums. With hits like “Only You Know And I Know” and “World in Change” and “Look at You Look at Me” this album solidify Dave Mason as an exceptional song writer and musician. In 2020 Dave revisited this album and redid it, Alone Together Again. This was not a remaster of the original, it was a completed reproduced set of music.
As always, Dave and the band played some of the best songs from his solo days and his time with Traffic. They started with “World in Changes” and “Only You Know and I Know” from his Alone Together album. They then did a set of songs from Traffic including “Rock and Roll Stew”. The ended the main set with the Traffic classic “Feelin’ Alright?”. For an encore they came back and performed his version of the Bob Dylan classic “All Along The Watchtower”.
Many of you don’t know, but Dave’s lovely wife Winifred travels with the band and runs the merchandise counter. Winifred is also an avid yoga practitioner and even teaches it. She has written a book called, Downdog for Roaddogs. I bring this up because Dave and the band performed a new song called “Road Dogs”. Dave also told us that since they travel on a bus between gigs, it is really hard to practice yoga when you are doing 70 mph in the bus. This got a big laugh from the crowd.
I have seen Dave perform a number of times back in the 70s and now again in the past 10 years. I can tell you that he is just as good today as he was back in the 70s. I love each of his shows and definitely will go again when he come back to town.
You can check out Dave Mason and find out if he is coming to a local near you on either his website or Facebook page.
Website: https://www.davemasonmusic.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/DaveMasonMusic/
Photos by Fred Kuhlman, All Rights Reserved
Al Stewart
I have been a huge fan of Al Stewart since hearing his Past, Present and Future album back in 1973. I saw Al a number of times in the 70s at Celebrity Theatre when he toured doing his Year of the Cat and then Time Passages tours. During those tours he performed with a full band. In the past 10 years I have seen Al a number of times, but now he tours mainly as an acoustic act. In 2017 I saw him tour with The Empty Pockets that also backed him up. Tonight’s show Al was again joined by acoustic guitarist Josh Solomon of The Empty Pockets.
Al plays a number of his classic songs with some interspersed history of the songs or just a funny story. Each time I have seen Al, I always come away with a different piece of information. Tonight, was no different when he told a story of flying and sitting next to a family with a little girl. The little girl talked to him on the plane, and then when they got off the little girl and her family were in front of him. As they got to the crowd waiting at the gate (Pre 9/11), she shouted as she pointed at Al, “Look Cat Stevens.”
Al and Josh performed for about 1 hour and cover a lot of the songs from the Year of the Cat and Time Passages albums. Of course, they performed the crowd favorite “Year Of The Cat” as the last song of the set.
I have always enjoyed Al Stewart’s music and lyrics. His story telling just added to my overall enjoyment of each show I see. Will I go see Al again, HELL YES. At this time, I believe I have seen Al Stewart more times than any other artist. If you love mellow classic rock, then I would highly recommend seeing one of Al Stewart’s shows.
You can check out Al Stewart and find out if he is coming to a local near you on either his website or Facebook page.
Website: https://alstewart.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/officialalstewart/
Photos by Fred Kuhlman, All Rights Reserved
Tom Rush
Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer and songwriter. I have seen Tom back in the 70s when he performed at a little bar in Tempe, Arizona called Dooley’s. Danny Zelisko was the promoted back then also. Tom has a very down to earth style of music. Probably the best (and funniest) song he performed was “The Remember Song”. It was about someone that can’t remember shit, like where he left his car keys. For a lot of us older audience members, we had to laugh because at times it sound like us. Tom performed for about 30 minutes. But in that time, he packed a set of great songs including a cover of the Joni Mitchell’s classic “The Circle Game”.
You can check out Tom Rush and find out if he is coming to a local near you on either his website or Facebook page.
Website: https://www.tomrush.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TomRushMusic
Photos by Fred Kuhlman, All Rights Reserved
Dave Mason Setlist: (Album / Cover)
World in Changes (Alone Together)
Only You Know and I Know (Alone Together)
Rock and Roll Stew (Traffic song)
Forty Thousand Headmen (Traffic song)
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (Traffic song)
Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic song)
We Just Disagree (Jim Krueger cover)
Look at You Look at Me (Alone Together)
Can’t Find My Way Home (Blind Faith cover)
Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave (Alone Together)
Let It Go, Let It Flow (Let It Flow)
Road Dogs (New Song
Feelin’ Alright? (Traffic song)
Encore:
All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover)
Al Stewart Setlist: (Album)
Almost Lucy (Time Passages)
Antarctica (Last Days of the Century)
The Palace of Versailles (Time Passages)
Time Passages (Time Passages)
Soho (Needless to Say) (Past, Present and Future)
On the Border (Year of the Cat)
Broadway Hotel (Year of the Cat)
One Stage Before (Year of the Cat)
Year of the Cat (Year of the Cat)
Tom Rush Setlist: (Album / Cover)
Making the Best of a Bad Situation (Dick Feller cover)
Hot Tonight (What I Know)
The Circle Game (Joni Mitchell cover)
Drop Down Mama (Sleepy John Estes cover)
Voices (Voices)
The Remember Song (New Song)
Who Do You Love? (Bo Diddley cover)
