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As long as he can play his music the guitar rocker still brings the Woodstock generation - and new younger fans - a taste of classic rock.
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 3, 2002
Life's illusions are misleading, so good to be here breathing.
Dave Mason wrote that line, and it may well be his life motto.
For more than three decades -- make that 32 years -- Mason has had the illusions of super fame and now he seems content with the comforting thought, "so good to be here breathing."
Mason, 55, will bring his singing and guitar magic to the Bourbon Street Concert Club on Saturday, part of a nationwide tour that includes venues in Las Vegas, New York, California and various points in between. A streaming banner across his Web site (www.dave-mason.com) announces his unlikely stop in New Port Richey.
Fans at large and small venues in the past have waxed enthusiastically about his shows.
"Just when you think there is no more rock 'n' roll magic, a night like this happens," wrote Richard Younger, a fan who saw Mason at New York's Bottom Line club a few years back. At that one, Steve Winwood showed up to jam on Gimme Some Lovin' and the place went wild.
Mason has been a big part of the rock scene almost from the start. He toured with Fleetwood Mac and played with the late George Harrison and Jimi Hendrix, as well as the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney, but his first big splash was with Winwood, Chris Wood and drummer Jim Capaldi in the British jazz-pop band, Traffic, in the 1970s.
Mason went solo and had big success with his LPs Headkeeper, Is Alive, Best of and It's Like You Never Left, the latter made with Graham Nash and Stevie Wonder.
His Dave Mason (1974) and Split Coconut (1975) charted highest for him solo -- so far, that is.
Of course, it's Traffic's Feelin' Alright and his solo Only You Know and I Know that put Mason in the realm of a rock classic. His Feelin' Alright has been recorded by 48 artists, the best known version that of Joe Cocker.
In the past few years, Mason has toured with Capaldi and with his own Dave Mason Band.
Longtime fans say Mason sounds best in smaller, more intimate venues such as Bourbon Street Concert Club. His most devoted followers are from the Woodstock generation, the 40- to 50-something crowd, though younger audiences are starting to turn out with equal enthusiasm.
One 30-year fan, James Norrish, connected with Mason on a personal level at a Michigan concert last summer.
"The Great Man shambled on, looking encouragingly disheveled, and, like most of the males in attendance, heavier and follicly challenged," Norrish wrote in the Road Tales section of Mason's Web site.
"The band was superb, the sound quality crystal clear and all the old favorites were played with a passion and commitment," Norrish wrote.
Mason's Bourbon Street set will probably include those old favorites -- We Just Disagree, All Along the Watchtower, Dear Mr. Fantasy, 40,000 Headmen and the hard-rocking Gimme Some Lovin'.
Opening for Mason is the regional group Soul Sacrifice.
WHAT: Dave Mason
WHERE: Bourbon Street Concert Club, 4331 U.S. 19, New Port Richey
WHEN: 9 p.m. Saturday (doors open 8 p.m.)
TICKETS: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Call 843-0686 in west Pasco; toll-free 1-877-843-0686 elsewhere.