Dave Mason Concert Review (

[michelej1]

http://gazetteonline.com/entertainme...ine-at-englert

Iowa City, The Gazette

By Diana Nollen, IOWA CITY — Dave Mason has never sounded better.


Dave Mason

More than 40 years after he hit the rock road with Traffic, took a few detours, including a mid-’90s tour with Fleetwood Mac, he’s flying solo and knocking down musical barriers.

Mason, 63, brought the gamut of his career experience to the Englert Theatre on Thursday night, playing to 350 baby boomer fans who showered him with cheers, whistles and multiple standing ovations.

Early on he dipped back to his youth, with the psychedelic, Middle Eastern-laced “Forty Thousand Headmen,” taking that ’60s electric guitar vibe to new heights — and sounding equally fabulous vocally. After about 30 minutes, he tapped into his sensitive side with his hauntingly beautiful “We Just Disagree.”

He’s completely right when he told me in an interview last week: “In terms of performing, playing and producing, I’m probably as good as I’m ever going to be at being Dave. At this point, I’m at my peak. I know what I can do — and more importantly, what I can’t do.”

What he can do is stir up a fine brew of musical styles floating over his stellar guitar work. I haven’t figured out what he can’t do.

He infused his concert with a trio of tracks off his first solo album in 20 years, the new “26 Letters and 12 Notes.” It features a little blues, a little country, a little rap and a little romance, both sweet and funny. As in the kicky country-rocker “Ain’t Your Legs Tired Baby (cuz you keep on runnin’ through my mind).” He followed that with a trip to his rock roots on “Let Me Go” and my favorite of the new songs, the rollicking blues-tinged “Good 2 U.”

Then the audience jumped to their feet as he jumped back to his beginnings for a raucous extended play version of the 1970 hit “Only You Know and I Know” off his debut solo album. The graying and swaying audience kept grooving right up to the end, through Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and The Coasters’ “Poison Ivy.”

Mason has surrounded himself with a great band, and he graciously steps out of the spotlight often to let each musician shine.

He wrapped the evening with his biggest hit, “Feelin’ Alright,” penned when he was just 19. Everybody under the sun has recorded that good-time tune, but the beauty is that he can play it any which way he chooses. It’s so ingrained in the rock consciousness that he can take it and remake it, playing with the melody, the instrumentation and the rhythms, while still letting everyone sing along to something old that sounds new.

It’s the perfect marriage of his songwriting skills, guitar prowess and comfort in his ever-evolving skin. It’s obvious he’s loving where he is in life, which makes it easy to love where he was in concert.