I saw Eric Johnson in a very cool, intimate venue called Stage Center in Oklahoma City saturday evening. I have seen him 3 times and this was, by FAR, the best! Many people (myself incuded) have always found EJ rather shy, aloof and high-strung. Well, he must have made some life-changing personal decisions, because he was rocking out, smiling and cracking jokes all night. The renewed positive energy flowing from the stage was also extremely evident in the music, as it was joyous and uplifting all night.

He played for about an hour and a half and it was mesmerizing! In the middle of the set, he played 3 or 4 acoustic pieces, and if that was the ONLY thing he did, he would STILL be one of the greatest players to ever fret a string. I was sitting right next to the stage, actually behind the main PA speakers. While this did reduce the vocal quality (of which was the BEST vocal performances I have ever heard from him---MUCH stronger and confident) a bit, I listened to the actual tone directly from his amps all night and it was incredible. The clean tones were phenomenal, and the lead tones were, well, righteous. (sorry, I couldn't help it...)

He, Roscoe Beck and Tommy Taylor rocked and played off of eachother effortlessy all night and it was a great show.

Rock on,
Buddaman

PS: If you haven't picked up BLOOM yet, it's my favorite overall CD from EJ. He even experimented with different variations of his tone and included a couple of excellent vocal tunes as well.

I saw him last year, and it was the same thing. He was really "into" the gig. Smiling, etc. He's going to be in town in about a week or two. I'll definately be there!

I like Eric alot but only really live. His studio stuff got too polished and not raw for my liking compared to his live playing. If you really want to hear him go off his rocker get the Electromagnets disc off his website. It's insane and has some totally crackin' live stuff from like '75-76 time frame. Lots of Beck influence.