I saw them the weekend before last at the Scottish Rite Temple in Collingswood NJ, and I have a different take on the evening.
First, I want to say that I did enjoy it, and it was really good to see the guys again. I felt really old when I realized that Mountain was the second rock show I had ever seen and that was almost 40 years ago.
Anyway, I had seen Mountain 2 other times, and West,Bruce and Laing right after they released their first album in 1973. That was a truly memorable show.
This current tour was as BigKidz said opned by Edgar Winter. He's always good, and I have seen him 2 other times in the last couple of years, but being that he was the opening act, it ws an abreviated set, and I thought the set list was not as good as usual, but he is always enthusiastic and entertaining, so it was fun anyway.
West Bruce jr. and Laing were a different story. Malcolm Bruce is obviously a gifted bass player, but he is not his father (nobody is), and unfortunately, he can't sing very well either. They stared out with Why Dontcha, which is a great rocker, but somehow managed to lose all of the drama and tension. Leslie did a version of Theme from an Imaginary Western with Malcolm on keyboard and himself on guitar. The guitar playing was great, but Malcolm' vocals were in no way comparable to Felix Pappalardi's or his father's.
Anyway, when I realized the way things were going, I just put aside my expectations and enjoyed the show for what it was. Leslie has lost nothing over the years. He still plays like no one else, and I love his style. I always considered Corky Laing to be(ahem)lightly talented, but he hasn't gotten any worse, he just wasn't ever very good. That was more apparent with the original West Bruce and Laing, when hwe was placed between two titans in their prime, and the band could have really been enhanced by a really first-rate drummer.
In the end, hey seemed to really be enjoying themselves, and so did I.
