Holy balls, Blues Traveler (John Popper in particular) still sound SO FREAKING GOOD I'm astounded

[Hugh_Lebowski]

They're coming to the Marquee in Tempe here shortly, with co-headliners Big Head Todd and The Monsters (who I also absolutely love) and we were contemplating whether we wanna drop $100 each for GA tickets so we thought ... lets see how BT sounds these days, and came across this from 2022, and we were both FLOORED

FF to 8:10 mark to catch 'Hook' ... and think about how freaking hard it would be to pull off what Popper is doing at his age here ... the harmonica solo and scatting part that follows ... dude is a stone cold badass. Like, you should NOT still sound this freaking amazing at 55 yo. I'd almost say he's even better than when the song came out when he was in his late 20's.

And the band? NAILS.

[unblock]

1. I bought some sheet music years ago just to dissect his harmonica parts

It's just insane. Runs with 9 notes in a beat and then 7 notes in a beat. Couldn't be. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen sheet music get it all wrong.

And then I read while I'm listening along and holy crap the sheet music is actually correct.

I've never heard anyone come close to his level of speed and precision on harmonica.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Did you watch them play Hook in that vid?

Yes his harp playing is astounding ... but there's been a lotta 55+ year old harp players that were killer.

What really blows me away though is how great his voice still sounds, even with all that exhausting harp blowing going on, the way he transitions to the scat vocal part like it's nothing, and nails it ... I'm just like ... a 35 yo, okay ... but at 55?

Watching it I'm just bowing down to the man, big time. I can't even imagine, and I'm his age.

[unblock]

4. Can't where I am right now but bookmarked for later

[AZSkiffyGeek]

2. Haven't listened to them in ages thanks!

I'm curious about that mic rig he's using for his harmonica. never seen anything like that. Miss his shotgun vest full of harmonicas though...

[Bristlecone]

5. You are right, that harmonica solo was lights out.

[BootinUp]

6. Popper pipes. nt