“Last year, I decided to do a ‘farewell’ tour of the States and thought, what to do? The music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra has always been so special...
“Last year, I decided to do a ‘farewell’ tour of the States and thought, what to do? The music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra has always been so special to me, and, right from the very start of Mahavishnu back in 1971, the American audiences accepted and embraced this music so enthusiastically. To me, there is no better way to say thank you to America than to celebrate the music of Mahavishnu on this tour.”
British guitar virtuoso John McLaughlin is discussing his Meeting of the Spirits Tour, which began November 1 in Buffalo, New York, and wraps up December 9 in Los Angeles, California.
This is the 75-year-old guitarist’s first tour of the States in seven years, and is his first extended live presentation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra material from seminal albums such as The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, Between Nothingness and Eternity and Visions of the Emerald Beyond.
McLaughlin will be joined on this tour by guitarist Jimmy Herring, who, as a member of Aquarium Rescue Unit, the Allman Brothers Band, the Dead and Widespread Panic, has been at the forefront of the jam band movement for 25 years. Separate sets by Jimmy and his band, the Invisible Whip, and McLaughlin and his band, the 4th Dimension, will be followed by the two bands joining forces for an expansive closing set built from classic Mahavishnu Orchestra material.
McLaughlin spoke to Guitar World from his home in Monaco on the eve of the American tour to discuss the reasons for this new presentation of the revolutionary music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and exactly why this is a farewell tour.
McLaughlin performs in Buffalo, New York, at the start of his Meeting of