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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Tom Meltzer <fivecb@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: nrbq 35th anniversary shows this past weekend |
| Date | Thu, 6 May 2004 10:22:04 -0700 (PDT) |
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A friend who attended Saturday's show sent me a great report. He doesn't mind my sharing it with you folks, so here it is:
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Wow. What a great show. It was a 7-1/2 hour drive [from DC] but well worth it. Northampton is a nice little college town (Smith College) and the Calvin Theatre is a beautiful old movie palace - have you ever been to the Warner Theatre in Washington? It's similar to that.
The show began with a film. At the end of it Keith Richards raised a glass at the camera and croaked "NRBQ - it's not a word, it's a band" at which point all eight (not counting horn players) present and former members of the band took the stage. They played a couple of numbers, then the Al Anderson lineup played a long set. That's my favorite incarnation of the band and they certainly didn't show any signs that they hadn't played together in ten years. That was followed by an appearance by John Sebastian - he used to play Washington with them quite often. He would do a solo set, the Q would do a set and then they'd come out together and do Lovin' Spoonful tunes. Saturday night Sebastian did 'Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind'. Sadly, he didn't sound too good. Tommy Ardolino climbed down from the drum kit after that and crooned 'Welcome Back' (from Kotter) in Sebastian's honor. Then they brought out a string quartet to do a song with Al and then accompany them on 'Yes
Yes Yes'.
After an intermission, the original lineup took the stage. I'd never seen this incarnation before. Steve Ferguson is a really good guitar player and Frank Gadler sounds exactly the same as he did on the early records. Those two seem to have taken radically different paths since their long haired hippie days in the late 60s - at least that's the impression one gets from looking at them - Ferguson was wearing a big shiny spangled hat, had long hair and a really long grey beard while Gadler looks like he gets up early, works out, then drops the kids at school before heading to some office job. I had forgotten how much I liked those first few albums with Gadler, Staley and Ferguson. That was fun. Then the current lineup took the stage and played a set. They were really good but I do realize that the Al Anderson version will always be my favorite. Then the whole ensemble took the stage and bashed out an encore of 'Howard Johnston's Got His Ho Jo Working', 'Ridin' In My Car' and
'Shake Rattle and Roll'.
It was fabulous - great performance, great venue, great crowd. There was a group of ten people two rows in front of us who had come from Japan for the show. I don't think I've ever seen such a high percentage of a concert audience wearing band apparel - it must have been close to 50%. AND the whole thing was taped for a DVD release.
Hearing Al Anderson sing 'Ridin' In My Car' with them one last time made it worth the long drive. The fact that the rest of the show was so great was icing on the cake.
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Best,
Tom M
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