May 3, 1971: Review -- John Sebastian and Mary Travers without their groups

     


Remember that John Sebastian show mentioned in the story about the sound guys at KRC Associates? I saw it here in Buffalo, my second straight night in Kleinhans Music Hall. Here’s the review of both shows in Monday’s paper: 

May 3, 1971

Kleinhans Music Hall

Soulful Sebastian, Melancholy Mary 

        At a time when James Taylor is defining new levels of sadness in us all, it seems like a long, hard way down from the innocent mid ‘60s.

        What brought it home over the weekend was seeing two of the people we were digging back then – John Sebastian and Mary Travers – both working without the groups they found fame with, both out to establish some new reality from the old memories.

        Which was great for Sebastian. The guiding light of the Lovin’ Spoonful conjured up all kinds of golden smiling nostalgia in Kleinhans Music Hall Sunday night with dozens of those delicious songs he turned out five, six, seven years ago. He had enough left over for another concert.

* * *

TIE-DYED and triumphant, Sebastian radiated all the joy of his old group plus his own wide-open love of life. Here’s a man who’s kept the faith. He can even say Buffalo and it sounds beautiful.

        Happier still was his pleasure at the acoustics as he soloed the first song from his “Cheapo Cheapo Productions Presents” albums and three oldies – “Lovin’ You,” “She’s a Lady” and “Darlin’ Be Home Soon.” (“ . . . See beyond the houses of your eyes, it’s all right to shoot the moon . . .”)

        Things have changed since “Cheapo Cheapo.” Pianist Paul Harris is still with him, but Sebastian now has a full-fledged band. Kenny Altman on bass and drummer Dallas Taylor of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young fame. A good rockin’ group.

        The capacity crowd clapped hands, sang along and cried for every Spoonful song it could think of. “Red-Eye Express” got a tremendous response. And Sebastian didn’t hesitate to do some of his new stuff.

        Not even a buzzing speaker could bring the show down. There were rainbows all over everybody’s blues. Sebastian did a four-song encore to standing ovations.

        “I hope you people carry on,” he closed. After a show like that, even the weather seems better.

* * *

FOR CONTRAST, there was Mary Travers in half-full Kleinhans Saturday night. Without Peter and Paul now and in her fifth solo appearance, she was a little stiff, a little distant from the audience. She’d sing something and then there’d be this polite applause, like at a recital.

        Tall, blonde and beautiful, she was everything you’d expect from a folksinging liberal in her 30s with an 11-year-old daughter.

        It was hard to take at first, bur the evening developed into a touching and personal portrait, backed quietly by piano, bass and two guitars.

        Still, that 1971 sadness clung to her. The new songs didn’t bring you up, the social comment numbers stirred all that terrible rancid guilt again and the spirit of the old songs seemed faded. When she finished, it was raining.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Feb. 2, 1974: The Blue Ox Band

Image
  One of the major local rock bands of the day and predecessor to some equally wonderful aggregations down the line.   Feb. 2, 1974 Blue Ox Wants Aggressive, Bitey Sound   AS BLUE OX themselves will tell you, a lot depends on the crowd.                    One night they’ll be sitting there in the Bona Vista on Hertel Avenue like good old boys and girls on the bayou, bobbing in their private dreams to the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin.’”           A few nights later, at an even more tender hour, the tiny dance floor is full of folks boogieing their heads off to the very same tune. * * * “IF YOU LISTEN for a whole night,” guitarist-organist Charlie O’Neill says, “we go through all kinds of styles. But sometimes the slower stuff is rough when you’ve got a bunch that wants to bounce around.”           Variety, for Blue Ox, has been a matter of trading and balancing between a club crowd’s boogie urge and the band’s own preference for subtler, more complex tunes, including a fe
Read more

August 9, 1976 review: Elton John at Rich Stadium, with Boz Scaggs and John Miles

Image
  Now that all the organizational issues for Rich Stadium concerts were ironed out, Mother Nature decided to throw a curve. August 9, 1976 Elton John Pours It On For Rain-Soaked Fans Elton John was amazed. “I thank you for standing out in the rain and sitting out in the rain,” he remarked as he strode out in a Stars & Stripes Uncle Sam outfit in Rich Stadium Saturday afternoon for the first of three encores. “You deserve a medal of honor.” Instead of medals, the drizzle-soaked, wind-chilled crowd of 52,560 got a whale of a concert from the supermost superstar of the ‘70s. In fact, such was the energy of that first encore – everybody shouting along to the chorus of “Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting” – that the rain faltered and it seemed like the sun would awaken for a guest appearance. But it didn’t. It was miraculous enough that Superfest 10 beat the deluge. The promoters rushed to fit it all in, forestalling an epidemic of rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie-w
Read more

July 6, 1974 Review: The first Summerfest concert at Rich Stadium -- Eric Clapton and The Band

Image
  This was the summer that rock ‘n roll came to the brand new Buffalo Bills stadium in Orchard Park . There was a lot of official nervousness about this kickoff event.   July 6, 1974   Hassle-Free Clapton Concert Scores a Pleasant Success             Rich Stadium got its baptism in rock ‘n roll Saturday evening and it all went off so well that the home of the Buffalo Bills football team should be bouncing to the big beat for many summer nights to come.           It was a star-studded event – stars above and stars on the stage. The Band, honed to near perfection as a live act, cranked out a happy, raucous set. And guitar idol Eric Clapton, who announced that he was drunk (indeed, he was very drunk), took a laid-back set that left many of his worshippers perplexed.           But the real heroes of this show – the first of four in the Summerfest ’74 series at the stadium – were promoter Jerry Nathan and his Festival East organization. * * * THEY TURNED the near-impossib
Read more