So in part one, the 2023 concert recap, we had a Dead sandwich: Dead and Company and Phil Lesh and Friends bookended a few shows in Italy-Beethoven at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, One Republic and Pat Metheny in Lucca and Muse in the Olympic Stadium in Rome-every single show was over 95 degrees with Muse playing on the hottest day ever recorded in Rome at near 109 degrees. You can read that here. But in the interests of time, a slew of semi finished articles are getting packed together in one article to take care of it in one fell swoop.
Part 2 is Dire Straits, Molly Hatchet and John Fogerty. Let’s pick up the action in September:
Dire Straits (legacy)- The Band Mark Knopfler Does NOT Want You To See. Live at Big E West Springfield Ma 9/28/23
So at the Big E, they have an outdoor arena for larger acts for extra dough, but sometimes something really interesting shows up on the free stage. This was one of them.
Dire Straits Legacy is set up for fans who just cannot face the fact that Dire Straits has called it quits. (They packed it in at the end of the 1995 tour) Multiple attempts to get them on the road were met by silence from the top. Hell, Mark Knopfler wouldn’t even show up, never mind play, for their induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 to prove the point.
Which brings us to the Dire Straits Legacy band. A band made up by more than a few former Dire Straits members. A band that tried to call themselves Dire Straits and keep the flag flying on tour. A band that Mark Knopfler tried to sue into non existence, with a commensurate amount of English muted vitriol directed their way in print.
They eventually had to agree to fork over a percentage of the gate for every show to Mark, and perhaps also agreed to not merchandise–the upshot being that the punters would be confused and think this thing that sounds exactly like Dire Straits…was Dire Straits. Is it? (note that all mention of this band has been scrubbed from Wikipedia into the memory hole of ‘this doesn’t exist’)
Let’s Look Deeper
Dire Straits Legacy was started by Pick Withers from the original lineup (John Illsey also from the original line up has played with them). Long time members Jack Sonni (just passed three weeks before this show), original keyboardist Allan Clarke (in since 1980), Phil Palmer (guitarist since 1990), percussionist Danny Cummings (in since 1990) and King Crimson’s Mel Collins (’82 – ’85) gave a solid FIVE members of Dire Straits pedigree in the band. Yes has one member left in the band. Kansas has one member left in the band-yet this is NOT Dire Straits? Add in Marco Caviglia from Italy as the new Mark Knopfler and Primiano Dibiase on keyboards also from Italy and there you have it. Add in drummer Cristiano Micolizzi and you have a truly hybrid band, but still four members of Dire Straits.
The Sound
Well, it was eerily close to real Dire Straits. They pulled Marco from a premiere Italian Dire Straits cover band, turf he’d been plowing since 1988. His voice is very close to the Knopfler, but it is the guitar that gets it pretty damn close. He plays without a guitar pick like Knopfler, a trick that isn’t easy but gives a very distinctive sound. You can pick out the authentic sound instantly in a mix and this guy has it, perhaps the only person on the planet that sounds exactly like Mark Knopfler guitar (kinda looks like him too). Add in a gravely Italian accented voice and voila, you got Dire Straits. For real. Mel Collins has been plying the floorboards in King Crimson since 2013, so the gravitas of having him on stage really lands this band in the category of ‘this is real Dire Straits no matter what fucking Mark Knopfler has to say’. Yes, Foreigner, Journey and Kansas are all trotting around without their lead singers even though those guys are still out there, so these guys have as much ‘real’ in them as anyone else on tour these days.
Here’s a little Money for Nothing, one of their encores
Romeo and Juliet
Watch and decide. Me? I could not believe this was a free show-they play to 10k or more in Italy and probably could have filled the outdoor arena if the promoter wasn’t scared off by threats of lawsuits for mistaken identity by Knopfler’s legal hatchetmen-best to keep this low key. Any Dire Straits fan should seek these guys out immediately-you will not be disappointed-this isn’t a cover band. And make sure to post on Knopfler forums how good they are just for the hell of it. Tell ’em you saw Dire Straits live in 2023. Setlist here
Molly Hatchet in 2023, Is There Anyone Left? Literally Flirtin’ With Disaster Big E September 15 Live
So this was a quick hit as I had tickets to John Fogerty across the fairgrounds a half mile away that started a half hour later. But Molly Hatchet, the B-division Lynyrd Skynyrd and long time county fair denizens? Couldn’t miss just a smidgen of this one, right? Two venues, two bands, one night.
Well with the above Dire Straits article in mind, Hatchet is down to Bobby Ingram and keyboardist John Galvin, both joined in 1987. Though they played with a few original members back in the day, they came into the band well after the early 80’s peak of creativity. The famed triple guitar boogie is down to one. New singer Parker Lee admitted to graduating high school only a few years ago. With nearly a dozen members of the band dead from various reasons including the whole original band, it’s not like guys are out there bitching about getting kicked out of Hatchet, they left in a box. Here’s a taste from a week later of Flirtin With Disaster:
Not awful, not great. Had to run halfway through the show…..
John Fogerty Forgets How Old He Is And Blows Roof Off Big E Springfield September 15 Live
Running through the carnival atmosphere of the Big E can be a bit attention drawing. Most people are heavily laden, both internally and externally, with fried dough, deep fried oreos, popcorn and a gallon of beer. People moving briskly usually have security in hot pursuit. But I needed to get across some territory from one venue to the other in the acreage of the fair.
John Fogerty formerly of Creedence Clearwater Revival was a choice for this venue that was a little unexpected (read: too famous for county fair circuit), but when a band that played Woodstock plays near your town, you go, right?
To be honest, this is what I picture when someone mentions John Fogerty-flannel clad clutching a Rickenbacker electric guitar spitting out Creedence Clearwater revival tunes.
When tickets went on sale for this show, I knew it would sell out quickly and jumped on seats months ahead of time. I knew it would be pretty good (I’d seen Lester Holt jam with him in awe on Nightly News). But then the summer came, and I sort of forgot about this in the haze of 100 degree temps in Italy. Soon enough though, the day rolled around, and pulling myself out of Molly Hatchet and dashing across a half mile or so to the gate here, I arrived just as the band went on. Little did I know I was in for a tour de force experience. (unfortunately I missed the opening act, consisting of his very talented kids)
I’d never been a huge Creedence fan back in the day–I knew their stuff and knew for a generation in the 60’s they were the soundtrack. Protests, Vietnam, and denizens of AM radio everywhere. But Creedence was an omnipresent part of American culture, and widely revered as heroes of the 60’s. I was vaguely aware that Fogerty had lost control of his catalog, and no longer owned any of his hits-unknowingly signing away everything to get out of his original record contract. Read about that here
I was not prepared for how fucking good Fogerty was. Him playing Creedence songs for the first time in multi decades was BIG news. If you read the attached article above, he has been unattached from the music that made him famous. He loudly proclaimed : “I just got my songs back, and I’m gonna sing every one of them to you!” The crowd went wild. And then, he did.
Storytelling was part of the evening. Fogerty told a quick but unbelievable story of giving away his red Rickenbacker guitar that he played at to some 12-year-old kid he really didn’t know. Over forty years later, his wife Julie tracked down the guitar and wrapped it as a Christmas surprise. The screen behind him on stage showed that moment, as he held that exact guitar on Christmas morning. You could still hear the excitement as he held it up for us. “Anyone here go to Woodstock?” he asked. “This guitar was there.” and “remind me to tell you my Grateful Dead story from Woodstock, you won’t believe it. Ahh I’ll tell you tomorrow”
For a Creedence person, this was the dream show. The set opened with the boxy chords of Bad Moon Rising, a song heard thousands of times by thousands of bands across the last five decades. Then, hit after hit came-unheard for looooong years by anybody. You could tell the excitement felt by Fogerty and the enthusiasm was electric. Nobody in the place was sitting as young fans mixed with the heavily 60-70 yr old former hippies, draft dodgers and veterans in the crowd, leading to a tumultuous encore, the one two of Travelin’ Band and Proud Mary. Rather than go song by song, peruse the setlist here
Overheard in the audience “wait….ALL these songs are by Creedence? What?” 20 songs. Every one of them a hit.
Similar to Neil Young, Fogerty is definitely a person of the era. Similarly clad in flannel, and wielding a guitar that is programmed to spit out history in molten and chunky clumps of sound, this is not a technical display of guitar hero virtuoso technique, but a glimpse into the inner workings of someone who created a sound that filled the soul of America-albeit for a short time from 1968-1971. Fogerty was so good, so affable and at ease, so full of stories that several people around me were looking online to see where he was playing the next day. Me included. Go see him this summer, you won’t be sorry.
Part 3 coming soon. Maneskin, Bob Dylan, Tommy Emmanuel, Ministry, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Santana, Gov’t Mule, Led Zeppelin sort of, King’s X….
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