Concert Round Up 2023 part 2-Summer Starts Late and Stays Late-Dylan, Dire Straits, Fogerty, Maneskin, King’s X, Cooper, Zombie and more…

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:

Triple guitar attack? Nawww…we got a high school graduate now

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

Flannel shirt, check. Visible Rickenbacker guitar, check.

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”

No frills rock and roll over under sideways down

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.

Yeah Ike and Tina took this one and got some mileage

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….

Neil Young and Crazy Horse Live at Mansfield MA, May 17-Octogenerians Deliver Blistering Rock n Roll? How?

“you can’t spook the horse”

Some things are just so counter intuitive it is hard to believe they are actually possible. Like Neil Young for instance. The stalwart 4th member of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young-he brought some verisimilitude to the vocal heavy proto boy band super group of the late 60’s. By the mid 70’s, Neil had been written off like his bandmates as washed up remnants of the Woodstock dream. (perhaps less so than the other three) Then out of the blue in 1978, Young came storming out with the punk tinged Hey Hey My My, a song about Johnny Rotten? The Rust Never Sleeps tour that year revitalized his career and shot Young into the spotlight of relevance again-entirely unexpectedly I might add. Crazy Horse-Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank Sampedro turned up the amps and left the country tinged elements behind, scorching stages around the world.

All synths, sung through a vocoder robot voice? What could go wrong? -1983

A series of genre challenging albums led by 1983’s synth heavy sci fi album Trans alienated most of the new fans-robot vocals, little guitar, lots of synths-it definitely was a reaction to the times. This was quickly followed by what everyone felt was his apology record, the very brief 25 minute rockabilly Everybody’s Rockin’ released 8 months later. This was followed by a country album in 1985-Neil was all over the place. He seemed to be fading once again into obscurity, perhaps on purpose. He got actually sued by David Geffen for putting out albums ‘unrepresentative of his style’. But he had a large trick left up his sleeve…

Nobody was ready for the one two punch of Freedom and Ragged Glory in 1989 and 1990. The frantic Rocking in the Free World announced to everyone that Neil was back. 1990’s proto grunge album Ragged Glory contained a large amount of what today are his classics, but then were not yet road tested new things: Fuckin’ Up, Love to Burn, Mansion on the Hill, Farmer John, Love and Only Love-this album was overloaded with soon to be classics. Nobody but nobody was prepared for what came next.

The sound of the Gulf War, coming to a town near you, beware

Riding the highs of that one two punch, Neil and Crazy Horse took to the road. In the midst of the 1991 Gulf War, Neil Young and Crazy Horse set out on tour with Social Distortion and Sonic Youth as the opening bands, distinctively non-Neil type bands. They were universally ignored by all except the clued in alt rock fans. But one thing they did do-they played LOUD. Ear splitting volumes that to this day people speak of as the single loudest concert they had ever attended. So loud that there were class action suits from people suffering permanent hearing loss from the show. (true)

The size of the amps onstage gave a clue as to the decibels about to be unleashed

Taking a page from Sonic Youth’s repertoire, Crazy Horse’s set began to include longer and longer noise and feedback improvisations (cataloged nicely on the companion disc to Weld, the single cd Arc.) The deafening atonal sections surrounded some of the most ear splitting versions of Neil Young songs ever delivered-feedback drenched with literal explosions in the background-it was brutal, and a reflection of the brutality of the Gulf war were quite apparent. The crowd got pummeled into submission. Glorious. That pretty much gets us up to speed for this past week’s show.

Live in Mansfield May 17, 2024

Great Woods, not XFinity Center!

A glimpse of the spirit of the 1991 tour was what I was hoping for. Early reviews of this tour sounded promising-things like a 9.5 minute introduction to Cortez the Killer before he even sang a note early in the tour. Sampedro has retired to be replaced by Nils Lofgren who recently was replaced by Micah Nelson (yes Willie’s kid) a guitarist that at 33 is FORTY SEVEN years younger than the rhythm section of Talbot and Molina, who both clock in at 80 years old apiece. They appeared to force him to keep racing to keep up with them.

A couple of things before the show started. First-no Diet Coke, Coke, Pepsi nothing, no sodas allowed per Neil. Then-no Bud lite, coors lite, no Bud, no crappy beer. Only small batch brewery craft beers allowed. I heard no burgers and no steak too but didn’t take the time to confirm. The big one for many though? No jumbotrons, no screens. You were forced to actually watch the band play from wherever you were sitting. None of the screens in the venue were active, especially the ones designed to show the lawn area what was going on. Throwback Friday it was.

The show started on time with Cortez the Killer, albeit with a short-ish intro. Still, at 78 years old, Neil Young is incendiary onstage. He exudes a solid ‘I don’t give a fuck’ vibe that permeates his guitar playing and singing. A fragile, shaky voice –hearkens back to his line about Danny Whitten in the first incarnation of Crazy Horse – propelled every song. Guitar runs that ran that fine line between loosely controlled and veering well off script into’ what the hell?’ land were in order. Out of tune? No problem. Out of key for a sec? Ditto. Turn that fucker up a notch to compensate.

Things definitely turned up a notch for Cinammon Girl, one of his all time most raucous songs. This was the first time I noticed some agitation from the Neil dabblers, the ones expecting a mainly acoustic guitar and harmonica Dylan-esque evening. This was a full on audio assault. Neil and the band stomped the floor and gathered in front of the drumkit thrashing together in unison. This song is famous for a guitar solo that consists of only a single note repeated, yet somehow is perfect, crackling in repetition but each note crafted in its own individual space-not easy to pull off. Young had what appeared to be an A and B setlist on this tour, mostly similar with some variation in selected slots from night to night. Fuckin Up had been played the show previously, but tonight they threw it to the wind and played it again– launched straight into another high energy footstomper: ‘Why do I-I-I-I keep ffucking upppppp?’ howled into the night. (am embarrassed to say that the only time I’ve seen this song live was a Pearl Jam encore years ago).

Scattered, Roll Another Number For the Road, the first Barstool Blues in ten years and we were headed to the meat of the order. Powderfinger, another deafening sonic blast coupled with Love and Only Love saw us head to a short acoustic set. The wilting acoustic fans heaved a collective sigh as this is what they were there for, not the frantic near mosh pit activity that the barely controlled audience was exhibiting. Hey Hey My My brought everyone to their feet “Rock and Roll will never die!” they shouted in unison from the stage to the lawn.

Encore one was a version of Down By the River that had several extended jam sections inserted into it. The second encore began with a section of full on chaos-feedback, atonal guitars, bass explosions created a miasma of sound that wasn’t a song, it was a throwback to the glory of the 1991 tour. This sonic attack slowly merged into the recognizable You Are Like a Hurricane.

And with that, we were done. Many in the crowd said that it was the best concert they’d seen in years. By anybody. They weren’t wrong. Setlist here

here is a hurricane:

Kings X-Gateway City Arts Holyoke MA 10/29/2023 Live

Vexing and Perplexing? Some Small Complaints Here

It’s been a long while since I’d seen King’s X. *checks notes… hmmm summer 1991 on the Faith Hope Love tour. Ok, that’s 32 years ago now, an impossibly long lifetime for a band of that era. At this point, rock fans have a list of stuff they know they will hear when they go to see a long lived band–a couple of new songs and then a long run through the well known (hits isn’t really the right word for King’s X stuff) songs. You have to admire the balls of a band that is (still) relatively unknown–even back in the halcyon days of the early 1990’s—who will go out in 2023 and play a good chunk of their two most recent albums. On top of that they obstinately and pointedly refused to play any songs that would be considered their bigger hits. Specifically they ignored anything from 1989’s Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, the album that broke them nationally, even internationally, and arguably from front to back is a parade of their best and most well known tunes. Likewise, the album that brought them further into the next level, Faith Hope Love, was represented by a single tune, a deep cut, and ignored the half a dozen stone cold King’s X classics contained on that 1990 lp. Even 1992’s Black Flag, their only erstwile MTV single was not in evidence. Why? First, a little background…

Somewhere in the early 1990’s, alt punk had spread into different styles. In a murky land between Primus, Living Color and perhaps some Faith no More lived King’s X. All those bands were different, cerebral and considered a cut above the noise of the late 80’s alt rock scene. Primus in particular were a bass driven band, and that isn’t too bad a reference point here. Doug Pinnock is a force on bass with a very distinctive and dominating bass sound, like Primus is instantly identifiable by Les Claypool’s quirky plucking. These bands were iconoclasts in a sea of conformists, and are still recognized as pioneers to this day. Whispers of them being a closeted Christian rock band, commercial suicide, were always denied in interviews. Their connections to Petra, one of the biggest Christian bands ever would seem to support that view, yet…the band always wrote inspirational lyrical tales that always seemed just this side of overtly Christian. (translation: probably started as a vaguely Christian band, smart enough to deny it, nobody gave a shit, they fucking rocked. Early whispers that their name was a bastardization of their first band name choice, Kin Sex also floated around in the late 80’s)

As the 90’s wore on, the band seemed to run out of ideas. The self titled album and Dogman drew the band into a sound that seemed to lack the variety of their early work. Not the one trick pony band that perhaps Helmet could be hit with (we only play one song, but its a really good one so we change the chords and the words and now it’s an album). Then a series of medical disasters: drummer Jerry Gaskill had two separate serious heart attacks over two years resulting in double bypass surgery. To help pay for the large expenses, they released a limited edition digital live album, Burning Down Boston: Live at The Channel 6.12.91, which just happened to be my first King’s X show so long ago. Pinnock then had a cancer scare which dropped the band out of action once again. Enter 2023.

Despite all of the above, the band has not lost a step. Pinnock is still in command with his distinctive treble heavy bass leading the way, their powerful harmony signature vocals cut through the air. Guitarist Ty Tabor still is the glue that holds them together. But the lack of their best songs had to be a come down for many. Even just the meltdown Moanjam would have made up for much of the missing and missed material. Songs from mid period albums Dogman, Tapehead and Ear Candy had to suffice for the die hards as ‘classic era’ material. The set was dominated by seven count ‘em seven songs from the new album Three Sides of One from 2022. The results varied. Nothing But the Truth and Give it Up could sit alongside some of their classics easily while the insipid Festival fell flat. The four encores were capped by Goldilox, where the band swung the microphones directly at the crowd, and let the audience sing the song in its entirety. It was a joyous moment, reminiscent of ….ermmmm…church…..ahem.

The crowd of about 400 fit a definite demographic: 99% 50 yr old white males who seemed moderately successful and resembled a large casting call for future Law and Order SVU characters. Looking around, I spotted a  few King’s X shirts, some Living Colour, some Rush, a King Crimson…you had an idea of what drew these disparate characters into this off the beaten path venue: a devotion to some of the more ground breaking bands thirty years ago. And though we’ve all aged into late 40’s and 50’s no-longer-kids, there is still that yearning for new thrills. And though there were some duds in there, some of King’s X new material raises a high bar, something that many bands are no longer willing to attempt. It’s easy to go out and play the hits and have some spirited sing-alongs, but it is much harder to go out and willingly piss off the crowd in an attempt to show that you are still musically relevant thirty years after your heyday. And that’s something that puts this band in a different category of concert. They succeed or fail on the strength of their songs, not their reputations based on reviews long past. That in my book gives them a pass on the failing to play anything like a hit, and tip my cap to a brave and not often seen approach to rock n roll.     “We play on our terms, not yours”

Heilung-Live in Worcester 9/8/22: Reinventing The Concept of ‘Concert’

Heilung is undoubtedly a phenomenon of late, and why not? Seemingly transported from medieval forests of Germany, adorned in antler helmets, and chanting ancient magickal spells, Heilung creates an atmosphere unlike anything anyone has experienced in a rock setting. Ever. This show sold out in days back in December 2021, nine months ago. The crowd howled like wolves in anticipation as the lights went down. What is going on here?

The show started with ‘Opening Ritual’ with the band standing in a circle on their runic carpet getting sage smoke wafted onto each member to cleanse the performers and performance space. Then they slowly built up a rhythm that morphed into ‘In Maidjan’ from their 2015 debut Ofnir. Instrumentation is decidedly archaic, mostly percussion based. Large drums flanked the rear of either side of the stage, while a variety of ancient percussion is parsed out to various band members. Wood, deer bones, human bones (!), human blood painted on drums, rattles with animal bones and human ashes, metal bells, bone horns blown as drones through echo, and finally male and female chanting encompasses most of the sounds. No sign of guitars or keyboards or drum kit.
The overall effect is otherworldly. Viking spells mix with songs in a fashion where one cannot tell where one ends and the other begins. Part real magickal ceremony, part concert, part theater; the show was a sensory overload. Flaming drumsticks pointed to the sky and then rhythmically pounded the large drums. Seismic percussive riffs from 1,000 (hell probably 5,000) years ago thundered to the ceiling of the Palladium. You couldn’t help but feel you were transported through time as male and female members chanted, sang and spun like dervishes in a massive conscious altering communal surge towards some hidden realm.

What did they ultimately sound like? Dead Can Dance trying to do Magma comes close. A little primal Mike Oldfield. A solid pagan Black Metal band channeling Black Forest roots and suddenly going into some twisted medieval acoustic mode. Kai Uwe Faust brings some Tuvan throat singing techniques in. Bowed primitive string instruments hum nearly unnoticed in the background,

A friend put it best right after: “Like no other concert I have seen. Totally on a new level.”

Although this seems like a dark description, in reality Heilung is a joyous celebration of life using methods that span centuries, millennia. And also one glorious mind fuck of a show.

Hypnotic and decidedly powerful, this was one of the most impressive shows, if not the most ever I’ve experienced in four decades of concerts. People speak of bands being ‘primal’ sounding. They never imagined this. Few bands are capable of bending reality, this one does. Fall headlong in, runes and all, you will be changed forever.

Health!

Nektar Live 2020: I Think I Remembered the Future-Live at the Iron Horse Northampton

Note the two Rickenbacker basses going at once!

Nektar in 2020 is an odd proposition. From a seventies perspective, Nektar had their heyday from 1971 as a transplanted UK band in Hamburg (1969) helping to jump start the krautrock movement before most of the main players in Germany had even gathered. Their six album arc from 1971 to 1975 covers their essential works. The debut lp Journey to the Center of the Eye is a 40 minute single song dedicated to either communicating with aliens or a soundtrack to an acid trip-it functions well in both modes. It attracted little attention outside of the heads of Europe with a German only release. The follow up, A Tab in the Ocean garnered their first US release (four years after its ’72 release date), and was a perennial denizen of cutout bins well into the late 80’s. (a kid on my floor in college worshiped this album, claiming he only listened to it on LSD, and never any other time-a heroic claim, and apparently true). Sounds Like This was a double lp of loose jams and improvs showcasing their strengths in this area saw only a German and UK release in early 1973, mixing krautrock and west coast jam styles. They broke big in the States in 1973 with Remember the Future, once again a song cycle about aliens communicating from the future to give warnings and enlightenment. (I think the alien was in the form of a bluebird, it wasn’t really clear). This album cracked the top 20 and the band had some momentum, selling out larger theaters. The follow up, a circus themed Down to Earth gave them a single, Astral Man, and featured Hawkwind’s Robert Calvert as the ringmaster. 1975’s very solid Recycled found them in the company of synthesizer wizard Larry Fast, and brought back some of the fans unhappy with the disjointed Down to Earth.

 

By 1976, the band had a major label deal, but leader and guitarist Roye Albrighton inexplicably bailed, leaving the band in the hands of American Dave Nelson, and the dreaded disease to strike most prog bands in the late 70’s: “we have to do a pop album so we can get rich and famous” syndrome which killed off 95% of all prog bands to get that far. 1977’s Magic is a Child is noted mostly for the cover model being a fairly unknown 12 year old Brooke Shields skipping through the waterfall as well as being the final nail in the coffin.

From a millenium perspective, Nektar has had no less than twelve different lineups since their hesitant return to live activity in 2000. The band rotated around Roye Albrighton, and founding members Ron Howden (drums), Taff Freeman (keys), and Derek ‘Mo’ Moore (bass). The two decades leading up to this 2019 reunion saw a blizzard of changes that ultimately led to the band splitting into a German version (mostly the replacement parts) and the US version (mostly the surviving original members)

This week in a tiny club in Northampton Massachusetts saw the large Nektar entourage (seven band members and seven crew members) load onto the tiny stage. With guitarist Ryche Chiandra (of the 1978 era of the band) holding down most of the vocal parts, original members Moore and Howden, long time member Randy Dembo rounded out by keyboardist Kendall Scott, a female vocalist and original light guy and founding member Mick Brockett on light show it was a crowded stage. They put the crowd on notice immediately, opening with a 20 minute version of the side long song A Tab in the Ocean. A new song, the catchy Skywriter from their upcoming album captures their ethos well and nicely slots in with some of their classic material (possibly an unreleased tune written back in the 70’s by Chiandra during his stint in the band). Then, bam(!), all of side one of Remember the Future in all of its glory. The band really started to hit their stride and the odd double Rickenbacker bass attack of Dembo and Moore gave a strong syncopation to many of the tunes. Another new tune preceded another 20 minute suite from their debut lp, Dream Nebula/Roundabout/Drifting. This piece grew in power as it headed to the end, showcasing the musical muscle and precision the band has now that it didn’t really have in 1971’s fuzzier and looser version. Love Is/The Other Side was another 20 minute excursion from their upcoming album of the same name. Crying in the Dark (Djam) and King of Twilight was another suite from Tab in the Ocean that brought us to the end of the set. Encores of Fidgety Queen from Down to Earth was a raucous barrelhouse tune and I’m on Fire from the upcoming album rounded out the evening before we were ushered out to make room for a DJ spinning at 10 pm. Hmm.

Overall, Nektar still has it in spades. They have always used a limited chord structure and song construction to great effect (see Hawkwind), and were never flashy, more a subtle effect. Their sound in 2020 is very close to original Nektar vibes, with some ill advised dabbling that sounded like the Alan Parsons Project, but overall there are still strong hints of kindred spirits Hawkwind in there. One observation was that the modern jam band moe. strongly resembles and owes some of their distinct sound to Nektar’s occasional west coast jam excursions. Original light guy Mick Brockett sent astral projections behind the band that reminds and reinforces the fact that this is a psychedelic band at its core, once and always.

Looking at their handwritten setlist, and lamenting ‘options’ not played

So little did I know in the early 80’s when I encountered the decidedly weird Remember the Future, with its story line of a child being told by aliens of things to come in the future and a warning to remember the lessons well, and tried to catalog all the madness and chaos I’d encountered in their decidedly weird and acid soaked fans  …that it would all frickin end up coming true some 37 years later. Remember the Future kids, not an easy skill to master, but sometimes it is important.

Brian Wilson Live in 2020-Skirting a Fine Line Between Genius and Elder Abuse-Live at Mohegan Sun

Seeing Brian Wilson in concert has always been hit or miss, dating back to his retirement days of….the sixties? Seventies? Eighties? Brian’s long and twisted history is fraught with success, disaster, genius, madness, drug problems, public and private displays of instability…the whole gamut of a colorful life gone off the rails.

I had the good fortune of being offered free tickets for this show just after seeing the brilliant film Love and Mercy which details the Pet Sounds/Smile era of the sixties while simultaneously detailing his lowest point of therapy in the 80’s. (Any Beach Boys fan needs to see this movie immediately.) This confluence of events led me to being hyped for a show like I hadn’t in a long while. I mean, this is one of the living legends of rock. Mick Jagger and  the Stones? McCartney? Seen them recently and they are the fiber of a living breathing rock history that dates back to the early 60’s.  The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are responsible for most of the monumental moments in 60’s rock. But the Beach Boys slot in there earlier than the Stones and mere months behind the Beatles with their 1961 formation. They are the longest running live band in rock. Pet Sounds is mentioned in many writers lists as the top album in the history of rock. Brian Wilson often mentioned as the equal of McCartney/Lennon in songwriting. This was going to be a legendary evening. And then…

Brian appeared nearly comatose on stage. Surrounded by a powerhouse band featuring original Beach Boy Al Jardine and guitarist and early 70’s Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin, crackling side musicians (11 piece band) and a vibrant light show, it was a spectacle. Jardine sounds like it’s 1969 still, and Chaplin (the youngster at 69) ripped some riffs into the night that clearly frightened some of the timid in the crowd. Double jumbo screens on either side of the stage flashed the close ups. An impressive 28 song setlist was on display and flawlessly executed. This band can smoke the current ‘Beach Boys’ Mike Love led unit.

(quick aside: five or so years ago, I was on the beach at Cape Cod, and across the water I heard what I commented was ‘the worst Beach Boys cover band ever’ drunkenly butcher some classics. Turns out later it was actually the real Beach Boys playing a private show for some Kennedy affiliated event.)

But after a while, I noticed something odd: any time it seemed Brian wasn’t playing piano (honestly most of the night) or actually singing, the cameras studiously avoided him and concentrated on the musicians in the wings, Al’s face singing…anything that wasn’t close to the grand piano that did a great job at blocking most of Brian’s body from the crowd. What was going on? I watched closer. Brian often led songs off in a shaky but recognizable voice, but soon deferred to his full voiced band-mates and the ever dependable Jardine. His arms grew dormant as if he was waiting for the next duty awaiting him, face impassive as the band delivered the goods all around him, blaring the glorious harmonies that fueled many peoples childhoods up to the top of the arena. This was really incongruous, some of the snappiest versions of songs I’d heard from the Beach Boys in decades while Brian seemed mostly detached from the proceedings.

(for those who may not know, Mike Love owns the name Beach Boys, while the two main founding members are not allowed to use the name)

Wilson has a script that shows up on a teleprompter that gives him the ability to interact with the crowd, and lend an air of normalcy to the proceedings, but one gets the impression that he would read anything on the screen (something that actually happened at the Bridge School Benefit in 1999 after his singing with Eddie Vedder Sheryl Crow and Neil Young). I wasn’t the only one in the rock world to posit that he wasn’t completely in control of the proceedings as noticed two years ago after a London show in the Guardian. (read the comments below that article from many who saw the show)

Still, anyone who has vaguely followed the torturous life Brian has led since the mid 60’s, there is a poignancy in his shaky voice. The scars of the veritable psychic wars this man has survived are on display, with little to disguise them. There is a celebration going on in front of you, a celebration of survival, and a celebration of the music of perhaps America’s signature rock n roll band. We are lucky to have him. (setlist here)