In the end, the Doobie Brothers won.
The veteran rockers played the Kravis Center’s Dreyfoos Hall, which isn’t the usual rock ‘n’ roll venue a band like this is used to playing. Usually, rock is served up in a place with standing room around the stage – but the Kravis’ main concert hall, built more for musicals, operas and classical music, has seats all the way to the stage. At first, despite the Doobies’ best efforts, the crowd remained seated. (They were dancing in their seats, but they weren’t getting out of them. Not yet.)
That said, the group was complimentary toward their hosts. “This is a beautiful place you have,†said lead singer/guitarist Tom Johnston. “And the acoustics in here, we can actually hear ourselves play.â€
But the band who dominated rock radio in the 1970s wouldn’t be denied, and the combo of “Black Water†and “China Grove†got and kept the crowd on their feet.
The Doobies were giving the Kravis audience AM-radio flashbacks throughout, with two very familiar voices leading the way. Johnston’s muscular, bluesy style drove songs like “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)†and “Long Train Runningâ€, while Patrick Simmons’ more soulful sound got the crowd into “Jesus Is Just Alrightâ€.
Somewhat surprisingly, the audience reacted more to less well-known songs during the early part of the show. A track off 1973’s The Captain And Me, “Clear as the Driven Snowâ€, was greeted as warmly as any hit, as were the band’s newer songs off their most recent album, World Gone Crazy.
In fact, it was during the title track when the crowd really began getting into the show.
After that, it was pretty much hit after hit for the Doobies. A rollicking piano intro by Guy Allison got the group into a roaring version of “Takin’ It To The Streets†– which was the only song from the Michael McDonald era of the band that they played Saturday.
Johnston and Simmons have surrounded themselves with top-notch musicians in this incarnation of the band. Multi-instrumentalist John McFee, who first was a member of the group in the late ‘70s, returned recently as a full member and proved to be the group’s MVP at times. He provided textures to the group’s sound they didn’t really have in the Doobies’ heyday, providing slide-guitar solos and tremendous work on the dobro and the fiddle.
John Cowan was not only a strong bassist, he added key vocals on “Takin’ It To The Streetsâ€. Sax player Marc Russo gave his own “voice†to the songs with pitch-perfect solos. And the group maintained its dual-drummer sound, with Ed Toth and Tony Pia both on the skins – Pia standing in ably for the Doobies’ usual drummer, Michael Hossack.
The Doobies’ musicianship and winning style did win the crowd over by the end, even getting an audience sing-along for the closing song, “Listen To the Musicâ€. And the sound of “Whoa, whoa! Listen to the music!†bounding around the wonderful acoustics of Dreyfoos Hall was great music indeed.
foto dal Kravis Center di Palm Beach durante il concerto
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