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Captain Bob’s Arresting at Copps

Brian’s Field Report to the Global Bobster Brotherhood 

Bob & His Band – at Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum – August 20^th, 2008

Stunning.  Blown away.  Has he been this good all year?  This was my first show since the NY City Center tour-ending gig about 2 years ago (when he debuted Ain’t Talkin’).    

I’m stunned, I’ll just tell ya straight-up.  I thought Bob was on, let’s say, not on an upward trajectory.  I’d love it if any regulars who were there and have seen / heard multiple shows this tour can say whether this was average – or was more “on” than usual?  It was like – Wow.  I’m speechless. 

But I’ll try . . .

:- )

For those of you who weren’t there – this is a fanfreakintastic venue!  SO much better a crowd and hall than the arena in nearby Toronto.  For one thing, everybody on the floor stood up for the entire show!  I couldn’t believe it.  I now know I’d go to a show at Copps Coliseum ANYday over one at Toronto’s ACC.  It’s like a baby arena – small floor, small sides, small everything.  I was front center floor, and you could run out of there, go to the bathroom, stop and get a beer and be back at your seat before one song’s over.  Serious.  Everything was that close.  It was like being at a show in your house. 

It felt like a crowd-size circa 1966 – Before The Flood.   Both myself and an old veteran stagehand estimated the house at about 7,000. 

There were a ton of Dead shirts there – so nice to see – in fact the last time I was in that building was on a very psychedelic couple of nights back in the spring of 1990 seein’ The Boys just before Brent Myland died – including that awesome Hey Jude – Dear Mr. Fantasy medley.  Anyway  :- ) . . .

One Weird Thing:  I had long conversations with about 30 different Bobheads (from the Toronto-Hamilton area) and not a single one of them had ever even heard of  ”Masked & Anonymous”.  It’s just SO bizarre how unknown that great work is, even by fairly hardcore Bob fans. 

One Funny Thing:  This is Canada, and Hamilton is nicely off the beaten path, and, well, there were just PLUMES of pot smoke billowing out from behind the side-of-stage scrims!  I mean, it looked like a freakin dry-ice smoke machine!  Giant CLOUDS of it wafting slowly across the stage.  It was SO funny.  It was SO loose.  I mean, MSG ain’t like this anymore.  The ACC in downtown Toronto is like going to a concert at your phuckin’ parent’s house.  But this is like goin’ back to the ‘70s man!  :- )  Total time travel.  Free-form everything everywhere.  Loved it!  No posing or pretentiousness.  Just wild uninhibited dancing, freedom smokers, and beer flowing like crazy (but not a single obnoxious drunk spotted all night long). 

One Canadian Thing:  Not only do the big white hockey rink boards go all around the floor, but the freakin’ benches and penalty boxes are right there too!   And people are sittin’ in ‘em.  And nobody thinks anything of it.  That’s the beauty part.  It felt like I was back at the Winnipeg Arena. 

One Guitar Thing:  The “new” guy is just outstanding.  I can’t get over it.  I don’t know whether he was really “on” or is simply this amazing all the time.  I don’t know why I had doubts about this “new” band, but they were just So spot-on.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think Bob & His Band just keep getting better & better.  How is that possible?  Luckily the sound was crystal clear, and wonderfully, Bob was annunciating every syllable of every word! 

One More Thing:  He closed Woodstock ‘94 with a transcendent “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, and basically opened this show with one as well — with a bouncing, lyrical guitar, and a long harmonious harp solo to end it.  Then the rockin’ Memphis Blues Again with Bob on organ trading solos with the guitar.  High Water was just outstanding – so articulate and precise in both the vocals and instrumentation. 

Rollin’ & Tumblin’ is such a wonderful live rock n roll dance song.  What a great performance card to be able to play any time you want.  Then Tryin to Get To Heaven was ethereal, and again, with gorgeous accompanying solos by both the guitar and Bob’s keys.  Gawd, for a tape of this show!  Then this smokin’ Highway 61, and, I know, he’s played it a lot, but for both this and the encores, I pretended like it was the first time I’d ever heard these songs — which was easy cuz for so many people in the room that WAS the case – and people were just goin’ bananas.  And 61’s dueling solos, with Bob in the Al Kooper role playing off a feisty 21^st century Bloomfield.  It felt like one of those traveling “Rock n Roll Revues” of the late 50s early 60s – dancin’ in the country shed to the big rock n roll radio hit of the summer.  “How does it feeeel?” 

A:  SO much fun. 

The highlight for me was the song where I first “got” Bob — “It’s Alright Ma” – somebody hit me back if you know where to download a recent version of this song.  It was so beautiful, so melodic, so rich, flushed out . . . so complete.  Gawd bless the gawds n bawbs for guiding this onto my flightpath. 

And, just like Rollin’ & Tumblin’, how great a live song is Thunder On The Mountain?  A born show-closer.  Those two songs can stick around forever as far as I’m concerned.  He ended with this trance-endental Ain’t Talkin’, which reminded me of the way Neil Young sometimes ends shows with Tonight’s The Night.  Haunting, mystical, lots of air & space – a transportive, trace-inducing meditation.

Then of course the big party ending with thousands of people hearing Like A Rolling Stone and All Along Jimi’s ‘Tower for the first time.  Rock n roll dancing pandemonium. 

As it should be. 

surreally & Sir Bobly,

Brian Hassett

karmacoupon @gmail.com

Shine A Light  (2008)

The Rolling Stones, with Darryl Jones, Chuck Leavell, Blondie Chapman, Bernard Fowler & Lisa Fischer, and a 4-piece horn section led by a wailin’ Bobby Keys.

Special Guests:  Buddy Guy, Christina Aguilera, Jack White 

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Cinematographers:  Scorsese brought together seven of the best in the business, all of whom would normally be heading up their own pictures:  lead d.p. Robert Richardson (The Aviator, JFK);  Robert Elswit (just won the Oscar for There Will Be Blood, also Good Night and Good Luck);  Andrew Lesnie (all three Lord of the Rings;  King Kong);  John Toll (The Last Samuri, Braveheart);  Emmanuel Lubeski (Sleepy Hollow, Lemony Snicket, Children of Men);  Stuart Dryburgh (The Painted Veil);  Ellen Kuras (The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind),  and several other top cameramen.

Filmed over 2 shows, in the fall of 2006, at the Beacon Theater, NYC (cap. 2800).

Length:  122 minutes

Shine A Light  is originally a song from Exile on Main Street.

18 songs – “some never played live before” – probably just “Champaign & Reefer”. 

(although some reports say 20 or 22 songs)

            (4 from Some Girls;  3 from Exile;  2 each from Beggars & Let It Bleed)

All songs Jagger/Richards, except Just My Imagination and Champaign & Reefer.

.
Jumpin’ Jack Flash  (released as a single, June ‘68, recorded during Beggars Banquet)
Shattered  (Some Girls, 1978)
* She Was Hot  – some cite as a highlight  (released as 2^nd single from Undercover, 1983)
All Down The Line  – Ronnie on slide — (Exile, 1972)
Loving Cup,  with Jack White  – reportedly fairly lame  (Exile, 1972)
As Tears Go By  — Keith on acoustic 12-string (December’s Children, 1965)
Some Girls  – a highlight – the band has fun with it — (Some Girls, 1978)
Just My Imagination  (Temptations song, from Some Girls, 1978)
* Far Away Eyes  – is great!  Ron Wood on peddle steel; Jagger on acoustic — (Some Girls, 1978)
* Champagne & Reefer,  with Buddy Guy (Festival Express star! J ) – a movie highlight – Mick on harp; (written by Muddy Waters, on his King Bee album, 1981) 
Tumbling Dice  (from Exile, 1972)

   band introductions
You Got The Silver – slide guitar, with Keith lead vocal (his first ever on a Stones record; Richards original, Let It Bleed, 1969)
Connection  – only partial  (Keith song & lead vocal, from Between The Buttons, 1967)
* Sympathy For The Devil  – great version — (Beggars Banquet, 1968)
* Live With Me, with Christina Aguilera – doing one sexy song, where she takes a scat solo for the 2^nd instrumental break.  —  (Let It Bleed and Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, 1969)
Start Me Up  – reportedly only so-so  (Tattoo You, 1981)

encore:
* Brown Sugar   – great Bobby Keys sax! — (Sticky Fingers, 1971)
Satisfaction   (Out of Our Heads, 1965)

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you can hear the Aguilera duet here:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=7e4dOi46wa0

American-based computers can watch it here:  www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=220655

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original Beacon concert set lists:
10/29/06:
Start Me Up
Shattered
She Was Hot
All Down The Line
Loving Cup
As Tears Go By
I’m Free
Undercover (Of The Night)
Just My Imagination
Shine A Light
Champagne & Reefer
Tumbling Dice
You Got The Silver
Little T&A
Sympathy For The Devil
Live With Me
Paint It Black
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Brown Sugar

11/1/06:
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Shattered
She Was Hot
All Down The Line
Loving Cup
As Tears Go By
I’m Free
Some Girls
Just My Imagination
Far Away Eyes
Champagne & Reefer
Tumbling Dice
You Got The Silver
Connection
Sympathy For The Devil
Live With Me
Honky Tonk Woman
Start Me Up
Brown Sugar
Satisfaction

Additional songs played during rehearsals at the Beacon (Maybe for some DVD extras):

Shine A Light
Undercover of the Night
Fool To Cry
Mannish Boy
Beast Of Burden
I’m Free 

LIVE WITH ME
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

I tell ya,

I got nasty habits, I take tea at three,
The meat I eat for dinner
Must be hung up for a week,
My best friend, he shoots water rats
And feeds them to his geese,
Don’cha think there’s a place for us
In between the sheets?

Come on now, baby
We can build a home for three,
Come on now, baby
Don’t you wanna live with me?

There’s a score of harebrained children
They’re all locked in the nursery,
They got earphone heads, they got dirty necks,
They’re so 20th century;
Well they queue up for the bathroom
‘Round about 7:35
Well don’cha think we need a woman’s touch to make it come alive?

You’d look good pram pushing
Down the high street,
Come on now, baby,
Don’t you wanna live with me?

sax solo

Come on now, baby,
We can build a home for three,
Come on now, sugar,
Don’t you wanna live with me?

The servants they’re so helpful, now,
The cook she is a whore,
The butler has a place for her
Behind the pantry door,               (and ya gotta think of Bill & Hillary who were in the audience!)
The maid, she’s French, she’s got no sense,
She’s wild for Crazy Horse,
And when she strips, the chauffeur flips,
The footman’s eyes get crossed.

Don’cha think there’s a place for us
Right across the street,
Don’cha think there’s a place for you,
In between the sheets?

Christina’s scat solo

Come on now, baby,
We can build a home for three,
Come on now, baby,
Don’t you wanna live with me?

Originally recorded May 24, 1969. Released on Let It Bleed on December 5, 1969
Lead Vocals: Mick Jagger  Electric Guitars: Keith Richards & Mick Taylor  Bass: Keith Richards  Drums: Charlie Watts  Tenor Sax: Bobby Keys  Pianos: Nicky Hopkins & Leon Russell  Backing Vocals: Keith Richards
Brian – karmacoupon@gmail.com

http://www.brianhassett.com/

Beers, you could smoke, and it wasn’t over packed. 

He comes on about 8:35 wearing big white cowboy hat, and black western show suit. 

First 3 or 4 songs his voice was raspier, more horse, scraggled, worn, shot than I’ve ever heard it.  First time age or the weather seemed to show in my nigh-on 20 years of Bob-hoppin. 

Maggie – standard but real rockin and got the whole crowd right into it.  Very animated for Canada I thought

Lay Lady Lay – 2^nd drummer (richie) joins, larry on pedal steel

kinda stunned, don’t know if I’ve heard it before, maybe once, loved it, country, that voice & vibe.  Really takes me back to another time. 

Lonesome Day – this and others kept sounding like Leopard Skin Pill-Box;  rockin;  2 drummers works great – love the extra KICK.  huge applause, big rocker. 

I don’t believe you – harp solo.  this sure sounded like Mostly Likely You Go Your Way . . .

Tweedledee beer run. 

You Ain’t Goin Nowhere – nuther country peak, Larry back on pedal steel, harp solo #2, and p.s. the sound was GREAT.  Mind you we were in front of the board, but could hear every instrument at will. 

Cold Irons Bound – the rock n roll frenzy highlight of the night for me – no greatest song, but greatest rock ride.   The dance part of the song & dance man. 

It Ain’t Me, Babe – upright bass, larry on acoustic, always great o hear and all, but didn’t take me to that other place. 

Watchin The River Flow – that got there – love it — trancy, transportive, more country rock theme and vibe

Tom Thumbs – tries harp solo, doesn’t seem to go, so it’s tres short.   But a great set so far, pretty perfect playing, NYC ending nice to hear, and coming at the end there was a nice hoot in this young New York. 

Shooting Star – fourth, final and maybe best and longest harp solo;  only one drummer – pretty lively. 

Summer Days – great silly rock n roll song, I call it “the Chuck Berry song,” I dunno.  Or his Jumpin’ Jack Flash. 

goes off, still hasn’t said a word to the audience. 

Rolling Stone – which I thought was great, surprised, how does he keep breathing new life into these after version gazillion-and-one.  (“I know, maybe it’s  how good the song is.”)  I’ve been a little bit homeless lately and there he was bringing it all back home, singing right to me. 

intros band, into Watchtower – which, again, I was expecting to be bored by but just loved it and people were dancing and going for it. 

Larry was smiling, good two-guitar interplay / balance, but I found Freddy a little predicable.  Not complaining, but you’d think he could have a real innovative guy in that slot. 

All-in-all a cracker-jack rock-n-roll band, playing the small venues for the hard-core.  Maybe I’m spoiled by now, and that his shows kept getting better for about 5 years running, but for me kool haus was sort of average great bob, except for the beginning where it sounded like he’d just gotten up from a long night of partying. 

= = = = = = = =

Brian

BrianHassett.com

karmacoupon@gmail.com 

I noticed that no one seems to be talking about Bruce’s Dylan rap moment. 

So, first Bruce returns after the 1st round of encores, “And I’m thinking, ‘Okay, if anybody’s comin out, this is it.’”  Being a New Yorker, I’m always pullin for this, there being so many musicians in this town on any given night, and the NYC shows always being the special look-forward-to-it show, the call-out night for most touring musicians. 

This being the closing night of a 14 month tour, i know everything’s rehearsed and down pat, so bruce comes up the stairs to the mic to do his standard “Thanks a lot Cleveland” rap, BUT !

he looks back over his left shoulder! 

and i’m like, “YEAH!” 

wouldn’t do that after a year of performances unless something was unusual!  Then Boom, he says, “Let’s do a Bob Dylan song.  . . .  Bob?”  and the man in the long black coat comes up the stairs behind him! 

great moment, the place goes crazy, and all the Dylanheads are suddenly quite evident  

“Highway 61″, starts out with a long instrumental, obviously chaotic, rockin, blistering, Dylan on electric guitar after past years of keyboard tours, black leather coat, curly hair blowin in the wind, giant screen camera has this great angle shooting up at him from below, Big Bob!  beltin it out! 

Though his mic’s kinda f*cked the first verse or so, sounds like it’s cutting in and out a bit, but he’s takin it, doing all sorts of playful, twisted only-Bob phrasings, and springsteen’s just beaming like he’s watching his child play, or like he’s living a dream, playing guitar on stage with his greatest hero of all time, open-mouth beaming like his face’ll break, enjoying the moment as much as we are, just playin and crazy and Bob!, loose, all unrehearsed black-leather-jacket-Beatles-in-Hamburg rock ‘n’ roll,  . . .  “archetypal!” Walter screams at one point, screachin bleacher fans like Beatlemania, seering guitars like Neil Young, curlicue vocal twists like Bob Dylan, putting some big Shea bleachers out in the sun, and a whole stadium sings out, “And have it out on Highway 611111″!!    rrrrrreeeerrrrroooo 

sorry, a little crazy right now just goin there  :- )

Then, like, an eternity later, Bruce follows with a real haunting “City in Ruins” – solo, I think.  But me and Walter are kinda in shock.  In fact I think we even stepped out the nearby exit to get a “holy f*ck, what just happened?!” moment.   uhhhhhh.   ”Kay.  No . . . way.”   then “Kay, let’s go back in.” 

And just as we do, he’s just finished “Ruins” and

THEN – he does this whole Dylan rap !!   

He starts out talking about growing up in a small town in New Jersey and how it was Bob Dylan albums that made him first realize there was a bigger world out there and how it made him see and think beyond what was around him. 

Then he said something about how Bob always spoke his mind no matter what, and how that was so inspirational to Bruce. 

–  for you non-Dylanheads, examples maybe check out, say Masters of War, Positively 4th Street (about 2-faced ‘friends’), or Ballad of a Thin Man (about the press)

Anyway, then Bruce goes into this Whole thing about the importance of protest and speaking out and questioning the government and how That is what’s patriotic to him. (!)   

– it was a pretty powerful statement.  i’ve seen a lot of major artists perform since this Iraq war started, and not one of them including Dylan, Jagger, Neil Young, the Dead etc. ever spoke directly to their audience about what’s going on, let alone encouraging them to question it!    

– and it was cool that his thought-dreams mind-riff went from his love of Bob and what he meant to him, into the need to speak up, how poetry and songwriting led into the need to Question, and he actually used the word “patriotic” to describe it. 

– it was so wonderfully wild and weird to be in these stands in America, this ultimate giant American coliseum with stars & stripes flapping all around the upper stadium rim . . . it was this national anthem moment — all the lights were on, everyone’s standing up kinda hat’s off at this point (cuz it’s the encores) yet there’s no action on the field (the performer’s not performing) and there’s just one person at a mic, 60,000 people saluting Bruce, but instead of singing about “bombs bursting in air” he’s talking about how Poetry and songs changed his life, made him look beyond his own borders, and what patriotism means to him.  quite powerful, and i mean, this went on for like 3 or 4 minutes. 

then he ends with, “I don’t know if history makes great men, or great men make history, but Bob Dylan is one of the greats.  . . .  This is for Bob,”

and he goes into Land of Hope and Dreams . . . 

which begins . . .

Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder’s rolling down the tracks
Don’t know where you’re goin’
But you know you won’t be back
Well darlin’ if you’re weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We’ll take what we can carry
And we’ll leave behind the rest

I will provide for you
And stand by your side
You’ll need a good companion, darlin’
For this part of the ride

I’m wonderin if, on a spiritual level, Dylan was that companion for Bruce?

the whole thing was just this magic musical spiritual inspirational moment I be cherishin forever. 

Post Bruce-site-post script: 

 just so you know how it ends !!  . . . 

(My Cousin Vinnie: “There’s mooore?”) 

Yeah! 

After this he does Rosalita, 60,000 people punching the air and screaming out “Rosalita, jump a little lighter . . . “  stadium lights on, people in multi-colored raincoats (none fell)  (though maybe some people tripped)  that made the whole stadium look like this massive bed of small multi-colored wildflowers, yellows and greens and reds all lit up and fresh and swaying in the breeze! 

- – > Dancing in the Dark for about 15 dancing minutes, it’s getting close to midnight, extra long even for Bruce, close of tour, Willie Nile and Jon Landau(!?) come out on guitars!  Willie’s bopping all around, total jumping-jack lightning ball, and hopping over to do raucous mic-sharing harmonies with the boss.  

Then Bruce calls out Gary U.S. Bonds, and Bond’s wife and daughter on harmonies, and Garland Jeffries for this crazy bluesy sloppy-but-joyous rock n roll “Quarter to Three” 

Then former-Georgia Satellite, & Rising producer Brendan O’Brien comes, somebody else on tambourine, and it’s the old 15 or 20-person unrehearsed rock n roll chaos jam routine.  Walter leans in at some point, “A R&R Hall of Fame induction jam at the Waldorf!”  :- )

And Then, here we are at Shea,  Dylan’s already played,  only one band not representin’, Bruce is suitably hoarse after 14 months of filling stadiums with his voice, so in the same desperate end-of-the-road exhaustion John first recorded it in, he belts out “Twist and Shout” and suddenly The Beatles were at Shea Stadium again!  The Beatles are playing at Shea Stadium    again   . . .   Joyous pandemonium, passionate arm-flailing, a bubbling bopping sea of human flowers, lights-on, Beatlemania ecstasy, it goes on for hours it seems, everyone screaming the escalating “ah, Ah, AH, AHHHHH” part, testifyin by the deck-full to the beatleific gods of rock n roll.   . . .  

Oh, ah, as if there was anything else, but he then clears the guests and ends with his soul song about his band, “Blood Brothers” which he never plays the whole tour, as a tribute to his band, and several eye-witnesses down front said Clarence Clemons was crying his eyes out. 

Just thought I’d share. 

= = = = = = = =

Brian 

BrianHassett.com 

karmacoupon@gmail.com

“Live Earth” was the most watched event in human history, the single event experienced by more people at the same time than anything else we’ve ever pulled off. 

I love the way she just stares out at the audience before she starts! 

part 1:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=MGtCiDfcIos

part 2:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=JI8nyOqHakQ

part 3:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=HTD21FXtjUc 

Besides her Oscar-winning song, “A Inconvenient Truth,” it’s all about the improved raps she riffs she lays down for the day’s global eyes. 

I watched much of this 24 hour day event with my mom.  In fact, it was the last month she was in the house.  She’s now in a nursing home, and there’s no more of those kind of shares, both insomniacs, up watching the beautiful Japan temple concerts at 5 in the morning, and then Giants Stadium (where I took her to see the Grateful Dead) in the afternoon.  She was into the environment before I was, but she was always so far ahead of her time.   In a way, Melissa is her, in a different vessel.  

= = = = = = = = =

Brian

BrianHassett.com

karmacoupon@gmail.com

Herbie, besides everything else in his brilliant career, was a key to the “Yes We Can” Obama video.  And the guy climaxes the Grammys, saying, “Yes, We Can” from the stage when he wins.  I’m freaking out.  

you can see the Herbie – Obama moment at the end of this short highlight package:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hAfmi4e-Gcc

Plus, Obama himself actually won a Grammy!! (for Best Spoken Word, for his reading of “Audacity of Hope“)  AND he beat a Clinton doing it!  (Bill for the audio of his book.) 

And, on top of that!  In just the last few hours — Obama won Maine by 20% (making it 4 straight states); Hillary fired her campaign manager; the airing of the winner/loser 60 Minutes; and Herbie’s climactic winner’s speech at the Grammys . . . this is all the news going into Monday morning and next week. this is insane.

I leave it to you to explain, but how did Obama have the Giants Meadowlands booked IN ADVANCE for the day after the Super Bowl?
If they had lost as the bookies and conventional wisdom had it, he would have looked so stupid appearing there. But he booked it and had everybody heading there before the game was ever played.

and now Herbie “Yes, We Can” Hancock wins frickin Album of the Year!!??

whether it’s a conspiracy, or a fluke, or karma, or fate, or Obama himself, something is happening here, and you don’t know what it is, Mr. Rove.

i’m just freakin out too much to breathe right now — but here’s what the Grammies were like before everything changed at the end: 

That was quite a show!  (as long as you hit “mute” for about 3/4 of it!)  but seriously — Gershwin — Cab Caloway —  Let It Be — and Tina Turner!!! 

I’ll let my brother Phil lay down what he saw from the seats in the house, but i’ll tell ya, Tina!!  What better inspiration to any of us under 60!  That babe’s never laid down a bad show in her life.  Overwhelming show-stealer from this couch. 

and a huge late-breaking smile to the Fogarty, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard’s playoff! 

Let’s all go see Fogarty next time he’s in town!   

here’s the best link – the 3:03 length version.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rh2Yxp6q2h0

i dunno what you think of a 20-something white chick doing the music industry’s tribute to The Godfather of fuckin music  –  but maybe the biz knew who could bring it home. 
seriously check out the last note/phrase/word “nothing” (you can’t miss it), but then crucially (and to my point that she’s the greatest living singer) after the climactic “nothing” how she’s still got the breath and strength to deliver the final phrase brilliantly (and soulfully!) within the same breath.  it’s superhuman.  and she’s just RIDING it.  and doing it in front of the most musically adept and powerful humans on the planet. 
i don’t remember a Grammy performance like this — falling to her knees and delivering the climax from the ground!?well, okay.  but that was Madonna, and it was MTV, and it was lip synched.
even check the swaggering stroll out as it opens.  (before it even happened, she knew.) 
and right into the First line!! — how she just Throws the microphone aside after it!!  just, paging heaven! 
transcendent.

 and seriously, she has the best mike control I have Ever seen/heard.  I never saw Sam Cooke, and she’s equal to Aretha & Company.  
(you can’t really tell how good mike control is unless you see how they use it.  in the studio they fix it.  live is the only truth.) and the way she’s just bouncing when she drops to her knees, just fucking Ripping it!  like, she can’t even do this standing up. and you can see how the knee-drop was not rehearsed because the cameraman doesn’t keep up with it and the director doesn’t have the move cued.
WHAT is she made of? 
like, how can that much sound come out of that body? 
and that much soul out of whatever white Irish-Equadorian genes she’s got?
and this is just one of 10,000 amazing deliveries she’s made. 
she Is Aretha  . . .  in her prime.  and then at the end, so sharp, Jamie Fox (Oscar winner for channeling Ray Charles) with that look on his face! and mouthing, “dat’s da shit”   
also note, the moment the song’s over and they cut to the crowd, it’s already a standing ovation to the back of the house.  it’s so NOT an “oh, i guess i better stand up,” but a true ovation!and you can actually hear (when u listen to it a hundred times) the audience screaming and cheering during the performance. i saw her live a few times at MTV events (Divas, VH1) and she just blew all the other famous singers away every time, not to mention the well-eared audiences. i suggest clicking “watch again” several times!   and play it LOUD.  (as they open The Last Waltz p.s.  — here’s the lyrics if ya missed anything     

same idea  +  inflation  =  last night

hearing, “Come and get it, but ya better hurry cuz it’s goin’ fast.” 

my momma always said, “Life is like a multi-act rock show;  You never know what you’re gonna get.”  You think you want a crunchie Country Joe, but it turns out the one shaped like a Zombie was the tastiest. 

The show was sort-of a set of 4 retreads followed by three real groups.  the tour hired a backing band to support the one living member of Badfinger, and Mitch Ryder (who billed himself as “And The Detroit Wheels”, proving there are no actual Detroit Wheels), and Felix Cavaliere trying to pass himself off as The Rascals.  Country Joe was the only act who went solo. 

“Badfinger” opened in the bright afternoon light at 7.  the only surviving member Joey Molland appeared to have consumed some liquid courage, but he really seemed to be driven to honor and deliver for his former group, like the way a sports team who loses their star player then raises their play to that of their missing leader.  3rd-string ‘Finger Mulland had certainly rehearsed the backing boys, and it just pointed out how tragic it is that the founding duo hadn’t survived.  (he did credit them for the songwriting)  If one member of the group was this powerful in performance (and he was) it just makes you sad for the power in this band that once was and is now lost to the ages. 

Mitch Ryder opened with Lou Reed’s “Rock n Roll”!  then a “C.C. Rider/ Jenny Takes A Ride” medley.  I’m glad I’ve now seen him and can cross this off the list of ‘things to do”!  it was like your weird uncle doing karaoke at a family picnic.  and of course it was still daylight and with the “Toronto The Good’s” somnambular audience it was a little … pathetic and sad.  and there we are, stuck in 3^rd row center for The Old Geezer’s Revue and I’m goin’ “Oh-oh, this could be really bad.” 

then one of the chocolates I’m looking forward to – Country Joe McDonald – comes out, he has 20 minutes, and spends the first five reading us a Globe & Mail article!  and remember kids, drugs will Not affect your judgment in later years!  (j/k, cuz he actually Was making a good point about our lack of progress in the use of language. which connects to his f*ck cheer.)  The guy’s got an Arlo Guthrie-sized arsenal of catchy acoustic songs that can win over any audience on first listening, but what does he do?  pull out two hardcore psychedelic songs from The Fish days and attempt to paly them solo on acoustic guitar!  One was “Flying High” from the classic “Electric Music For The Mind and Body”.  the neatest part of his 3-song set, was during Fixin To Die, not only did he leave the “1, 2, 3 what are we fightin for” to the audience, but he left it alone and the old Toronto hippies sang the entire chorus.  I took this as a good sign. 

this was one of the funniest moments – the 2 hour delay for the geriatric road crew to wheel out and plug in a single B3 organ for Calavliere!  ya think about the set and staging and costume changes that take place in the middle of any single song in 21^st century touring rock acts, and here’s these guys with about the only set-change in the entire night and can’t hook up a keyboard to save their lives. 

Felix was as lame as an act can be, really.  This may have worked in a small club, but he has the warmth of an elderly Soprano.  The one cool thing he did — like other older artists with an enormous repertoire of music in their heads (unlike these young pups today  when he did “Groovin’” he wove it into The Temptations’ “My Girl” and “Just My Imagination” before bringing it back to “Groovin’”  – the songs-within-a-song that us old Deadheads appreciate!  and oh man!  of course he closes with “Good Lovin’” – I know some of you are not big Dead fans, but I came to this show in part to hear the original guy do the original version of a song they climaxed many a fine night with, and not for nuthin but my GAWD!  they brought out the power in this song – several points where myself and everyone else would normally be leaping in the air – this was flat as a blown retread.  at a karaoke family picnic. 

End of the warm-up acts and the house band;  the real full acts came on. 

The Zombies were amazing — the hit and/or surprise of the night.  this Colin Blunstone singer … kind of a Jon Anderson, light and ethereal, but more like Martin Short on Broadway in his stage dramatics and beaming smiles to the back row of the theater.  he looked genuinely ecstatic to be playing.  when I came too today, the first image I had from last night was him singing with his arms stretched out, every finger splayed, and beaming this radiant smile that electro-shocked to life the sleeping grey army! 

which may be a good time to mention the bikini and apple-green mini-skirted go-go dancers that surrounded us!  man, without them the audience woulda sucked!  but who was gonna tell these nearly-naked babes to sit down and stop dancing?!  so, “They started it, officer.”  and everybody was standing and dancing from The Zombies on!  great and unusual stuff in Toronto I imagine.  and there was Rod Argent!  legend of the Cream Magazine era!  doing these wailing Keith Emerson / Jon Lord / Rick Wakemen organ solos. 

“Time Of The Season” — the first single-song peak of the night, and the following “Hold Your Head Up” was the second!  and ya just know, with this style of music, these guys are gonna take it.  it’s such a great hand-clapping, chanting, soloing anthem!  can’t believe I actually experienced Argent/Zombies doing that song.  also – non-Argent Blunstone was as joyously beaming for this as for the Zombies’ material.  And – his voice is still great.  that’s the biggest potential loss for these aging musicians, but the Zombies, Turtles, Leslie West and Joey M all still sounded strong and rich. 

The Turtles open with Zappa!  the band came out first and played “Peaches en Regalia” (and it’s been playing in my head ever since) the catchy instrumental that’s also on the classic “Live at the Fillmore East ‘71” that features some of Flo & Eddie’s best Mothers.  then they come out, do a hint of a routine about American Idol, then right into Turtles hit “You Baby” and “She’d Rather Be With Me”.  happy poppy stuff.  then, “This was our first hit,” It Ain’t Me, Babe.  their version brings so much more buoyancy and dancing and hit-singleness to it than Bob ever does.  (and there’ll be 2 Dylan songs in the final 8 of the night)

then this bizarre thing happened – and it led to the core musical moment of the show – Flo / fuzzy-haired Mark Volman strapped on an electric guitar, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play, obviously set to do some song, then goes to the mike and says, “We used to play with Frank Zappa,” and I don’t know, maybe it was the enthusiastic response he got, and he goes on, “and we were in a little movie with him called 200 Motels,”  cheer.  “Okay, we’re going to do a medley from that!”  and then walks back and takes the guitar off – obviously Not what he was originally planning to do. 

so they go into a Medley of 200 Motels!!??  could they pick a more obscure and inaccessible suite of music?!  the movie has Never come out in any form on VHS or DVD, and the l.p. sold about 12 copies (of which I have one).  so they do, like 10 minutes of crazy Motels music, including “the hit single” Magic Fingers with the super-fast lyrics and big Zappa guitar solo, which their Dennis Dunaway look-alike guitarist Took to the moon!!  – these turtle-muthers using only the best-of-the-best hired guns.  Mystery Roach and She Painted Up Her Face may have also been in the medley;  no Lonesome Cowboy Burt.    

then the wonderfully silly “Elenore, you’re my pride and joy, et cetera.”  and finally, “Happy Together,” which of course, they’ve got so down at this point, and can work every nuance – which is so bizarrely contrasted to Felix not being able to deliver his own hit. 

power trio Mountain closed – the salient moment being the best “Blowin’ In The Wind” I’ve ever heard.  He plays it once subtle “acoustic” sounding (on the electric), then puckin’ stomps the foot down and plays this thrashing Mountain hard-rock version (think Metallica) of “Blowin’” – thunderous on the Mountain!  THEN he brings it back down to the “acoustic” and THEN drops it lower to a cappella, THEN drops it further to just the audience singing, before wrapping it back up.  From cacophony to choir, by the most Mountainous one! 

and yes, they played a phat Mississippi Queen to climax the show. 

= = = = = = = = = =

Brian

www.brianhassett.com

karmacoupon@gmail.com