Boston Legends Tour
Paramount Theatre, Rutland VT
March 20, 2011
By
Nancy Nutile-McMenemy
Remember going to shows at the Orpheum Theatre, the old Music Hall, the old Boston Garden and other great venues in and around Boston to see your favorite bands, well last night in downtown Rutland Vermont is was like the old days of rock and roll all over again. Some great musicians, whose musical pedigrees are the basis for the Boston Music scene, played in a intimate old style theatre, much like the Orpheum, except on a main street not a dead end alley way. Located a few hundred miles north of old Beantown, ok, but the music and the atmosphere were like those days. Sure we're all a little older and a little grayer but folks were there because they still appreciate great music.
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| J. Geils of the Mighty J.Geils Band |
The Boston Legends All Star Tour was put together by, and is being promoted by
SMD Live LLC out of Boston and it's bringing together some incredible musicians with deep roots in the Boston Music Scene.
The lineup of musicians list greats from guitarist J. Geils,
Magic Dick and bass player Danny Klein of the
J. Geils Band;
Barry Goudreau formerly of the band Boston,
Joe Pett from the
Joe Perry Project and Doug Bell from
Bellevue Cadillac;
Jon Butcher from the Jon Butcher Axis,
Charlie Farren of the Joe Perry Project and Farrenheit and
David Hull who performed with
Aerosmith and Joe Perry Project; child prodigy
Desire Bassette who has performed with numerous rock icons and
The Uptown Horns.
The Ipswich MA based band
The Fools opened this leg of the tour, which included dates Portsmouth NH and Pittsfield MA.
They opened with "More Of Everything" during which lead singer Mike Girard performed his signature striptease and taunted the crowd "feel free to join in!" They hightlighted a few of their most famous songs "It's a Night (for Beautiful Girls)", "Life Sucks...Then You Die!" and did a very impressive cover of the Allman Brother's "Whipping Post" and were about to jump into "Psycho Chicken" but their time was up.
After a brief set change, drummer Joe Pett and guitarist Charlie Farren took the stage.
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| Joe Pett, Drummer |
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| Charlie Farren |
Farren's haunting vocals were tight on his song "Nobody's Somebody" a song off his
Deja Blue CD from 2003. Farren introduced and was joined on stage by David Hull.
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| David Hull |
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They performed the lead track to Hull's
new CD "Soul in Motion", "Pay Some Attention to Me Baby." They were accompanied by The Uptown Horns, a horn crew that played with the J. Geils Band on the 1987 "Freeze Frame" tour.
Next up, Doug Bell and he introduced Desire Bassette followed by Barry Goudreau.
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| Doug Bell |
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| Goudreau is WOW'd by Desire Bassette |
Desire Bassette opened by saying she grew up listening to Goudreau and was so excited to be playing on stage with him. She proceeded to rip through Jimi Hendrix's "Watchtower" which seemed to have Goudreau very impressed with her young guitar prowess.
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| Desire Bassette admires Goudreau's playing |
After the crowd recovered from Bassette and Goudreau exchanging some smoking guitars, out walks the man most of the crowd was waiting patiently to see. Mr. J. Geils.
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| J. Geils |
He asked if there were folks in the crowd old enough to remember the TV show "M Squad" starring Lee Marvin. He said his parents wouldn't let him stay up for the whole show but they let him watch and listen to the Count Basie composed theme (the second and third season's theme was composed by Basie, the first season's theme was composed by Stanley Wilson) then off to bed. He proceeded to play it for the crowd and it was amazing.
He was joined on stage by former Geils Band mates Magic Dick and Danny "DK" Klein.
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| Magic Dick |
Doug Bell returned for vocals on "Homework" a song written by A. Perkins, D. Clark and O.Rush that the Geils Band made famous during their years together, it remains a crowd favorite.
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| Danny DK Klein |
Jon Butcher performed a beautiful solo of "If Wishes Were Horses."
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| Jon Butcher |
Farren, Hull and Magic Dick covered The Animals' great "House of the Rising Sun" that had the crowd singing along. Then Farren and Hull taught the crowd a "simple and stupid song to sing along too" "Talk Dirty to Me" followed up by a Joe Perry Project song "East Coast, West Coast" featuring Butcher on guitar.
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| Charlie Farren |
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| Hull and Farren |
A brief break with a local DJ pumping up the crowd applause, bringing most of the band members back on stage to close out the show with a cover of "I Hear You Knocking", a song written in 1955 by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King but made popular by Dave Edmunds Rockpile in 1971.
Overall a good two hour show by these "Legends" although this reviewer would have preferred more stage time by Geils, Klein and Magic Dick.
The Tour returns to Vermont Sunday, April 17, 2011, 7:00 PM, Memorial Auditorium, Burlington
Next up, Doug Bell and he introduced Desire Bassette followed by Barry Goudreau.
