Doobie Brothers provide a great setlist mixed in with good vocals & guitar @ Chevy Court

What: Concert Review
Who: Doobie Brothers
Where: NY state Fair
When: Labor Day 2014
Why: $1 Day performance at the fair

(Photo from Syracuse.Com)

It was hot on steamy yesterday at the Great NY State Fairgrounds, but that didn’t stop the fair from breaking records for their ($1) day on top of it being a Holiday. Tens of thousands of people flocked into the fair, and around 20k of them crowded around the Chevy Court for the fair’s only performance that day-The Doobie Brothers.

The classic San Jose, California rock band returned to Syracuse for another free outdoor event show in Syracuse. (Apparently they had a good enough response at last year’s Jazzfest). While you could tell age is a huge factor of the band (just by looking at them throughout the show one can see that these guys are old), that didn’t stop the classic rock band from jamming out on stage and providing a juicy set list that covered most of the hits and some newer songs from their 2008 album.

The Doobie brothers only have two original members-Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, but the other newer members are old older gentlemen who have made names for themselves in other bands before signing up to the group or are related to the original members in some way or form.

The Doobies are a band known for their vocals, and they proved this fair and square yesterday. The harmonies these guys can sing are fantastic mixed in with fairly good guitar playing, keyboarding and drums. This band is a prime example of a classic rock group with instruments that scream rock n roll and talent that can play them. Even when they broke out the slide guitar for a number of songs it was rather impressive, and one could tell why Robert Randolph chose to do ‘Jesus is Just alright with me’ as one of his first covers.

The band that first produced that song opened up with it yesterday afternoon as the hot summer sun bore down on the crowd at Chevy Court. At the end of the 80 minute set, they decided to close the number with two huge Doobie Brother hits-‘China Grove’ and ‘Listen to the Music’ which got most of all the oldies in the crowd up and dancing.

Overall, it was a fun concert worth going to, and the Doobie proved they can still put on a decent performance that wasn’t spectacular, but was above average and pleasant to see and hear.

Grade:
B+

Or ***/* out of 5 stars stars (3 in a half)

Set list:

1)      Jesus is Just Alright

2)      Rockin’ Down the Highway

3)      Depending on you

4)      World Gone Crazy

5)      Neal’s Fandango

6)      South City Midnight Lady

7)      Eyes of Silver

8) Clear of Driven Snow

9)      Taking it to the Streets

10)      Don’t Start me Talkin

11)   Black Water

12)   Long Train Runnin

Encore:

13)   China Grove

14)   Listen to the Music