America rediscovers itself; their music shows it
by Steve Grandin, The Saratogian
An incredible lightning storm, blowing rain and even a temporary power blackout failed to dim a fantastic show by America, Captain and Tennille, and John Sebastian at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Tuesday night. A crowd of nearly 10,000, almost 3,000 more than viewed Frank Sinatra the previous evening, saw three distinct and different types and styles of music.
The group that everyone came to see,
America, gave the audience everything it could ask for in its 90-minute performance. The three-man group has definitely come a long way in the past year. At SPAC last June, the trio was experiencing a rarity in rock music – a super group that was musically falling apart. They had a pair of million-selling albums behind them, and suddenly nothing was going right for America.
Since then, however, America has rediscovered itself. And their music shows it as they possess a positive attitude that seemed to be lacking a year ago. Their repertoire included many songs from the group’s “Holiday” and “Hearts” albums, each of which hit the Top Ten. The trio mixed the newer tunes in well with the older songs of another era of America.
Probably the group’s strongest point is its versatility. All three write music, all take turns as the lead singer, and their ability to play different instruments is amazing. Dewey Bunnell plays the guitar and the organ; Gerry Beckley plays the guitar and piano; and Dan Peek is expert on the acoustic and electric guitar, organ, piano, steel banjo, and even the harmonica. Adding to the trio’s talent were bassist David Dickey and drummer Willie Leacox.
America burst onto the stage with the lights coming on as they hit the first notes of “Tin Man”. They followed that with their least successful-selling single, “Muskrat Love,” and then the elements took over. As the group started their new single, “Daisy Jane,” the skies opened up, sending the “lawn people” scurrying for shelter. The rain soon began blowing on the audience inside the amphitheatre. And midway through the fine tune, everything stopped. The entire stage went dark, and the music came to an abrupt halt. After about 20 seconds, the power came back on, but Beckley, who was singing lead on “Daisy Jane,” put it best by saying sadly, “…And I was really getting into that.”
The trio went into several lesser-known songs such as “Baby, It’s Up To You,” “Moon Song,” and “Old Virginia” before doing a set of older singles. One of their first hits, “I Need You,” was well-received, as was “Lonely People”, the tune that restarted their career after a year of failure. A pair of songs from the successful “Homecoming” album, “Don’t Cross The River” and “Ventura Highway,” went over well with the crowd that seemed to know the songs by the third note.
They then did a series of five songs from the latest album, “Hearts,” including “Be My Woman Tonight” and “Story Of A Teenager.” The trio did one of their biggest hits, “Sister Golden Hair,” before leaving the stage, only to be called back on by a thundering ovation. America went back to its first LP, “America,” and did “Sandman” and closed with the famous “A Horse With No Name.”
Opening the evening was The Captain and Tennille, the husband-wife team of “Love Will Keep Us Together” fame. The couple is a study in contrast as Daryl Dragon, the “Captain of the Keyboards”, plays the piano, organ, and Moog synthesizer (sometimes all at the same time) with absolutely no emotion, while his wife, Toni Tennille, puts every ounce of energy into every piece. Both are exceptional musicians, as they both seemed to play every type of keyboard instrument in each song.
Their music proved to go well beyond the limits of their current hit as they played everything from boogy to country. The highlight had to be, however, the last tune, “Love Will Keep Us Together”, the number one song of 1975.
Sandwiched in between was John Sebastian, founder of The Lovin’ Spoonful. Many people in the audience were too young to remember this famed group of the mid-60s, but those who knew Sebastian’s music went crazy as he played. He did some of his newer songs, such as the theme from “Welcome Back, Kotter,” a fall TV show, but it was the older tunes that the audience yearned for. Sebastian didn’t disappoint them by doing “Nashville Cats,” “She’s A Lady”, “Daydream”, “Had A Dream,” and “Darling, Be Home Soon.”
Although the combination of America, The Captain and Tennille, and John Sebastian would probably not be too pleasing to a hardened rock observer, it’s extremely unlikely that any of the 10,000 fans were disappointed. It was definitely a fun night.
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