Doobies lost without their leader at SPAC
by Bill Brina, The Knickerbocker News, September 2, 1975
The Doobie Brothers try hard. Drummers John Hartman and Keith Knudsen command a battleship array of percussion. Guitarists Pat Simmons and Jeffrey Baxter leap about and toss their blond locks furiously. The lighting is rather impressive and perfectly synchronized with the music. Slide projections provide a visual backdrop and fireworks explode precisely when the music climaxes. The material is grist for, and from, the AM hit mill.
The AM radio hits brought out the audience at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Monday night. At least 20,000 showed up, despite overcast skies and intermittent rain. Those who came seemed rather young and surprisingly sober.
Unfortunately, a certain segment seemed determined to storm the aisles and rush the stage no matter what the resistance. As a result, SPAC security and would-be rushers engaged in a perpetual running battle during most of the Doobies’ set. If no one was seriously hurt, it would be rather surprising.
Why anyone was so excited, though, is hard to figure. For despite all the effort the band throws into their performance, the Doobie Brothers minus Tom Johnston are nearly anonymous.
This is most unfortunate—for him and for his band. The other members of the band are competent sidemen, but that’s it. None of them will do as lead singers, though Pat Simmons is good for a song or two a night. None of them as yet has assumed Johnson’s role in pacing and shaping the flow of music onstage. The result: mechanical, loud riffing and predictable, rather boring climaxes.
Monday night’s audience didn’t seem to care, but soon enough the band is likely to find audiences that do. One hopes that Johnston defies the medical prognosis and recovers sufficiently to rejoin the band. Failing that, one hopes that the band recruits an able replacement. But it won’t be easy.
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