The 2015 Yacht Rock Revival was a massive success, starring Walter Egan (Magnet and Steel), Elliot Lurie (Brandy), Ron Moss and Peter Beckett of Player (Baby Come Back), Jeff Carlisi of .38 Special (Hold On Loosely), Matthew Wilder (Break My Stride), Steve Augeri of Journey (Don't Stop Believin'), plus special guests Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow's band), and Brian Ray (Paul McCartney's band!!!!). Damn...
We sold out (3,500) before we'd even finished setting up for soundcheck. I think everybody had a great time (ourselves included), with only a minimum of complaints about the Park Tavern's bar stations.
Ready to roll...
For the most part I fared well, except for a few diarrhea saxophone solos. The end of Taking it to the Streets didn't go well, with me misreading the band and missing the last note. I had a solo in Matthew Wilder's Kid's American that went ok (nothing special). My other big sax moment was in Robbie Dupree's I'm No Stranger, which has a nice long solo in the middle. I played one ugly wrong note and then somehow managed to completely loose the time and bullshitted my way out of the rest of the solo. Dammit! It didn't go like that in rehearsal. I still suck.
On the other hand, I got the Africa solo correct (I missed my EWI pedal on the previous gig and screwed the first phrase of that up), and I nailed the lick in My Old School that I've been ruining as of late.
The keyboard parts were correct (a few minor flubs), and my vocal parts were fine. Most importantly, I didn't have any failures to pitch my keyboard up or down (for key changes)--usually my Achilles heel on a gig like this.
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| excellent photo by Jim Ramsdell |
Everybody else on stage with Jeff Carlisi.
We had a our awesome crew of Kip and Zach on sound, plus Hans teching at the stage. Here he is gathering up guitar crap while Matthew Wilder prepares to take a selfie.
We finished with a group sing along on Hey Jude.
Congratulations to everybody at Pleaserock for putting on such an awesome show!
