The 2016 Yacht Rock Revival in Atlanta is now history. Another fine evening with the original artists and 4,000 people in attendance!
Highlights:
Ambrosia is extremely consistent from night to night. This was my first time hearing them out front, and I was extremely impressed with how good they were.
I had a nice chat with David Shaver from Starbuck before the show about what he's been up to since the last time I saw him.
Their posse far outnumbered everyone else's at the show. I'm pretty sure I could pick out the band members, but they also had crew, spouses, and the crew's spouses.
Robbie Dupree: We've played with Robbie so many times over the past few years that we are extremely comfortable with each other. His songs are fun to play--not so complex that you don't know what parts are important, but there's enough musical meat on the bone to keep you interested in playing them more than a handful of times.
Robbie through us a curveball last night when his harmonica failed on Saturday Night (I'm really not sure--I just saw him come back to the riser, toss one harmonica, and pick up another), and I guess he restarted the solo? I must have missed the cue to restart that section, and I plowed into the next chorus before I realized that I was off. I blame Robbie.
Stephen Bishop: First time with The Bish, and what's not to love! He gave us some good stories, bad jokes, and I think he was genuinely impressed with the band--as he was leaving rehearsal on Friday, I overheard him say, "I haven't heard it sound like that in years" (speaking, I presume, about the last song we played with him, On and On). Pretty cool. This was also his first time playing the theme to Animal House with a full band, which is somewhat noteworthy. I don't think he knew what he was getting into when he agreed to perform with us. He seemed a little shocked by the whole event.
Matthew Wilder: It's been really cool during the past year to watch Matthew transform back into a performing musician after a thirty year break. He's much more comfortable than he was a year ago. We like him, which means it's only a matter of time before we start making fun of him to his face.
Player: We've played many, many times with Ronn and Peter from Player. Their songs are cool, and they are also very entertaining as people (on stage and off). Definitely the old, married couple in all of this, they intend to be rock stars to the very end (which will be when one eventually strangles the other). I enjoy the California craziness that they bring.
Juice Newton: Our first female guest performer! She definitely hit a home run with her songs last night. Not much keyboard for The Great Bencuya or myself--he handled handclaps on Queen of Hearts and I played the tambourine part on that and Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me. I nailed the bells and chimes on Angel of the Morning, garnering kudos from Juice at rehearsal. Maybe I should add that to my one sheet.
Big thanks to our crew for making it such a fantastic success--Kristen, Rebecca, Kip, Zach, Hans, and Matt!
