Marin Rockers Wow Both Older, Younger Folks

Philip Elwood 

EXAMINER MUSIC CRITIC - Oct. 19, 1998

The Concord Pavilion's concert pairing two Marin County bands from different rock-generations - Huey Lewis and the News and the Sons of Champlin - on Friday's balmy, windy night was a lot more like a good-time college homecoming celebration than any battle-of-the-bands production.

The crowd was hot for their ol' pal Huey but also enthusiastic enough for The Sons to take up the chant for "more, more" when their powerful 40-minute opening set ended.

Apart from suburban teenagers who go to any live rock concerts, the Concord audience for mainstream rock, blues and jazz consists of folks now in their 30s, maybe 40s, who went to Days on the Green, Fillmore West, the Oakland Arena, Winterland, Berkeley Community and elsewhere. On Friday night, many of them joined by their kids, they had a great time, standing, clapping, sitting, dancing, filling the aisles near the stage and singing along with Lewis and Champlin.

John Pierce replaced Mario Cipollina on bass in The News a few years ago but otherwise the group is same as it was in 1982-83 - Johnny Cola, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper. Apart from a couple of a capella quartet vocal numbers, including "60 Minute Man," Huey sings everything, still.

At Concord he tried to insert a few numbers from the poorly received, "Four Chords & Several Years Ago" R&B album - "But It's Alright" and "(She's) Some Kind of Wonderful " were great, got a big response - but although "My Other Woman's Got Another Man," and "I'll Let Her Go and Start Over," from his forthcoming CD also sounded good to me, the crowd was on a nostalgia trip and Huey complied, plunging into "Heart of Rock & Roll," with some fine harmonica interludes; "He Don't Know" (one of many featuring guitarist Hayes), "Power of Love," "If This Is It," "Couple Day Off" and others. On the last, he brought out a crowd of backstage friends as accompanying singers. On the 1991 recording, some 49ers, including Dwight Clark and Eddie DeBartolo, sang along.

Lewis' usual jovial, good-guy commentary, as his two hour portion of the program moved along, occasionally seemed distracted, but I hope some in the crowd were listening when he mentioned the necessity of having 13 new tunes ready before recording a new CD, which then takes months to produce. That kind of a grind would drive anyone to distraction.

Among those playing in Lewis' horn section were saxists Ron Stallings and Rob Sudduth as well as trumpeter Marvin McFadden. At the show's end, they were featured, along with Mic Gillette, trumpet, and other members of both The News and the Sons.

The Sons set included, among others, powerful blues-rock renditions of "Get High," "Tobacco Road" and "Freedom." Champlin's organ and guitar work (let alone fine vocals), Terry Haggerty's guitar, Tom Saviano's sax and all the rest, combined with superb arrangements, make this the best of bands around.

Lewis' season-ending concerts have been a traditional, if sporadic, Concord event since his glorious top-of-the-charts years of the early 1980s. The most memorable of the series was also the saddest: On the stormy night of October 25, 1991 (five days after the horrifying Oakland hills firestorm) when entrepreneur Bill Graham, having visited with Huey and the News backstage at the Pavilion, boarded a helicopter to fly back to Marin County. Less than an hour later, Lewis' concert was ended abruptly by a widespread power outage - Graham's plane had crashed into high tension lines near Vallejo, killing all aboard.