Review by Junkman with Shawn Perry
Photos by Ronnie Lyon
Like just about every other rock fan in the mid 1970s, I remember hearing Boston for the very first time. Stoned and cranking the Pioneer hi-fi at my parents’ house, it was the cleanest sound I had ever heard, and the louder I turned it up, the better it sounded. A true rock classic, it was the soundtrack of my life for a time there in 1976 and beyond. Each song is a sonic force.
Whether it was played on the home stereo, cranked out of the eight-track in a million different Camaros parked at the lake on a Saturday night, or in heavy rotation on the local rock radio station, it seemed like Boston was everywhere. “More Than A Feeling” alone had to rival Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” as the most played song at any keg party I ever attended. It most definitely led the pack in “air guitar” performances.
The second Boston album, Don’t Look Back, came two years later. It was almost as epic, and produced even more hits. The combination of Tom Scholz’s monumental guitar sounds and Brad Delp’s soaring vocals, painfully tracked and multi-layered in the studio by Scholz, created the perfect mix of harmony and power. But it all started with that first Boston album. And tonight, 40 years later, Tom Scholz told an audience at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa that the album changed his life.
And so it began after a Boston-style hop through the “The Star-Spangled Banner” that Scholz and company slipped right into the two hip-shakers from the 1976 album, “Rock And Roll Band” and “Smokin,” sounding every bit as melodic and commanding as ever. Vocalist Tommy DeCarlo nailed these songs, and really came alive during “Feelin Satisfied.”
There were some cool lights and video during “Cool the Engines,” while “We’re Ready” featured a NASA video backdrop and superlative background vocals from Beth Cohen. She later sang “Higher Power” with Gary Pihl on harmonica.
“Something About You” was letter-perfect, and it felt like 1976, and I was at a keg party mouthing the words to a girl I had a crush on. But alas, just like the song, it lasted about four minutes and faded. Sholtz, sporting shorts and a sleeveless shirt, made a reference to his casual attire, saying that a Facebook poster had written that he “looked like he was mowing the lawn.” Later, the acoustic guitars came out for “Amanda” from 1986’s Third Stage, and cell phones lit up the venue.
“The Launch” featured Scholz on guitar and keys, and more NASA rocket ship video, before segueing into the familiar 12-string intro of “More Than A Feeling” and bringing the crowd to its feet. The song’s harmony-flavored guitar lines capture Scholz’s “Rockman” sound, and his hammer-ons at the end were impressive.
The instrumental “E Jam” featured some excellent guitar interplay between Scholz and Pihl, with strong support from bassist Tracy Ferrie and drummer Jeff Neal. “Walk On,” the title track from Boston’s 1994 studio release, was another one with a different turn, starting off with Scholz working his Hammond organ in the midst of fog and strobe lights.
As the huge gong behind Neal emblazoned with the Boston logo rang, the familiar intro of “Foreplay/Long Time,” with Scholz at his Hammond, had the audience on their feet again, ready for the one-two crack of the snare drum. The sold-out Pacific Amphitheatre erupted with applause and sing-alongs of this FM radio classic.
Encoring with “Used To Bad News,” and ending the set with a slowed down tempo version of “Party,” a song I think should have come earlier in the set, it was indeed a Saturday night party. How can you lose when Boston shows up, armed with an arsenal of hits. Quite a party “as long as you’re there!”
