The
Doobies Still Going Strong
By
Mike
Scinto
When my
wife Kathy and I saw the Doobie
Brothers in 1976 at Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio, Texas little did we know
we’d be sitting on an early autumn evening at The Rose Music Center in Huber Heights, Ohio 41 years later
enjoying many of the same classic tunes performed as well, or even better, by
the band that seems as though it hasn’t missed a beat; The Doobie Brothers. Before I talk about the flawless, in fact
nearly perfect show by the headliners, I want to tell you about the great
pairing of the Doobies with the opening band for the night, J D and the
Straight Shot.
I’ve never been one to label a
performer, or buy the labels attached to them. I know many of you choose what
you listen to based on those labels so as best as I can do it the group is a
mix of blues, classic/new rock and a dash of folk/storytelling thrown in. Kathy
and I loved the show and both thought it was a perfect match and opening for
the Doobie Brothers. J D and the Straight Shot, new to both
of us, featured some of their standards interspersed with new entries from
their just-released album, “Good Luck
and Good Night”. Some of the tunes
they shared from the new album were “The Ballad of Jacob Marley” (a different focus
on the deceased business partner of Scrooge), “I know You Know I Know” and a
revisit of the Three Dog Night classic “Shambala”. This band could easily be a
headliner in a venue like The Rose. Because of my role as a talk show host I
tend to listen to news on the radio in my travels and only occasionally to
music. The greatest compliment I can pay J D and the Straight Shot: the next
day I bought the new album and have lost myself in the music all the way
through when I’m on the road!
As we awaited the Doobie
Brothers to take the stage we chatted with the couple sitting next to us. To
say they were fans of the group would be quite an understatement. You see, they
drove from St. Louis to catch the show and were turning around and heading back
right after; and that’s quite a drive for one concert! And to make their story
even more unique, this was the 35th time they had taken in the
Doobies! Oh, and of all they venues they had visited, they liked The Rose Music
Center best. The couple sitting directly
in front of us overheard us sharing our 1976 San Antonio story and turned
around and told us they saw the band on that same tour, same year, together
right here in Dayton.
There’s very little I can say
here about the legendary band that hasn’t been seen, heard or experienced many
times over its nearly half-century existence. As I’ve already noted the
classics came one after the other all evening. The crowd was on its feet,
singing along and moving to the beat. The shopping list of titles like “Jesus
is Just Alright”, “Long Train Runnin”, “Takin’ It To The Streets”, “Take Me in
Your Arms” and of course “China Grove” were followed by the encore of “Listen
to The Music”. This wasn’t a concert, it was venturing into living history. On
a side note, after the 1976 show we took a short drive “down around San Anton”
and saw the real China Grove.
