Neil Sedaka
Grey Eagle Resort & Casino
May 8, 2015
Neil Sedaka fans apparently span multiple generations, as last night's appearance at Grey Eagle Resort & Casino seemed to prove. While there where many fans from his early days (early 1960's and on), we were sitting beside a much younger gentleman who knew each and every lyric of every song, and was not shy about singing along wholeheartedly. Good on him...
For the entire audience, Mr. Sedaka brought back floods of memories, and melodies that have not begun to waiver even a little as time has passed. Instantly recognizable piano hooks made song introductions completely unnecessary as he worked his way through hit after hit, sometimes standing and dancing at the front of the stage, but most times settled in at his grand piano.
The show opened with a video montage reminder of his influence since he began writing songs, after 11 years as a concert pianist.
Artists as diverse as The Captain & Tennille, Johnny Mathis, Dame Shirley Bassey, Queen, Frankie Valli, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Carpenters, Tom Jones, Carole King, Neil Diamond, Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, ABBA - even Elvis Presley covered his songs over the years. But he sure can still do a great job himself playing them!
Given the wealth of selections to choose from (over 700 songs), I'd say he did a pretty good job of taking us all back through the years, to his earliest successes (Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Oh Carol) up through his re-invention in the early 1970's with fan and producer Elton John (Laughter In The Rain, The Hungry Years, That's When the Music Takes Me, Solitaire). He didn't perform his duet with Elton John (Bad Blood), but that was included in the earlier montage...
As a mobile DJ in several Western provinces for years, I played so many of those songs to death over the years at weddings and dances. I never did tire of that at the time. Once he made his comeback I played those albums and 45's just about as much.
Last night, he played some new songs, and they're as good as anything he's done before.
Looks like I'll be visiting iTunes as soon as I finish this review...
Later!
2 comments:
Oh ya. A great show, and so wonderful to hear all of those tunes again. I really like one of his new tunes in particular, hope to hear again soon.
Well, I just may have to make that happen :-)
Post a Comment