At theme parks and casinos around the country, former hit-making — and now aging — rockers are bringing their nostalgic hits to smaller audiences. On one hand I think it’s cool that bands like this continue to work and (hopefully) have fun doing their thing. On the other hand, does a barely-noticed local band like Y&T need to keep playing, and merit being on the same summer line-up as globally recognized bands like Blue Öyster Cult and ABC? Well, I suppose I’d say, “more power to ’em” if they’re having fun and making a living.
Here is the summer line-up at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Free Friday Night concert series:
http://www.beachboardwalk.com/concerts/
I find some of the descriptions, airbrushing, soft focus, and band-as-logo graphics, pretty funny. Good to know that “ABC’s Martin Fry is a revelation, an ageless soul man belting out Vegas glitter pop and uptown House in his electric blue lounge suit.” Nice (by which I mean “creepy”) to see old guys like Gregg Rolie and Eddie Money with lots of youthful stage makeup/airbrushing and hairdressing. Interesting graphic choice for WAR and Foghat to photoshop their stage photos into strange cartoon logos.
If I happened to be down at the boardwalk on a Friday this summer, I would actually stick around to watch maybe half of these groups. Any interesting tidbits you notice in these promos and bios? Who would you stay around to hear? (LMK CVB, obviously!)