FORGOTTEN HITS: Another Outside Concert Review

Monday, January 6, 2020

Another Outside Concert Review

'Twas the Saturday night before Christmas and all through the concert hall, all the creatures were stirring in anticipation of a great rock and roll show.

And a great rock and roll show they got!

The great Southern rock band The Outlaws (formed in Tampa in the early 70s) presented their annual Yuletide Jam here at the Capitol Theater in Clearwater, Florida, before a sold-out crowd of 800. In fact. the show has become so popular it was also held on Friday night, the day before, in front of another sold-out throng. This year, the special guest was the legendary Firefall who opened the show.

Promptly at 8:00, Firefall took the stage.

Who was in the band I hope you are asking?

To start with, the man who founded Firefall himself in 1974, guitarist and singer Jock Bartley, along with original keyboardist, saxophonist and flutist David Muse.

The drummer was Sandy Fica, who has been in the band since 1984. Gary Jones played the acoustic guitar and sang many of the lead vocals and has been with the band since 2014.

The fifth and final member would have been original bassist Mark Andes but, as Jock Bartley explained, "Filling in tonight for our bassist Mark Andes, who has just had a hip operation, is a great friend of ours from the band Orleans, please welcome Lance Hoppen."

The band opened up with their very first single, "Livin' Ain't Livin'," and it smoked. They followed up with probably their second best selling song, "Just Remember I Love You" and the group nailed the harmonies perfectly. Everybody contributes vocally except drummer Sandy Fica.

"Cinderella," their third single was next, followed by "Goodbye, I Love You," a minor hit from 1979.

Next was "So Long," another minor hit from their second album, "Luna Sea. "

Next was finally the song most people know Firefall for. Jock Bartley explains, "Next we are going to play a song that even if you have no clue who Firefall is, you know this song. If you have been in an elevator you have heard it. Sitting in a doctor's office you have heard it. Going to the Piggly Wiggly you have heard this song. I was in my dentist's chair not long ago and as his hands were in my mouth this song was playing and he was saying, "This is your song, right?" All I could do was nod my head. So again if you do not know who the hell we are, you know this song."

David Muse then started the opening flute introduction, the audience roared in approval, and Gary Jones started singing the familiar words to "You Are The Woman." The song then became one big audience sing-a-long.

And then for something completely different, Firefall played their other major hit, "Strange Way," although not quite like the record. The song started out very familiarly but then became one big extended jam with David Muse contributing a great sax solo, Bartley jammed on his electric guitar and even Lance Hoppen played a short bass solo. Sandy Fica threw in a drum solo of about a minute and then back to original song to close it out. Wow!

If you think of Firefall as that light rock band from Colorado, you are only partly correct. They can cook and jam with the best of them.

To close out their portion of the show, they played "Mexico" from their debut album. Firefall played an excellent eight song set of all their hits and I, for one, was totally impressed. It also turned out that David Muse, who went from keys to flute and sax and vocals, is a resident of Clearwater. He mentioned that "it is great to play in my hometown, especially when I can drive just right down the street to the show."

Intermission time.

Towards the end of the intermission, Henry Paul (Outlaws founder and guitarist) came onstage to present a couple of awards. He presented the Frank O'Keefe award (for the Outlaws original now deceased bassist) to his daughter Shannon O'Keefe. And then, for a great surprise, he brought out original Firefall founder Rick Roberts for an award. I don't remember what the award was unfortunately, but it was great to see Rick Roberts on the stage.

He left Firefall in 1981 and , except for a brief reunion at the end of the 80s, hasn't played with them since. I kinda wondered why he didn't join the band for a song during their set but maybe declining health prevented it (he did not look in great shape.) And then he mentioned that he also was a resident of Clearwater. He said he was born and raised here before moving out to Colorado in the early 70s to form Firefall with Jock Bartley and, in case, I forget Larry Burnett in 1974. He is now a current resident of his hometown. That's three rock musicians that I have seen in the last week that make their home in Clearwater; Rick Roberts, David Muse and Gary Puckett. I have lived here most of my life and I can see why.

Now it's time for The Outlaws.

They are probably the Tampa Bay area's most well-known band in the rock and roll era. Formed in Tampa in 1967, they played the local circuit for many years until 1975 when they released their first album titled "The Outlaws" and the rest is history.

Their Southern Rock / Country Rock / Boogie Rock is distinguished by dual lead guitar play by three lead guitars along with great four part harmony, which sets them apart from other Southern Rock bands.

The only original member left is Henry Paul, who sings most of the leads and, of course, is part of the three lead guitar attack. Original drummer Monte Yoho was not at the show, Henry Paul explained, because "Monte has got to the point where his health does not permit to plays drums live for two hours any longer. He is at home right now enjoying Christmas with his family." I feel bad cause I did not get the name of the drummer filling in for him as it is not listed on their website either. So I'm wondering if Monte will rejoin the band someday or if this past summer was it for him.

Steve Grisham was on lead guitar, and he has been with the band since 2013, along with a brief appearance in the middle 80s. The third lead guitarist was Dale Oliver, and he joined the band just over a year ago, replacing Chris Anderson. And boy, can this guy play the guitar! Of the three guitarists, he got the most solos. Fun fact; he was Reba McEntire's guitarist in the 2000's.

The bass was handled by Randy Threet, who has been in the band since 2005 and on keys is Dave Robbins also in the band since 2005.

They opened up with two of their most well-known songs, "There Goes Another Love Song" from the first album and "Hurry Sundown," the title track from their third album.

Like I said earlier, one thing that makes them different from a lot of other bands of the Southern Rock genre is their four now five-part harmonies. Whenever they would start jamming (which was quite often), all four members would move to the front of the stage and stand next to each other and just wail away for a brief time and then finally separate and move around the stage or back to their original spots. This really made the show quite entertaining as if the guitar jamming was not enough.

The repertoire consisted of most of their best-known songs like "Freeborn Man" and "Stick Around For Rock & Roll." They played a couple of The Henry Paul Band covers like "So Long" and "Grey Ghost." The Henry Paul Band is a group formed by Henry Paul in the late 70s after he first left the Outlaws and lasted until 1985. He formed the band Blackhawk in 1992 and the band technically exists to this day. Four current members of the Outlaws also either play or have played in Blackhawk (Paul, Oliver, Threet & Robbins).

Henry Paul then announced, "We have a brand new album coming out in February. It's called "Dixie Highway," and we are going to play a couple of songs off of it now. And I hope you like them."

The first song was called "Showdown." It was a instrumental and it just cooked. The next was a song that should become a new anthem for the South along with "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird." It was titled "Southern Rock Will Never Die." It was beautiful. Cell phones with the lights on were in the air. A couple songs that were all about the fans were next, "It's About Pride" and "You Are The Show." Another new song called "Rattlesnake Road" was played and then a hugely popular Outlaws song "Ghost Riders In The Sky," which is a cover song played by many, made its appearance.

Henry Paul then thanked the crowd for continuing to support the band over all the years and especially for making their Capitol Theater Yuletide Jam so popular. A lot of the proceeds from both shows were being donated to charity.

"We are gonna close out the show with this one! You all know it! Enjoy!!" And then the Outlaws rock anthem (sort of their "Free Bird") started to ring out over the now completely on their feet crowd, "Green Grass And High Tides." And jam this song they did, stretching it out to about 15 minutes.

Each member took their turns with a solo with Dale Oliver perhaps turning in the most crowd-pleasing one. Again all four members would come to the front of the stage and stand together and simply (for want of a better word) just simply jam together. The crowd roared their approval. And then more solos and more solos and more front of the stage jams; it went on and on as the audience watched, some in disbelief. And then finally and unfortunately, it came to an end. The band came together and took a bow and left the stage. I just stood there trying to take in what I had just seen and heard as did my girl friend Alice and a lot of the crowd. We all finally made our way to the exits and then out of the theater.

And then, OMG, the icing on the cake. We went out by their tour bus just as the Outlaws were boarding and we got to meet most of them. Henry Paul, Dale Oliver and Randy Threet could not have been more kind and gracious and actually engaged in conversation. Could it get better?

Yes, Rick Roberts stepped off the bus by himself and started to walk away. Alice and I caught up to him and got photos with him and some talk about Clearwater being all of our homes. I don't think anybody else even recognized him. You could tell by the look in his eyes he seemed to really appreciate being remembered. We said our goodbyes and he turned and walked away down Osceola Street (apparently heading home) all by himself.

The only other thing I want to mention before I wrap this up is that I have always been a big fan of The Outlaws but I had not seen them in concert since the 70s until this past February on The Rock And Roll Legends Cruise. That concert on the ship convinced me that I had to see them again and they did not disappoint. It was simply an incredible show!!

And speaking of Rock And Roll Cruises, Kent, I do not know if you have ever been on one, but if not, make it a priority! Last February was my first and it was probably one of the five best things in my life I have ever done. The featured act of our cruise was Roger Daltrey. Can you imagine seeing his show, sitting and standing probably 15 feet away from Roger himself. We saw him three times in four days. He never played the same show either. Let Roger explain as he did to us: "A lot of people in the business try to make fun of me for doing these cruises. But I tell them that it is one of my favorite places to perform. I can play Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people and when I play a new song 19,000 people get up and go buy a beer or use the bathroom. Out here on the ship I have everybody's undivided attention for the entire show. The crowd here is the true rock and roll fans. And I love it!" I believe that says it all. And where else will you get a fist bump from Roger Daltrey (initiated by him.)

Other bands on our cruise were Kansas, Buddy Guy, .38 Special, Night Ranger, Dave Davies, Foghat, Nazareth, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Edgar Winter Band, Canned Heat, Martin Barre (from Jethro Tull) and many others.

We are now going to take what is called The On The Blue Cruise in April 2020, with the featured act being Justin Hayward. Others performing are Art Garfunkel, The Alan Parsons Project, Wishbone Ash, The Zombies, Al Stewart, Poco, Dave Mason, Strawbs, The Orchestra (ELO members), The Babys (without John Waite), Orleans and yes, Firefall again, along with many others. I mentioned to Jock Bartley (when I took a pic of him and my girl Alice that I would see him on the Blue Cruise. He seemed impressed. Anyway I digress.)

After the show (you know 'Twas The Saturday Night before Christmas) it looked like by judging the faces of the crowd that Christmas might have come early!

Rich Turner

Palm Harbor, Florida

PHOTOS:
(Note: All photos supplied by Rich Turner)