A few years ago, Godfrey
Townsend told Jim McCarty he should get the history of the Yardbirds together
into a show. It took Jim over two years to complete this idea, but Tuesday
night, April 8, 2025, I witnessed the end result.
Driving after school to The
Kate, (Katherine Hepburn Performing Arts Center), I was tired but ever so
excited to be going to a show midweek at one of my favorite venues. Opening the
show were 'The Cryers,' a band I have never seen before, nor did I realize this
was the band that Denny Laine worked with during his last performing years.
They mainly perform their own original songs, are from the NY/NJ area and have
been performing since 1991. A firm opener for sure.
After a brief intermission, in
which the stage crew set up for The Yardbirds, an announcement accompanied the
emergence of the band which stated that all sounds and noises you hear tonight
will be live and intentionally performed by The Yardbirds.
HEART FULL OF SOUL
I am blown away by this opening
number! I have never heard The Yardbirds recordings performed live, and this
hits me between the eyes! I REMEMBER! They were a British Invasion band which
wavered around the rock/blues genre and produced songs that moved up the
charts, and songs that are musically dynamite ... and some that took years to
be recognized.
OH OH! I don't remember that
microphone screeching sound on the records. A moment for a sound man to run out
and re-check the mics and for John Idan to remark, "What you just heard
was NOT intentional and did NOT come from The Yardbirds." Tension is
broken. The audience laughs and suddenly HEART FULL OF SOUL begins again! This
time to its conclusion. My eyes are now as big as saucers, and I cannot wait to
hear what is coming next.
This Living History is broken
into sections with narrative by Jim McCarty, the original drummer for The
Yardbirds; instrumental demonstrations of the elements of some of the songs,
and full-on performance of fourteen songs. I was not a student of Yardbird
history. I knew they had three amazing guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and
Jimmy Page. However, the success of each of these three may have overshadowed
the band they came from. Tonight, I get to hear the whole story as well as hear
the songs I will remember with detailed time and place.
The Yardbirds began as a
performing band in clubs, straddling the blues and soul genre. Their live
performances became flat on their first recordings, and they needed to search
for songs that would showcase them on record. They developed what became 'The
Rave Up.' A guitar announcement, if you
will, that said, "We're onstage, we're starting our performance, and
you're gonna wanna listen."
CERTAIN GIRL
EVIL HEARTED YOU
MISTER, YOU'RE A BETTER MAN
THAN I AM
Eric Clapton was a bit of a
snob. He dressed better than the rest of the band and looked down on the audience
and others that he felt were less in status than he would like to see. Jim said
he and Eric had some laughs and got along ok, but when Clapton decided that
'For Your Love' was not the way in which he wished to move and left, it was ok
with Jim. "I was relieved when he left." Jim rolls his eyes and
has a smirk when he says this. You decide a meaning.
And now Jimmy Page will suggest
Jeff Beck become their guitarist. Jim McCarty said that from Jeff Beck they got
the "Yardbird Sound".
Next come stories about
Hullabaloo, The Oklahoma State Fair, Visa snafus, demonstrations of guitar
riffs from certain songs, manager changes, Dick Clark and so many more details
on The Yardbirds and other bands of the time. I get caught up in the story, the
history and then suddenly they perform and THAT is even better.
SHAPES OF THINGS
OVER UNDER SIDEWAYS DOWN
Have you heard the explanation
of the chord progression DAG GAD? Go listen to Jim tell it, and Godfrey
demonstrate.
As you probably know, Jimmy Page
decides he will join the band and they have two marvelous lead guitarists. This
makes the performances either magical, as they join forces and play back and
forth OR disastrous as they compete for the limelight.
Then comes the split of The
Yardbirds into The New Yardbirds (who become Led Zeppelin) and Renaissance. (At
this moment, "the voice of God" comes over the speaker and tells Jim
he has skipped two pages of informational story. It is ok. We quickly get back
up to the split and move on)
And ultimately, Jim is asked if
he would like to see The Yardbirds reform. YES he would! And they do. And here
they are: Jim McCarty on drums, John Idan on vocals and guitar, Mike Scavone on
percussion and drums when Jim is narrating, Godfrey Townsend on lead guitar,
and Kenny Aaronson on bass.
This is a powerful, talented
collection of musicians who can perform these songs to the perfection of their
predecessors.
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING
FOR YOUR LOVE
HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO
DAZED AND CONFUSED
You will be able to see these
musicians in other bands as well. For instance, John Idan has a band in Germany
that performs all over and Godfrey Townsend is the musical director for 'Happy
Together Tour.'
DON'T GO YET!! It's time for the
encore!
TRAIN KEPT A'COMING ALL
NIGHT LONG
And the song I heard from
'American Graffiti' while one character danced with a March Hare hat on in the
club scene:
I'M A MAN
I'll just leave it all right
there.
Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
NE Correspondent
Forgotten Hits
Sounds like an interesting show!
As it turns out, purely by coincidence, The Yardbirds are playing here TONIGHT at The Des Plaines Theatre ... with Billy J. Kramer as the opening act!!!
There are plenty of great seats still available if you'd like to go:
https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/66064432/yardbirds-with-billy-j-kramer-des-plaines-des-plaines-theatre?_gl=1*1rw5ss7*_gcl_au*NzYyODcwOTM2LjE3NDI5MjQ3NDA.*_ga*OTQyMTE0OTM0LjE3NDI5MjQ3NDA.*_ga_DRT2S2GQYP*MTc0NDY4NTYzNS4yLjEuMTc0NDY4NTY1OS4zNi4wLjA.
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