Top Ten Concerts of 2018 (Part One)

Every year around this time we take a look back at all the concerts and events we saw during the past year and salute the “Best In Show.”  

Looking over the list, we definitely scaled things back this year … in fact, the list of shows we were SUPPOSED to see (or had planned to see) is longer than the list of shows we actually made it to.  (Sometimes it just works out that way!)  

Still, we were witness to plenty of outstanding performances this past year … so here is our list of Best Concerts, 2018 … (also scaled back to just a Top Ten this year since our total number of concert experiences were down!)  

#10 – A Tie:  Freddy Cannon, Jay Siegel and The Tokens and Larry Chance and The Earls, alll part of the Doo-Wop Show held at The Arcada Theatre on July 15^th … and Chuck Negron and The Box Tops, also at The Arcada Theatre, on May 4^th   

These were both shows we played a hand in bringing to The Arcada Theatre … and they did not disappoint.  

We had never been to a Doo-Wop Concert before (and, quite honestly, I’m not sure that headliner Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon even qualifies for this distinction!) 'cause The Arcada was definitely rockin’ this night.  (Freddy has been a Forgotten Hits Reader for YEARS and we’ve talked and emailed hundreds of times … but this was the first time the two of us got to meet in person.)  He even called me up on stage for the encore!!!  Plus I got to meet his lovely wife Jeanette (and Svengholie, too!!!)

 

 

Larry Chance and The Earls put on a very entertaining show ... Jay Siegel had the crowd in the palm of his hand as his trademark falsetto never wavered … and Freddy was in great voice … and fine form … as he rocked the house.  (And let me tell you, the audience response was fantastic … here’s hoping he’ll be invited back real soon!) 

 

You can read our original concert reviews here:  

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/07/doo-wop-concert-review-part-1-featuring.html

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/07/freddy-boom-boom-cannon-concert-review.html

Tying for #10 was the pairing of Chuck Negron and The Box Tops.  (We have been pushing to bring The Box Tops to The Arcada ever since they reformed the band.  They were one of the highlights of the Happy Together a couple of years ago … and band leader Rick Levy has been a friend of Forgottten Hits for several years.)

 

 
Chuck Negron has spent the better part of his last dozen summers touring as part of The Happy Together Tour, too … so it was nice to see him expand his own set to include several more of his hits with Three Dog Night. 

Chuck was extremely complementary to his former bandmates Cory Wells and Danny Hutton … and thanked them for the success they brought him over the past fifty years.
 

Original concert reviews:  http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-triple-play-concert-review.html

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/04/forgotten-hits-interviews-box-tops.html

#9 – AL JARDINE – The City Winery – April 2^nd   

What a pleasant surprise this show was!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I heard that Al was doing some solo shows between dates with The Brian Wilson Band … but what we got was a somewhat chronological look back at the history of The Beach Boys, complete with some great photos and stories.  

I have maintained for years now that Al has the best voice amongst the remaining originals from the band that took the country by storm back in the early ‘60’s … and how they were able to manage to create such a complete sound with just three musicians on stage playing acoustic instruments is still a complete mystery to me … but they sure were good!

Al's a great storyteller with a great sense of humor ... and this was a really fun show to see.

Original concert reviews:

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/04/al-jardine-concert-review-part-1.html

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/04/al-jardine-concert-reviews-part-2.html

#8 – JIM PETERIK’S “THROUGH THE EYE OF THE TIGER” SHOWCASE – September 15^th at The Jam Lab  

Jim has been a Forgotten Hits Reader and contributor for years now.  This one man show / career retrospective was outstanding.  Jim is a great story-teller and has a very endearing way of making you feel as though it's just the two of you having a private conversation as he looks back over his entire career.  (Pick up a copy of his book, also titled “Through The Eye Of The Tiger” and see for yourself!)  

As if Peterik doesn’t already have enough to do between solo shows featuring re-imagining renditions of his best-known songs, shows he still does with The Ides Of March, acting as the back-up band to all of the acts featured on the Cornerstones Of Rock shows, and putting on his annual World Stage Concerts, he’s now booking dates for 2019 doing his one-man solo show.  Jim Peterik is the only artist to make this year’s Top Ten Concerts List TWICE … his January World Stage Show ranks at #6 … and The Ides Of March show presented at The City Winery in May was a close runner-up!  (He sang himself hoarse that night ... and the crowd loved it!)

Original concert review:

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/09/wrapping-up-week-of-killer-reviews-with.html

#7 – BURTON CUMMINGS – March 24^th – The Arcada Theatre  

Burton Cummings NEVER disappoints in concert … and this show at The Arcada was no exception.  

Performing his up close and personal set, he took us through a wide range of hits that could be performed by just one man sitting at the piano.  (So no … no “American Woman” tonight!!!)  

 

Rumors of a Randy Bachman / Burton Cummings tour for 2019 continue … and we DO know that they’ll be filming a brand new Soundstage episode together for PBS.  (We have just GOT to be there for this one!!!)  

Cummings has made our list of concert favorites every year he’s performed here.  If you still haven’t seen him, do yourself a favor and check it out … either up close and alone … or with his rockin’ band.  

Original concert review: 

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/03/burton-cummings-up-close-and-alone-live.html

#6 – Jim Peterik’s World Stage – January 20^th - Wentz Concert Hall – Naperville, IL  

We had never been to a World Stage before … and this was Jim’s 19^th year of putting on this incredible show.  

Highlighting all different kinds of music, his son Colin is also involved … and you can always rely on The Ides Of March to make an appearance … along with a couple of very special (and often surprise) guests.  

This year’s featured attraction was Mark Farner, formerly of Grand Funk Railroad … and this guy has still got it.  Mark performed a very entertaining, high energy set.  

Also joining Jim Peterik on stage were Dave Bickler, original lead singer of Survivor, as well as quick guest spots by Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick … and original Chicago Drummer Danny Seraphine (who brought his own guitarist with him from CTA, who proceeded to absolutely rock the house!)

Next year’s World Stage concert takes place in just a few weeks … and it’s already sold out.  Joining Jim on stage for the 20^th Anniversary Show will be David Pack, former lead singer of Ambrosia, and Gary Wright.  It takes place January 12^th at Wentz Hall.  (Here’s hoping he’ll do a second show again this year ... 'cause we'd REALLY love to see this one!)  

Original concert review:

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2018/02/jim-peteriks-world-stage-concert-review.html

The countdown continues tomorrow in Forgotten Hits ...

Don't miss our Top Five Favorites of 2018!!!

A Few Of Your Saturday Survey Comments

Hey Kent:
For the sake of accuracy, Clark Besch was wrong about The Hollies tune on the KOOK Saturday Survey.
I was living in London at the time and "Listen To Me" was not a cover of the Buddy Holly tune. An honest assumption, I suppose, but it was penned by UK songwriter Tony Hazzard. It reached #11 in the UK.
Hazzard had six of his songs in the UK top twenty in the late Sixties. "Fox On The Run" was another one he wrote, reaching UK #5, but largely ignored by American radio. I can still remember seeing Manfred Mann performing it on TOP OF THE POPS.
Did you know that The Country Gentlemen recorded it in 1970 and "Fox On The Run" has gone on to become a bluegrass standard in the repertoire of many bands of that genre? Country singer songwriter Tom T. Hall took it into the Billboard Country Charts top ten in 1976. UK rockers The Sweet had a worldwide smash hit in 1975 with a completely different single also titled "Fox On The Run."
Mike Gentry

Hi Kent:
Just an FYI … the Hollies Song "Listen To Me" is not the Buddy Holly Song. It's written by T. Hazzard. I believe it is the last Hollies 45 that Graham Nash is on.   
Ken Freck 
The Hollies single “Listen To Me” bubbled under for exactly one week in Billboard, peaking at #129 … and it’s been gone forever ever since (unless, of course, you’re a Forgotten Hits Reader … where the oldies NEVER die!!!)
You can definitely hear Graham Nash singing on this one … but it really isn’t very good … and certainly not up to par with what the band was capable of.  (And to think that THIS one they liked … but “Marrakesh Express” they didn’t!!!  lol)  kk

It was very refreshing to see one of the "Criminally Forgotten" Blackstones, Jeff Boyan, (Blackstones >  Saturday's Children > H. P. Lovecraft), mentioned in the Saturday Survey article. Don't forget that 50% of The Blackstones alumni played in that band. Gerry McGeorge, (Blackstones > Shadows of Knight > H. P. Lovecraft) also played in the band. The Blackstones were a pretty damn good mid 60s band.  
Robert Campbell

Hi Kent -
Thanks for the piece on me. That brings back a lot of memories ! 
My national radio show is doing good ... it airs every first Tuesday, 8PM NY time, streamed live on youtube ... except for the January show, which will be on the second Tuesday, the 12th. 
Our December show featured my 1976 Maui Album.  I got six orders for the Maui Album on CD after the show aired ... it's still posted at youtube. 
Thanks again for posting the HMS Bounty & Fapardokly info and photos ... and for sending me the KOOK radio chart that I had never seen!
All My Best For The Holidays,
Merrell

I saw the Clint Eastwood movie The Mule over the weekend.  The Spiral Staircase song More Today Than Yesterday is in the soundtrack and figures in dialogue later in the movie.  There are some other old tunes, but most are classic country songs. 

I have enjoyed the 1968 charts that you have posted on Saturdays.  Is there a chance that 1969 will be featured in 2019?

Phil - WRCO

As a matter of fact ...

The year is winding down ... we've only got two more Saturday Surveys left ... by which time we will have covered all fifty states ... plus Washington D.C. and Canada!  Scroll back to see any that you may have missed as our Fifty Year Salute to 1968 comes to an end.  (Next year, we'll be revisiting 1969 ... with special highlight features running throughout the year ... as well as EVERY WLS Hit Parade Survey released that year ... courtesy of long-time FH Reader Jack Levin.  It all kicks off on January 6th ... which means that next year we'll be running The Sunday Survey!!!)

Meanwhile, we've still got some special features to wrap up 1968 ahead before we call it a day ... as well as our choices for the ten best concerts of 2018 ... so please continue to check the website daily through the end of the year ... and beyond!  (kk)
 

The Saturday Survey (December 15th, 1968)

12-15-68 - KOOK - Billings, Montana

Go West, young man!  

We travel from the East Coast to the Midwest to the big sky country this week.  

Billings is the largest city in Montana (about 160,000 population) and a spot Lewis and Clarke visited in their monumental trek West in 1806.  

KOOK always had some great music on their charts back in the 60's.  The station had yet another interesting way to show their chart listings, utilizing BOTH sides of their "KOOK book" for the entire top 40 run PLUS a look back at "the old days" and even TV for that week, which included "The Grinch!".  

Look closely at this chart and you'll find three two-sided hits (including Aretha's #1) and TONS of cool obscure tracks with interesting stories.  With Graham Nash off to join his new west coast friends, the remaining Hollies use an old Buddy Holly tune to reach #3 here!  Older artists like Dion and Neil Sedaka are making their mark, too.  There's The Zombies and a Zombies "re-make" at #16 and #17!

Two Chicago oddities appear as well, one being the Shadows of Knight's "Gloria '69" at #11.  Dunwich guru Bill Traut wanted to cash in on the new found revival of his old hit band (thanks to their recent chart success with "Shake"), so he got Jim Donlinger to add a fuzz guitar track OVER the ORIGINAL 1966 hit version of "Gloria" and tried to make it a hit again in a different psychedelic music era for The Shadows Of Knight.  The band never knew anything about this one then!

The other Chicago odd ball is H.P. Lovecraft's "Keeper of the Keys" at #40.  Jeff Boyan, leader of the recently disbanded Saturday's Children, was now a driving member (along with the above mentioned Jim Donlinger!) of Lovecraft and their new underground music image would carry them well into the 70's with a cult following.

There's so many cool songs here, but I wanna feature "Honey Do" by the Strangeloves.  They had been off the charts for years (remember "I Want Candy" in 1965?), but this song sounded as if they never left their image of hard driving pop rock hit making days.  Much like their 1965 Bang records counterparts the McCoys, their 68-9 revival was nice but with little sales in return.

-- Clark Besch

*Survey courtesy of Gary Pfeifer and ARSA site 

This is, wthout question, one of the most eclectic charts we've featured in our Saturday Survey Flashback this year.  ALL kinds of "hits that never were" are represented here ... along with other records we know performing much better in Montana than they did nationally.

"Listen To Me" by The Hollies, "Reach Out" by Merilee Rush, "Gloria '69" by The Shadows Of Knight, "Star-Crossed Lovers" by Neil Sedaka, "Honey Do" by The Strangeloves, "She's Not There" by The Road, "Crown of Creation" by Jefferson Airplane, "I'm Into Looking For Someone To Love Me" by Bobby Vee, "Fox On The Run" by Manfred Mann, "Nightmare" by The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, "I'm A Tiger" by Lulu, "Ten Wooden Soliders" by Mitch Wayne, "Look Around You" by Bobby Goldsboro, "Things" by long-time Forgotten Hits Reader and contributor Merrell Fankhouser and "Keeper Of The Keys" by H.P. Lovecraft.  And check out "Dizzy" as DJ Dan Miller's Pick Hit Of The Week ... a full NINE WEEKS before it would debut on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart!  (Now that's INCREDIBLE!!!)  [Merrell also earns Pick Hit status on this week's chart ... so how can we NOT feature this one?!?!?!]

The album chart also leans toward the heavy side, with LPs represented by Big Brother and the Holding Company, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix (twice!), The Chambers Brothers and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown.

Doesn't leave much room for our own pop hit selections this week ... but I'll go with "Bella Linda" by The Grass Roots and "Son Of A Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield, who we gave the spotlight treatment to YEARS ago in Forgotten Hits.  (kk)
http://forgottenhits.com/dusty_springfield

THIS WEEK in '68:

12/11/68 – The Rolling Stones’ television special “Rock and Roll Circus”  is filmed.  Special guests include John Lennon, The Who, Eric Clapton, Jethro Tull and Marianne Faithfull

12/12/68 - The Guess Who’s first album featuring Burton Cummings on lead vocals, “Whitfield Soul”  is released.  It contains their soon-to-be breakthrough hit "These Eyes."

12/14/68 - The Doors headline the L.A. Forum with Jerry Lee Lewis, Lee Michaels and Sweetwater also on the bill

Also on 12/14 - “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly is certified gold today.  It has since sold over 25 million copies.

12/15/68 - The Doors appear on The Smothers Brothers TV show performing their new hit single, “Touch Me.”

Also, an hour earlier this night, Stevie Wonder (“For Once In My Life,” “You Met Your Match” and “Alfie”) and The Brooklyn Bridge (“The Worst That Could Happen”) performed on The Ed Sullivan Show

An Update from Merrell Fankhouser
(a FORGOTTEN HITS EXCLUSIVE!) 
 

Kent ~

Thanks so much for sending those old charts with my song "Things" from 1968! Wow, what a surprise!  We were on a lot of stations nationally that I never saw many charts from.  

The Merrell And HMS Bounty album is a valuable collectors item and is being reissued again this year on vinyl and CD!  

My 1967 album 'Fapardokly" gets $1,000 for a sealed copy and $450 for a mint open one! 

The lead song "Lila" from the album is in the new movie 'Chappaquiddick" and the song "Tomorrow's Girl" was on the Warner Rhino 2011 Grammy nominated compilation box set "Where The Action Is L.A Nuggets 1965 - 1968" ... and the song "Supermarket" was in the Thomas Pynchon novel "Inherent Vice". Amazing that three songs from the album are back in the spotlight after all these years ... !  

Have you heard the Merrell And HMS Bounty album? Glad you like "Lila" ... there's even an offer now to put it out on a single!

It still amazes me how those old songs from that album are coming back!  One they recently choose for a movie is titled "Don't let Go," and was originally recorded by "Merrell And The Exiles" in 1965.  It sat on a shelf at Glenn Records studio for 50 years unreleased!

I also have an offer for two of the songs to be in a TV series besides one in another movie. Maybe we can even land one in a national commercial spot ... Steve Miller told me he made 500 G's from "Fly Like An Eagle" when it was being used in the Dodge truck TV ad ! Yep, ads, TV and movies is the way to go and there is a big market for older music from 50's, 60's and early 70's! 

I have over 40 albums now not counting boots and compilations on various labels domestic and foreign.  

Lastly (for now anyway), I've been offered a national radio show to air on the East Coast and on the net that will be one hour monthly shows that follow my music career chronologically from 1962 to now. The show starts October 2nd.    

Any mention you can give my music and "Lila" in the "Chappaquiddick" movie is appreciated. Here's the link when to the new "Lila" video, which is now up on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acncbF_EJnI   

Please stay in touch.

Best,

Merrell

Yeah, I like this tune a lot!

Merrell also sent us some vintage photos to share ...

Kent, 
Here are the album covers and band photos of "Fapardokly"  and "HMS Bounty."  The photo without a title is Merrell And The Exiles that played on five of the songs on the Fapardokly album.  
The rest of the pics are HMS Bounty as well as the front and back of the LP. The top photo of HMS Bounty was our best selling single that made it on many charts nationally and the 'bubbling under' in Billboard. We thought it was going to really be a big hit but watched it fall off the charts when the label Uni / Shamley signed Neil Diamond, who had his first hit on a small label. All the promo went to him!   

Ahhh, the music biz.  

Best,

Merrell