Backstage at the Tent

If you are an Apple fan or pay attention to music news you’ve undoubtly heard about Apple’s “Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget.” teaser leading up to this morning’s announcement that The Beatles catalogue is now available on iTunes. Beatles fans have been waiting a long time for this!

In the spirit of good music and Beatles love we wanted to share a bit of their music, Melody Tent style! Here’s a video clip from RAIN- A Tribute to The Beatles from the 2010 season. The RAIN guys are great, offering spot on music and frequent costume changes to keep the show lively as the group takes audiences through the full Beatles arch — from the Ed Sullivan Show to Sgt. Pepper. Keep an eye on our website to see if RAIN will be back in 2011. In the meantime, relive a little bit of the summer of 2010 as the weather gets colder outside!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER, CARRIE CIMENO!

The contest to win a pair of tickets to the SOLD OUT Adam Lambert concert at the Melody Tent on Thursday, August 19 ends TODAY at 2 pm!

It’s not hard to enter, just sign up for the myTent community! Good luck everyone! And keep checking back, we’ll be having blog contests throughout the year!

Peter Frampton Aug. 10 concert at the Cape Cod Melody Tent kind of reminded me of hanging out in a van when I was in high school. There were some people I knew, some people who looked kind of familiar and some people I’d never seen before. Most of the guys were playing air guitar. There was the smell of pot in the air, at least until some guy wearing way too much cheap cologne sat next to me.

But high school was a long time ago. How long ago was that? I was in high school biology class when my best friend told me about this great new album – a double album! – his older brother had bought, something called “Frampton Comes Alive!”

And how long ago was that? Frampton’s bass player, John Regan, has played with him for 31 years, but still joined Frampton’s band too late for the glory years.

Not that there haven’t been some high points along the way. Frampton’s 2006 CD, “Fingerprints,” won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Frampton played four songs off that CD, including a cover of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” that was one of the night’s highlights.

Frampton drew from the start and most recent parts of his career. The show began with a Humble Pie song (“Four Day Creep”) and ended with another (“I Don’t Need No Doctor”). Along with the songs from “Fingerprints,” Frampton played two from “Thank You, Mr. Churchill,” a new CD released in April. “Restraint,” he says, is a song about “greedy pigs,” and it’s a little heavier sonically lyrically than anything on “Frampton Comes Alive!” while “Vaudeville Nanna and the Banjolele,” is a sweet memoir about his youth.

But of course, what people came to hear were the songs from his monstrously successful 1976 double album, and he delivered, playing eight of its 14 songs during two hour-long sets. Frampton seemed a little sluggish during some early songs, and it wasn’t until the fifth song, “Lines on My Face,” that (to borrow a phrase) Frampton came alive.

As talented as he is, Frampton’s not a show-off. His keyboard player, Rob Arthur, who played a third guitar on some songs, offered more dramatics than his boss. Frampton also let backup guitarist Adam Lester play the lead parts at times. Drummer Dan Wojciechowski also deserves a nod for his sometime frenetic playing.

While Frampton engaged in some amusing chatter, he seemed happiest when he was letting his guitar do the talking; the extended shredding on “(I’ll Give You) Money” was another of the show’s highlight. The audience went nuts when he used the Framptone talkbox on “Show Me the Way,” “Black Hole Sun” and “Do You Feel Like We Do.”

Frampton doesn’t go for visual flash. He wore blue jeans and a black T-shirt with a large grey peace sign on it. His hairline is receding and what remains is closely cropped and white. He looks like any other semi-gracefully aging Baby Boomer.

But all you had to do was close your eyes and it was 1976 all over again.

- Bill O’Neill, freelance writer

The Beach Boys are still happily riding the nostalgia wave

Who ever would have imagined that a band that sang catchy, danceable songs about cars, surfing and girls would still be performing those same songs 49 years later? But there’s something still fresh-sounding and appealing about the upbeat, good-time music of the iconic Southern California band created by musical genius Brian Wilson in 1961.

The perennial boys of summer (long minus Wilson) performed a double-header at the Cape Cod Melody Tent Saturday. The turnout for the first show proved that they’re one of the few bands that can draw a multi-generational audience. Everybody was out from kids, teens and 20-somethings to boomers and seniors who grew up with their music. Some folks looked ready for a beach party in their Hawaiian shirts and colorful leis.

At 69 the flamboyant original member Mike Love still acts as the emcee, waving to the audience and emphasizing song lyrics like “two girls for every boy,” with little hand gestures. The other veteran is Bruce Johnston who took Brian Wilson’s place in 1965. They’re flanked by five younger musician/singers who make up the touring band including Love’s son Christian, and handle most of the lead vocals.

The current Beach Boys nail the layered, close vocal harmonies, the band’s trademark sound. The only problem is that the sound mix often drowned out the vocals making the lyrics hard to understand. But that didn’t seem to faze the fans who knew all the words by heart and sang along.

The band rocked the house with their early songs including “Surfin’ Safari” and “Surf City” then they revved things up with their hard-driving car songs: “Little Deuce Coupe,” “Shut Down,” “409,” “Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” and the best of the batch, “I Get Around.” Their “The Ballad of Old Betsy” may be the prettiest song every written for a car.

They slowed things down with the pretty ballad “Surfer Girl” and the doo-wop style song that started them harmonizing “So Young” and the 1957 classic “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.”

The Beach Boys served up their fun songs but also squeezed in a few of their melodic ballads including “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and put their own spin on “California Dreamin’.” Johnston paid tribute to the “great Brian Wilson” with Wilson’s rarely performed but beautiful ballad “God Only Knows.” No Beach Boys concert would be complete without “Be True to Your School” and “California Girls.”

The second half of the concert was more like a beach party with the audience on their feet most of the time dancing at their seats and tossing a beach ball around the theater. The band rolled out their big hits at a nonstop pace including the psychedelic-tinged “Good Vibrations,” the Caribbean-flavored pop ditty “Kokomo,” “Help Me “Rhonda,” “Barbara Ann,” and “Surfin’ U.S.A.”

Love mentioned meeting Paul McCartney in India and listening to his debut of a new Beatles song. The band launched into the rocking “Back in the U.S.S.R.” The Beach Boys wrapped up the show with what could be their theme song, “Fun, Fun, Fun.” And for the boys and their fans it was.

- Johanna Crosby, freelance writer

New York’s loss is Boston’s gain

After a falling out with the New York Yankees, Ronan Tynan left the Big Apple last March and moved to the North End of Boston where he’s settled in nicely. The Irish tenor received a hero’s welcome Friday night at the Cape Cod Melody Tent where he entranced fans with his magnificent voice, natural warmth and spicy sense of humor.
Tynan blamed State Senator John Hart of South Boston, who was in the audience, for trying to turn him into a Red Sox fan by giving him a team jersey at the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast.

“So now the prodigal son can never go back to the New York Yankees. That’s done,” Tynan quipped.

At 275 pounds and standing over six-feet tall, the 50-year-old singer cuts an imposing figure onstage. “What you see is what you get,” he cracked, mocking his prominent ears and bald head.

Tynan warned the audience early on that he was in the mood to “cut loose” and he did. During the two and a half-hour concert he told colorful anecdotes about his life and his rookie days as an opera singer including the time he fell on a diminutive Japanese performer. There was constant good-natured banter between him and his long-time accompianist/back-up singer, Bill Lewis.

Tynan didn’t take singing lessons until he was 33. His first audience consisted of the cows he milked on the family farm in Country Kilkenny, Ireland. Born with a birth defect, his legs were amputated at the age of 20. A true Renaissance man, Tynan went on to become an orthopedic surgeon, Paralympian gold medalist, a founding member of the Irish tenors and motivational speaker. The singer, who wears two prosthesis, joked to the women in the audience ” I can be any height you want.”

But it was the voice fans came to hear and he delivered with a well-chosen mix of Irish favorites, traditional ballads and Broadway show tunes. Tynan’s tenor is big and expressive. Highlights of the concert included the pretty ballads “Will You Go Lassie Go,” “Grace,” “Sing Me an Irish Song” and the rarely performed “Fields of Athenry.” Tynan’s depth of emotion came through in the powerful anti-war song “There Were Roses” by Tommy Sands about the 1916 uprising.

Tynan’s superlative operatic voice shone in Leonard Cohen’s gorgeous “Hallelujah.” His lush rendition of “Oh, Danny Boy” showed his range from soaring to whisper soft notes.
Tynan showed he’s more than just an Irish tenor with his smashing rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” and U2’s jaunty “All I Want From You.”

The big surprise of the evening was Lewis, a superb pianist with a melodious voice in his own right. Lewis served up a beautiful interpretation of “Meadowlark” and a knockout arrangement of “My Funny Valentine” while accompanying himself on the piano.

- Johanna Crosby, freelance reviewer

Ronan Tynan, one of the original Irish Tenors, took a short trip from his new home in Boston down to the Cape to serenade the folks at the Melody Tent on August 6. Just as funny as he is musically gifted, Ronan’s performance is best summed up in Susan Milton’s Cape Cod Times review of the show …

I have never taken a bath in hot caramel sauce, but last night I came close as I floated in the warm sounds of Ronan Tynan’s Irish tenor at the Cape Cod Melody Tent.

Were you at the show? Was it like floating in warm caramel sauce? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

The Beach Boys are bringing their surf boards, woody wagons, hawaiian shirts, and California attitudes to the Melody Tent for TWO SHOWS this weekend! Come get in on the fun and bring the whole familly. Everyone from grandma to little Joey can sing along!

PLUS, the first 200 people in the gate gets a free lei!

Learn more about how it all came to be almost 50 years ago in Southern California in The Barnstable Patriot!

Rolling Stone magazine picked ["Good Vibrations"] as “the single of the century.” … Billboard names them as the No. 1-selling American band of all time.

Come see the Beach Boys Saturday at 3:30 pm or at 7 pm!

I was a rock and roll guy before I started listening to George Thorogood. When I was a teenager, about the only blues song I knew was B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone.”

But then the Boston radio stations started playing Thorogood’s first two LPs and through his blues-rock I became familiar with Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, Elmore James and John Lee Hooker, who became one of my blues favorites.

Thorogood went on to break out of the Boston scene. He toured as an opening act for the Rolling Stones in 1982 (a live recording from a post-tour show back in Boston was recently released by Rounder Records), the same year that his “Bad to the Bone” became a monster MTV hit.

Nearly three decades later, “the worldwide touring machine” (as he was introduced) still knows how to win over a crowd. In front of me at the Aug. 4 show at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, two young women who spent the night doing sultry dances to the music had seats adjacent to a family of four that included a father and son wearing matching “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” T-shirts.

Thorogood took the stage wearing sunglasses (which he took off midway through the first song), a bandana, a black sleeveless shirt, black pants and white cowboy boots – an outfit that pretty much screams “I’m a musician.” And if you didn’t get the point, he moved around with duck walks and twirls and jabbing steps. It’s barely an exaggeration to say he had a different gesture for every note he played.

Midway through the show, he stared into the reflection of the bass drum, combed his hair and pursed his lips. He introduced “Born Lover,” a Muddy Waters song that’s on Thorogood’s latest CD, “The Dirty Dozen,” by saying his guitarist dedicated the song to all the ladies in the house, his bass player and drummer dedicated it to all the girls in the house, but he dedicated it to all the women in the house. Bad to the bone, indeed.

Thorogood doesn’t just expect an audience reaction; he demands one, using hand motions to coax a little more noise from his fans. He served up “Who Do You Love” with rattlesnake tongue flicks and mock stuttered his way through the “bad” in “Bad to the Bone.” While he saved that song for last (“Foreplay is over. It’s time to get down to business,” he said as an introduction), it was an earlier song, “Move It On Over,” that was the highlight of the night, as his band, the Destroyers, provided a churning backdrop for Thorogood’s guitar fireworks.

Opener Tom Hambridge has worked with Thorogood, Buddy Guy, Susan Tedeschi, Meat Loaf and others as a writer and producer. One of his songs, Gretchen Wilson’s version of “I Got Your Country Right Here,” is being released as a radio single this week.

Hambridge played a nice range from some blues-rock in the styles of Thorogood and ZZ Top to the Lynyrd Skynyrd-esque “Nineteen.” His backing band, the Rattlesnakes, included Sal Baglio (formerly of Boston legends the Stompers) and Jim Scoppa, who added some swampy style on one song. Judging from the line at the merchandise booth after his set, Hambridge made a big impression on Thorogood’s fans.

-Bill O’Neill, freelance blogger
You can read Bill’s other show reviews on the myCommunity page for fan reviewers

That’s right. Ronan Tynan has won 18 gold metals (for athletics) and is a fan of Metallica’s music.

All that on top of singing for 4 presidents, growing up with a disablity, losing his legs, being one of the original Irish Tenors, and singing at Fenway on the 4th of July.

Want to learn more interesting facts about one of Boston’s newest artistic residents? Check out his Q&A in the Dorchester Reporter and an article about Ronan in the Irish Reporter!

Make sure you catch Ronan at the Cape Cod Melody Tent tomorrow, Friday, August 6!

“I think the weirdest thing for us right now is that when you close your eyes the last thing you see is a hot chick,” UM said describing the interesting qualities of performing on a rotating stage, continuing, “and then you open your eyes there’s a six foot dude in front of you…”

Umprhey’s McGee has never played on a revolving stage in the round surrounded by fans before. It’s definitely a different experience for a fan that is used to rolling festival stages, but it’s equally as unusual for the bands up on stage!

Check out SoundPress.net’s review of the Umphrey’s McGee and Rebelution show at the Melody Tent on July 30. They got some great photos too!

And here’s some video posted by Adam Childs on vimeo.com!

Umphrey’s McGee – jam @ Cape Cod Melody Tent 7/30/10 from Adam Childs on Vimeo.