The Melody Tent is often funny (just ask Jeff Dunham, Brian Regan, Ron White, Louis C.K. or the collection of other comedians we’ve housed over the years) but it’s also FUN! It’s even more fun than your average night out when the musicians get in on the act (no pun intended). With all the seats within 50 feet of the stage performers are often entranced with the up close audience – something musicians of this caliber rarely expereince anymore.

Our recent run of shows have taken it upon themselves to up the fun level. Elvis Costello sat next to a Go-Go cage on stage … and even let audience members come up and dance in it. He also let the audience make requests by way of a carnaval game…

[Elvis Costello] has quite a lengthy list of songs to request from and he let audience members (all female) pick the genre by slamming a big wooden hammer and ringing the bell on a carnival-style test of strength.

Read more about the “60s-style bachelor pad” cum “old-fashioned disco” that was the Elvis Costello stage in this review by the Cape Cod Times.

Or if you were at the Aaron Lewis show last night you got to experience his sense of humor first hand. It seems Aaron has added a few extra songs to his repertoire since embarking on a solo career.

[Aaron Lewis] also does a pretty good Madonna and Cyndi Lauper … during Lauper’s “Time After Time,” he put on a feminine falsetto, then transitioned into his natural singing voice for the chorus.

Find out how Aaron balanced his country songs, his Staind hits and a few covers in this review.

Looking for some up-coming fun? Check out Guster on August 2! The Cape Cod Times (which must be on a “fun” kick) recaps a short history of the band and nicely summarizes what you might expect to hear at next week’s show.

Much of [Guster's] charm derives from the playfulness of instrumentation. Bongos are just as likely to emerge in a song as banjos.

- JS

Pat Benatar proved that great music can withstand the test of time with her awesome performance at the Melody Tent on Thursday! She covered all the classics, connected with the audience and gave her fans a reminder of what they loved decades ago.

Powerful drums with lots of dramatic cymbal crashes? Check. Wailing electric guitar solos? They’re there. And most of all, Benatar’s powerhouse belting, not at all diminished from the time her earliest singles were released.

Read more in this Cape Cod Times review!

- JS

Cape Cod’s own American Idol finalist, Siobhan Magnus, proved she’s more than just a flash in the pan on a TV show. She rocked the tent during her first big hometown show on Saturday.

Siobhan started the night out with a set of original songs with her band Lunar Valve. Then she pleased the crowd with covers of her favorite songs and songs she performed on American Idol and other television appearances, along with a few cuts off her up-coming album (due out this Fall). Siobhan kept the energy going as the night went on with a set from Boston-based Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra. The group and Siobhan performed “rock-opera” style versions of classic rock songs … and Siobhan fit right in.

But don’t take our word for it, check out this stellar review by the Cape Cod Times!

Forget about the future. Siobhan Magnus is kicking some serious butt as a musical artist RIGHT NOW.

Relive the show (or see what you missed) by visiting our Siobhan Magnus photo album on the Melody Tent facebook page!

- JS

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

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!

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

“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.

Chelsea Handler proved she is one of the hottest comedians out there right now by nearly selling out two shows at the Melody Tent this weekend!

She was slated for two shows in one night at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, which has usually been reserved for the biggest stars who have played the Tent, including Bill Cosby, Diana Ross and the Beach Boys.

Fans of Chelsea know she can (and will) talk about everything under the sun and make it funny. She kept her live performances fresh for fans of her nightly show by changing up her material and delivery at bit in person. Read about Chelsea’s Melody Tent early show in the Cape Cod Times.

The 25th Anniversary of the Happy Together Tour promised some big names and an even bigger list of hit songs, and the five-group tour didn’t dissappoint.

Get a run down of each performer (and the great insider stories they told) in this Cape Cod Times review of the Tour’s Saturday stop at the Melody Tent.

Hanson stopped by the Melody Tent on Friday night as part of their new Shout It Out tour and the fans where there too cheer them on. They’ve certainly grown since the “Mmmbop” days of the mid-1990s, but according to the Cape Cod Times they’re just as cute and their music is definitely worth a revisit, whether you liked “Mmmbop” or not!

Whether performing the still-catchy “MMMBop” or slowing it down to an acoustic, bongo-enhanced jam, the boys of Hanson deserve the opportunity to be taken seriously.