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Jethrien and I saw BNL in concert at BergenPAC in Englewood last Friday. It occurred to me that they've been performing for over 25 years at this point, and their special guests noted that they'd been performing for 55 years.
The oldest member of the Persuasions, incidentally, is 91 years old. And he's still got hella charm. When the lead singer started talking about whether their style of music was doo wop, or gospel, or motown, the older guy piped up, “We're folk musicians. We sing music for folks!” They did a lovely opening act of their own stuff, then came back for a bunch of sets with BNL—they apparently cut an album together, which I'm likely to buy.
Back to BNL, I think the group lacks some of the energy they had when I saw them 15 years ago, but that's logical given both time and the fact that Steven Page stopped touring with them some years ago. They dropped a bunch of the stage banter and goofiness I remember from that earlier show and their published live tracks. Ed took over some of Steve's classic vocals, and members of the Persuasions covered some of them. They did a nice mix of new and old material, and hit all of the classic hits. I think they realize that much of their audience is only middling on their latest albums and still want to hear “If I Had $1000000.”
As an aside: Jim Creeggan is the single ganglyest individual I think I've ever seen. I think he's only gotten ganglier with age.
Overall: Not the best concert we've seen, but we've also seen some really fantastic concerts in the past few years, so the competition there was fierce. Still a lot of fun.
The oldest member of the Persuasions, incidentally, is 91 years old. And he's still got hella charm. When the lead singer started talking about whether their style of music was doo wop, or gospel, or motown, the older guy piped up, “We're folk musicians. We sing music for folks!” They did a lovely opening act of their own stuff, then came back for a bunch of sets with BNL—they apparently cut an album together, which I'm likely to buy.
Back to BNL, I think the group lacks some of the energy they had when I saw them 15 years ago, but that's logical given both time and the fact that Steven Page stopped touring with them some years ago. They dropped a bunch of the stage banter and goofiness I remember from that earlier show and their published live tracks. Ed took over some of Steve's classic vocals, and members of the Persuasions covered some of them. They did a nice mix of new and old material, and hit all of the classic hits. I think they realize that much of their audience is only middling on their latest albums and still want to hear “If I Had $1000000.”
As an aside: Jim Creeggan is the single ganglyest individual I think I've ever seen. I think he's only gotten ganglier with age.
Overall: Not the best concert we've seen, but we've also seen some really fantastic concerts in the past few years, so the competition there was fierce. Still a lot of fun.
