I hadn’t gone to the Lycabettus Theatre for some time… And if it’s not too crowded, a ride up the hill is ideal for someone to spend a hot summer night, let alone when on stage appear the Blues Brothers Band.
The time was 9.30 and, as scheduled, the Matt O’Ree band got on stage to warm up the crowd with a powerful boogie blues rock 45-minute set, which brought the most enthusiastic of the audience in front of the stage. The quartet was musically tied as a knot, and Matt O’Ree was “chatting” musically with Eric Safka, on keyboards, while the rhythm section was taking care of the sound rhythm and depth. On 10.15, they left the stage and we got informed that it would need a few minutes for the Blues Brothers Band to join us.
Indeed, on 10.30, Steve Cropper, along with Lee “Funky Time” Flinkenstein, Eric “The Red” Udel, John “Smoking” Tropea and Leo Pendavris appeared and set on with “Green Onions”. Second track was the “Peter Gun There”, with the horn section, Larry "Trombonius Maximus" Farrell on trombone (what else…?) and the originals, Alan “Mr. Fabulous” Rubin on trumpet and –on sax, for the Blues Brothers fanatics – Blue Lou Marini. Some issues with the trumpet’s mic seemed to have been solved quickly and so, the intro of the concert concluded with “Soul Finger”.
Then Steve Cropper presented the resident vocalist of the Blues Brothers Band, Jonny “The Rock & Roll Doctor” Rosch, who came running on the stage, with the usual briefcase cuffed with his hand, and started dancing and of course singing on songs like “Going Back to Miami” (altering it to Going Back to Athens), “Hey Bartender”, “Shotgun Blues” (with John “Smoking” Tropea soloing heavily with an amazing peacefulness and Jonny Rosch singing the lyrics to a child, brought on stage from the audience) and “Minnie the Moocher”. The other Blues Brother, Bobby Harden, had a supporting role, leading the vocals in songs such as “Flip Flop Fly” and “634-5789”.
It was a entertaining concert without doubt, whose songs – many of which were written or had become famous by the Blues Brothers – were bringing up beautiful memories and inducing all to sing along and dance. Some remarkable moments were when Rosch was soloing with his harmonica (which took almost two songs to choose from his briefcase) from the audience seats, and the solos of Steve Cropper (who was in exceptional mood, chatting with the vocalists and talking to the crowd) and John Tropea.
The security guys were also very discreet, letting people to stand right next to the stage and hand shaking with the singers from time to time… Of course, the only 2000 attendants helped on that (of whom, only 200 were standing on the arena). Apart from the generally low attendance, as negative points, I’d notice the lack of many new songs since the previous concert in Athens, in 2007. “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” was also missing from the setlist as you can see, and it was quite disappointing knowing that there is an extra song scheduled as encore (Who’s Making Love), which we didn’t hear…
It was a pleasant night, overall. I hope next we’ll see Elwood Blues co-fronting the Blues Brothers Band, although I have the feeling we’ll have to travel to the States for that…
George Anasontzis