Sometimes at an oldies show, self-reflection means as much as the music.
So was the case Thursday at Savannah Center, when Troy Elich, lead singer of the Vogues, gazed into the audience and saw a few people shedding tears.
Maybe it was the song, “Turn Around Look At Me.” Maybe it was the moment. Or maybe it was a thought about Bill Burkette – the original lead singer of the Vogues – who died in March.
Whatever the reason, Elich understood.
“I looked out and I could see people singing along and some people had tears in their eyes,” Elich said after the show. “That’s how it is with this music. It stays with you because you grew up with it and it makes you feel like you did when you were young. It still means something.”
The music was meaningful at the “Rock and Roll All-Stars” concert. The lineup included the Vogues, the Orlons and Dennis Tufano of the Buckinghams. They were backed by Rocky and the Rollers, who opened the show after being introduced by DJ Al Brady.
The Vogues – now featuring Elich along with Royce Taylor and Bo Wagner – came out of a Pittsburgh suburb. They featured soaring harmony with a pop and rock edge.
The group’s first hit was “You’re The One” in 1965, and they followed that with what would become a ’60s’ standard: “Five O’Clock World.”
“That song that keeps coming back,” Elich said. It was used in the Robin Williams’ film, “Good Morning Vietnam.” Drew Carey used it in his television sitcom. And in 2003, it popped up in the Tim Burton movie “Big Fish.”
The group brought the audience to life by singing other Vogues’ hits, including “My Special Angel,” “The Land of Milk and Honey” and “Till.”
“We’ve got to get a 6 a.m. flight to Pittsburgh, so we’re going to have some fun,” Elich said from the stage. Then he and the group wailed on the TV theme song from “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
The Orlons were a rhythm and blues group that took part in the dance crazes of the early 1960s. Stephen Caldwell, the lone original member, was the male voice in the Philadelphia group. He was joined on the Savannah stage by Jean Brickley, whose late sister Shirley Brickley was an original Orlon.
The group hit it big in 1962 with “The Wah-Watusi,” one of the dances that followed “The Twist.” The soulful beat was strong on “Don’t Hang Up” that same year. Then came the song “most people know us for,” Caldwell said.
The Orlons were in vintage form on “South Street,” an up-tempo R&B number with the memorable lyric: “Where do all the hippies meet? South Street, South Street.”
Dennis Tufano came to fame as lead singer of the Chicago group known as the Buckinghams. He sang their hits, “Kind of a Drag,” “Don’t You Care,” “Susan” and the jazz-flavored “Mercy Mercy Mercy.”
But the real highlight came when Tufano turned in a scorching medley of Bobby Darin songs. He was helped by Gerry “Rocky” Seader and the Rollers, who displayed their versatility backing Tufano on the Darin songbook.
“I’ve always loved Bobby Darin’s music, he was one of my favorite singers,” said Tufano, who has recorded a CD of the singer’s work called “I Remember Darin.” He also performs a Darin tribute show.
Tufano opened the Darin set with a jazzed-up version of “Dream Lover.” Then came a couple of rockers: “Queen of the Hop” and “Splish Splash.”
“Bobby Darin’s music deserves to be remembered,” Tufano said before going into another classic, “Beyond the Sea.” Next came a lesser-known blues song that Darin wrote: “Funny What Love Can Do.”
“Everybody loves the blues because you can feel it,” Tufano said, and he played a mean harmonica riff during the number.
He closed the Darin set with the all-time, finger-snapping classic, “Mack the Knife.”
“So many memories are triggered by these songs,” Tufano said, adding that’s why the old music still remains a part of us.
