Johnny Rivers’ blue-eyed, soulful rock and roll was spiced with some hot Chuck Berry guitar licks Tuesday night at the Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center.
Rivers is one of the influential musical artists from the ‘60s, who sometimes gets lost among such giants as the Beatles, Stones, Doors and Motown.
In his own way, Johnny Rivers – like the Beatles and the Stones – took Chuck Berry and ‘50s rock and turned it into something relevant for a new generation. And a boisterous, near-capacity audience at The Sharon remembered Rivers’ many hits and paid him tribute with a standing ovation that brought three encores.
Rivers’ breakthrough hit, “Memphis,” was a harder-edged version of the Berry classic. Rivers’ stinging guitar and swamp rock vocal transformed the song for a baby boom generation ready to hit the dance floor at the Go-Go.
On stage, Rivers hauled out his “Big Red One” –his old electric guitar – and started rocking “Memphis” like it was 1964 all over again. That was the year the Beatles and English bands dominated the record charts but Rivers found an American sound that sold.
He opened the concert with hyper-rocking version of one of his live hits, “Midnight Special.” Rivers and his band – Skip Edwards, keyboards; Darrel Cook, bass and Keith Edwards on drums – played tight, authentic rock and roll with a heavy accent on blues.
During the first couple songs, the vocals were difficult to hear. “Hey, Johnny, tell them to turn up the microphone so we can hear you,” a fan yelled.
Just like that, the sound board turned up the volume and Rivers was wailing on a down and dirty number called “Down at the House of Blues.”
“Thank you for telling them to turn up the mike, can everybody hear me now,” Rivers asked. The crowd roared with approval.
“That’s good,” Rivers said. “Because this is a rock and roll show and rock and roll is supposed to be loud.”
But even rockers make concessions to age, Rivers, 73, admitted.
“We used to be known as the ‘Secret Agent Band,’” Rivers said. “Now we’re known as the ‘Rocking Grand Dads Band.’ But hey, our grand kids love us.”
Rivers and the boys then rocked in style on a couple covers: Willie Dixon’s “The Seventh Son,” and Al Wilson’s “The Snake.”
Then came an elegant, soft guitar intro to Rivers’ classic cover of Smokey Robinson’s “The Tracks of My Tears.” No one can match Smokey but Rivers did the track justice. The same could be said for another romantic number, “The Poor Side of Town.”
Rivers took out an acoustic guitar and turned “House of the Rising Sun,” into a slow, aching blues song.
The mood changed to the way things used to be in the ‘60s, with Rivers’ wistful version of “Summer Rain,” that came out late in 1967. The song was in the moody groove of the summer of love that year and even references, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
“It was about the time of the Monterey Pop Festival,” Rivers said. “Anybody here remember the Monterey Pop Festival?”
One of the real showstoppers came with “Baby I Need Your Lovin’,” first done by the Four Tops. Rivers had a huge hit with a cover back in the ‘60s and directed a sing-a-long at The Sharon.
“OK, let’s hear the girls,” Rivers said, and the females in the house responded in a loud chorus of ‘Baby I need your lovin.’”
“Now, the guys,” Rivers said, but there was barely a whisper. “Hey guys, nobody’s singing. Maybe you guys forgot to take your Viagra. You need some lovin’. Let’s try it again.”
This time, the guys came through loud and clear and at the end of the number, Rivers and his band earned a standing ovation.
That set the stage for Rivers’ Chuck Berry songbook, with “Memphis.” The band left the stage but the crowd kept cheering, so Rivers returned.
The first encore blasted off with a speeded-up, hard-driving version of “Route 66.” Then came the second encore number, another Berry chestnut, “Maybellene.” Finally, the band closed the show with a scorching version of “Secret Agent Man.” Rivers offered white-hot guitar riffs and a riveting vocal that showed he may be older, but he can still rock.
