From the first time I heard More Than A Feeling play on KMOD in early 1977 the signature sound of Boston has been an integral part of the musical tapestry that is the backdrop of my life. At a stop on their 40th Anniversary Tour, Boston wowed a full house at The Joint of Tulsa’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino this past Thursday evening. From my own anecdotal observation, the median age of this particular audience was well over fifty.
One thing that stood out to me from the first note blasting through the state of the art sound system was the authenticity of a band whose signature lead singer has been gone for nearly a decade. Brad Delp was a tough loss to replace and classic rock purists will insist he can never be adequately equaled in talent. That said, you have to give it up to the group’s survivors and new members who did his memory justice.
Like any great internationally known group would do, Boston appeared to have done a very good audience assessment relative to the locale and opened the show with their rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. Any shades of the Jimi Hendrix version were purely coincidental. After that patriotic intro and greeting they launched into the opening number, their autobiographical original Rock & Roll Band. For a group of guys and gals who mostly represent the 50 and 60 demographic, they certainly did not disappoint. A few numbers into the show the did a stellar live performance of the song I will always associate with this group as well as my senior year of high school coming of age playlist, More Than A Feeling.
The show song selection included all the numbers on their first album and several from the group’s later work. The visual light show and graphics were impressive. As with most of their album art, the space vehicle guitar motif was ever present. My favorite number from the Third Stage album, Cool The Engines, was accompanied by a computer generated video of the Boston logo space vehicle in orbit around planet Earth.
As I state above, for a group that for the most part represents the 50 and 60 demographic, they did not disappoint. Guitar master Tom Scholz demonstrated he still has it at 69 with a lengthy solo:
Like I said, the median age of this audience looked to be well over fifty. After a two hour set of old stuff, not so old stuff and even some new stuff, Boston called it a night even though some of us could have rocked with ’em a lot longer. It was in the end a night well spent and well worth the wait and hassle of traveling to a crowded casino venue. It is impossible to change or rewrite history. Boston will forever be one of the groups I heard so much in my youth. Their songs have come back to comfort me at the damnedest times and have helped sooth my soul in my darkest hours and carried me away to the greenest pastures of my mind on my brightest days. When they stop in Tulsa on their next tour I will go see them again. This was a great show and well worth my effort to see and hear. My thanks to the band and the Hard Rock and everyone who helped make it happen.