38 Special
John
Knox Village
Pavilion
Lee’s Summit,
MO
February 27, 2009
by Chris Murphy
Setlist:
Rockin' Into the Night | Twentieth Century Fox | Back Where You
Belong | Wild Eyed Southern Boys | The Squeeze | If I’d Been the
One | Help Somebody | Fantasy Girl | Don Barnes guitar solo |
Trooper With an Attitude | Gary Moffatt Drum Solo | Medley: Back
to Paradise/Somebody Like You/Teacher, Teacher/Rough Housin'/Stone
Cold Believer/Like No Other Night/Second Chance/Caught Up in You
Encore:
Chain Lightin' | Hold on Loosely | Livin' in the USA | Travellin'
Band
Veteran
80’s southern rockers .38 Special performed Friday, February 27
at the Pavilion at John Knox Village in the Kansas City suburb
of Lee’s Summit. While the venue is affiliated with a
retirement community, it was filled with classic rock fans of
all ages hoping to hear the band perform its catalog of hits.
The band did not disappoint, playing a tight 80 minute set that
covered most of their career and had the crowd on its feet
throughout.
The venue,
a newcomer to the Kansas City music scene, was billed as general
admission but was filled with seats that started at least 10
feet from the stage and were first-come first-served. .38
Special was the only band on the bill and start time was listed
at 7:30pm, which is a little early for a rock concert. Before
the show, a security guard actually announced beer sales would
end at 8:30pm sharp and then discussed what to do in case of an
emergency, which kind of dampened the spirits of the crowd.
That was a first for me at a concert.
As the band
took the stage, the crowd was a little confused about what to
do. Stand up? Stay seated? Run to concessions? Be ready to
hit the emergency exits if needed? Guitarist/vocalist Donnie
Van Zant quickly reminded everyone where they were and said it
was ok to stand and the band launched into the hit “Rockin’ Into
the Night,” the band’s first charting single from 1980, followed
by “20th Century Fox.” Since the latter was not a
hit, I was afraid the crowd would start sitting but the energy
of the band kept everyone up. After this, the band addressed
the crowd with first of many “Thank You’s” and asked if anyone
remembered 1984. After Van Zant joked he was in junior high
then, the band lit into one of their hits from that year, “Back
Where You Belong.” While the band is clearly led by original
members Don Barnes and Van Zant, guitarist Danny Chauncey played
the first of many short solos on the night and proved while he
may not be an original member of the band, he is a big part of
their live sound. Next up was the title song from the band’s
first platinum album, 1981’s Wild-Eyed Southern Boys,
which describes the band perfectly.
Next up was
the first song most people didn’t recognize, “The Squeeze,” the
first of two songs from the band’s last studio album, 2004’s
Drive Train. While most would have been happy with another
hit song, I applaud the band for playing songs from all points
of their career. It was back to the 80’s next as the band
played an excellent version of the top 20 hit “If I’d Been the
One.”
While
Barnes sings the lead on most songs, Van Zant took over next,
performing “Help Somebody,” from the hit country album he
released with his brother Johnny as the duo Van Zant. Even
though Van Zant introduced the song as “something different,”
most people knew the song. This was the first time I noticed
that his voice was not quite up to par, as he had trouble
hitting some of the higher notes from the song. The crowd
didn’t mind though, singing along during the chorus and giving
the song the appreciation it deserved. Van Zant thanked the
crowd for helping the album with his brother go gold.
Following
this, the band did the requisite solos, a Barnes guitar solo and
Gary Moffatt drum solo sandwiched around “Trooper with an
Attitude,” another song from Drive Train that was also in
the 2001 movie Super Troopers. While I am not a fan of
solos, I understand the breaks it allows others in the band. It
also allowed many in attendance the chance to hit the concession
stand again before the 8:30 cut-off!
After
Moffatt finished a 5-minute pounding of the skins, the band
returned and performed what has been my least-favorite part of
every show I have seen by the band, a seven-song medley of hits
that showcases each song for about a minute. While I can see
the necessity of this medley when the band is opening for
another band, this medley should never be played when the band
is the headliner, especially if the band is the only performer
as they were this evening. Every song in the medley could hold
up on its own and even playing just a few of them in their
entirety would be better than snippets of each. This medley is
a bit of a slap in the face to those who paid $40 and expected a
little more than the 80 minutes the band performed. Heck, if
the band still wants a short set, take out the solos and play a
few of these songs as they were written. While I would like to
see full versions of “Somebody Like You” and “Like No Other
Night,” the crowd sang along most to the band’s biggest hit,
“Second Chance,” and clearly wanted more of the song. Bobby
Capps fills in well on vocals originally done by former member
Max Carl (now in Grand Funk Railroad) and deserves to sing the
full song. He sounds so good on the song I’m sure most casual
fans have no idea he is not the original singer of the song.
The medley
led right into the band’s first top 10 hit “Caught Up in You,”
which thankfully was played in full and closed out the main
set. Barely an hour in, I was somewhat surprised as the band
said another round of “Thanks” and “Good night” and walked off
the stage. The stage went dark and smoke enveloped the stage as
canned thunder played before the band returned to play “Chain
Lightning,” from the 1982 platinum selling Special Forces
album. This led into the best song of the evening, 1981’s “Hold
On Loosely,” which I think would have been better served to
close the show. However, Barnes asked if the crowd wanted more
and the band obliged, closing with the cover-song combo of
“Living in the USA” and “Travelin’ Band,” which has ended most
every .38 Special concert for years. The band left again to the
loud cheers of the appreciative audience.
While the
crowd clearly enjoyed themselves, I left feeling somewhat
empty. Had it been my first .38 Special show, I’m sure I would
have enjoyed it more than I did. The band sounded great and a
lot of hits were played. However, I expected more from the band
this evening, especially since they were the only band on the
bill. The set was too short and was too similar to every other
time I have seen them. As the band heads out this summer to
open the Styx/REO Speedwagon tour, I ammkl sure they are
planning very few changes to their setlist. But I think it is
time for the band to change up their headlining sets. My
suggestion is to scrap the medley and play full versions of
several of those songs. If needed, don’t play any cover songs
since most fans didn’t come for those anyway. Also, I would
like to hear some lesser known songs like “Take Me Back,”
“Hittin’ & Runnin’,” or “Rebel to Rebel” put back into the set.
Finally, the band needs to play longer when they are the
headliner as too many great songs are either not fully played or
not played at all.
