Monday, August 25, 2003

BY JAY LUSTIG
Star-Ledger Staff

They're billing themselves as The Doors of the 21st Century. But they don't do anything more than reproduce sounds of the 20th century.

If the revolutionary Doors -- psychedelic romantics who were responsible for some of the most enduring rock songs of the late '60s and early '70s --had survived into the 21st century, surely they would be doing more than that.

That was the paradox of Saturday night's concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. Original Doors Ray Manzarek (keyboards) and Robby Krieger (guitar) have put together a band that plays old songs the way they sounded the first time around. Their current tour represents their first attempt to resurrect The Doors as a touring act since charismatic frontman Jim Morrison died in 1971. The band's original drummer, John Densmore, is refusing to cooperate.

Manzarek, 64, and Krieger, 57, still play well, and singer Ian Astbury, 41, a member of the British hard-rock band The Cult, sounds uncannily like Morrison. (Drummer Ty Dennis and bassist Angelo Barbera round out the new quintet.)

Still, it's easy to be cynical about the whole thing. If the band were called the Manzarek-Krieger Project, or something similar, it would be playing in nightclubs or theaters. But touring as The Doors of the 21st Century -- Densmore forced the addition of the last four words with a lawsuit -- Manzarek and Krieger can attract thousands to an amphitheater, as they did Saturday.

The show included hits like "Light My Fire" (with guest drummer Max Weinberg, of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band), "Riders on the Storm" and "Roadhouse Blues" as well as more obscure oldies. Manzarek and Krieger took long solos throughout the evening, dominating the show as they never could when Morrison was alive.

Occasionally, on numbers like "Five To One" and "L.A. Woman," the band re-created the stormy, brink-of-chaos energy of the old Doors at their best. But in general, the show was more like a last gasp than a fresh start.

As Densmore groused to the Los Angeles Times in February, "If it's really about the 21st century, they should stop looking backward to the past."

Astbury made no attempt to put his own spin on the songs, reproducing Morrison's phrasing and tone. He even looked like Morrison, wearing sunglasses and tight pants and sporting a shaggy haircut. He also borrowed Morrison's preening stage presence and mad-ringleader patter.

The band often augmented its performances with film and photos: of great blues singers during "Back Door Man," of Los Angeles street scenes and vintage shots of the original Doors during "L.A. Woman," of political riots during "Five To One."

Manzarek talked about saving the world, as if the band still represented a force for social change. His stage patter, though, was usually corny rather than radical. "Okay, Robby, let's rock the joint," he said before "Love Me Two Times." He let fans know the band was going to perform "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)" by saying, "I need a little whiskey."

The band sometimes strayed from the obvious in its song selection. It could have easily filled the two-hour, 15-minute show with well-known material, but instead chose to play more obscure songs like "Spanish Caravan" (with a flamenco intro by Krieger), "The Changeling," "Been Down So Long," "L'America" and "Crawling King Snake."

Fans will notice that all of these songs, with the exception of "Spanish Caravan," come from the band's "L.A. Woman" album, released shortly before Morrison's death. Several weeks ago, the band announced that it would be performing the album in its entirety at its Aug. 24 show at the Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, N.Y., and filming a DVD there. Not surprisingly, on the night before the filming, they wanted to run through the material. Manzarek dedicated this portion of the show to Morrison.

Hearing so many "L.A. Woman" songs was a nice bonus, perhaps, for fans who consider this album the band's best. For everyone else, though, the plodding blues-rockers "Been Down So Long" and "Crawling King Snake" and the pretentious "L'America" added less to the show than hits like "Touch Me," "People Are Strange" and "Hello, I Love You" (all absent from the set) would have. As long as you're putting on a nostalgia-fest, you might as well go all the way.

A few more words about the name issue. My ticket said The Doors instead of Doors of the 21st Century. So did the listing in the Arts Center's program, and the billboard welcoming fans to the venue.

Yes, the show's emcee introduced the band as Doors of the 21st Century. The official tour T-shirts gave the full name, too. But if the band is going to adopt a new name, it should do a better job of making sure it's used everywhere.