The Doors of the 21st Century

PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, New Jersey

August 23, 2003

At 8:35 p.m., Doors of the 21st Century Tom Vitorino appeared at the center mic to announce the band.   Robby appeared in his camouflage pants and a black tee-shirt ... the one with Jim's face created from their song titles in white.   Ray wore dark pants and a dark shirt with a white pattern under a white jacket.  Ian was in a black long-sleeve shirt, loose fitting blue jeans, and sunglasses.   Angelo wore a blue long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans.   Ty had on a black short-sleeve shirt with blue jeans and was sitting behind new drums:  black, with large white D21C in block letters where it used to say The Doors of the 21st Century:  a fresh and modern look!

The venue looked packed as far back as I could see, plus there were hundreds of people up on the lawn.  There were screens on each side of the stage for closed circuit projection, in addition to the large screen hung behind Ty's drums. 

Roadhouse Blues opened the set.   Everyone was on their feet and ready to dance with Tom's introduction.   Break On Through and then When The Music's Over followed.   With the exception of their show in Virginia the previous night, this has pretty much been their  standard and successful 1-2-3 punch to open the shows in the most kick-ass way imaginable.   Following that trilogy, Ray introduced Ian, who now had removed his dark glasses, then Ty Dennis on drums, Angelo Barbera on bass, and Robby.  Robby comically introduced Ray by saying, "on keyboards tonight we have Ray Manzarek" -- Ray responded by blowing kisses to the wildly cheering audience.

Ray said, "Come on Robby, let's rock this joint" and they were off and running with Love Me Two Times, followed by Alabama Song and Back Door Man.   Ray's white jacket was off now, revealing that the white pattern on his shirt was actually 3 rows of four white crosses, which reminded me of their Unknown Soldier video with the footage of the rows and rows of graves with white crosses.

As the rest of the band chugged through the opening chords of Five To One. Ray goose-stepped across the stage and back to his keyboards, remaining on his feet during the beginning of the song.

When that song ended, Ty, Angelo and Ian exited the stage.   Ray lingered behind to introduce rock and roll's only flamenco player, and then he also left the stage.   The spotlight shone on Robby, alone on stage, as he performed an exquisite flamenco solo.  After a few minutes, his guitar work segued into the familiar strains of the beautiful Spanish Caravan as Ray, Ty, Angelo, and Ian returned to their places on stage, with Ian accenting the song on tambourine.

It was now 9:35 p.m. -- one hour into the show.   Ray announced that they were going to do something never done before:  a bunch of songs from the L.A. Woman album.    They led off with Changeling.   During the song, Ian said to the audience:  "don't be afraid to dance ... I'm 41 years old."   Ray added, "Don't be afraid to get high."

Love Her Madly was next ... this was great --- this series of shows was the first time it had been played in concert by this band.   Robby absolutely cooked on the guitar parts ...  clearly, he really enjoyed getting to play this song.

Either Ian or Ray announced that this was Foreplay 101 ... and went into Been Down So Long.   Ian jumped off the stage into the front of the audience to get one of the balls that had been bouncing.  (Am I the only one who finds this practice so annoying once a show is underway?)    It seems like there were about half a dozen balls in play at one time, with many of them landing on the stage.   Ian kicked them back a few times, and then said something like, "Don't turn this into a fucking (? ?) concert."    He was getting tired of it, too.

Cars Hiss By My Window followed, with Ian finishing out the song playing harmonica.  That was new!

We were thrilled to hear the opening chords of Not To Touch The Earth.   What a magnificent song that is.  Ian closed the song with a new twist on a familiar line:  "Jim was the Lizard King ... he did everything".

L'America began with "our native spirits are with us" as Ian played a maraca.   Robby did some strutting as the song ended.

Robby's bottleneck came out next during Crawling King Snake. which was followed by W.A.S.P.  (Texas Radio & The Big Beat).

L. A. Woman closed out the main set, and they left the stage at 10:25.   "The Doors of the 21st Century" was projected on the screen, and band manager Tom Vitorino came onstage:   "New Jersey:  come on, man, make some New Jersey noise."   

We did!  As the band members promptly returned to the stage, Robby ran along the front of the stage slapping the eagerly outreached hands.  A special guest was announced, which turned out to be Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band slipping into Ty's drum seat, and they were into Light My Fire.

As Ray finished his solo section, he was on his feet playing and then crouching with his face all the way down on the keys as he played ... he may even have been playing with his jaw -- I couldn't tell for sure.   As Robby took over his solo section, he included samples of both Elinor Rigby and My Favorite Things.

When the song ended, Max waved and left the stage, Ty slipped back into his seat, and the final song of the evening was Riders On The Storm.   It was 10:50 when the last song ended and the house lights came up.

by Ida   8/31/03

read Webmaster's "On The Road" journal:    http://robbykrieger.com/doors/xontheroad2.htm

read media previews:

Courier News Page X by Mark Voger:   "Opening The Doors"  --  August 21, 2003   (thanks, Fran)

read media reviews:

NJ.com by Jay Lustig of Star-Ledger:  "The Doors Of This Century Can't Quite Escape The Last" -- August 25, 2003   (thanks, Beverly)

  return to Ida's LA Woman Confidential home page   

 for more Doors news and reviews