The Doors 21st Century

LA House of Blues for KLOS Mark & Brian Show

January 31, 2003

This was the primo of the three Doors related events that I attended in the last 24-hour whirlwind.   The Doors were slated to play a one-hour show from the LA House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard, to be broadcast live over LA's 95.5 KLOS and their affiliate stations.

The concert part of the Mark & Brian show was scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m., with the doors opening (pun fully intended ... shucks, why not??) about 8:00 a.m.   Beverly and I arrived by 7:00 and found about two dozen people already in line.

Once inside we headed for our favorite position -- right in front of Robby, which also affords a front view of Ray.   By the time the curtains opened shortly after 9:00, the club was full.  

Ray was all in black, with a long black sweater over knit shirt.  Robby was in his brown & black animal print shirt over a "Do It Robby" t-shirt, and camouflage pants.  Ian wore blue jeans and a black jacket over black t-shirt, and sunglasses.   Bass player Angelo Barbera was all in black as usual, and Ty Dennis was once again on the drums, in black shirt, black knit cap, and white pants.

They kicked off the set with Love Me Two Times, always a winning choice.  The second song was Five To One, with Ray sharing the lead-in vocals about getting down, getting dirty.  Radio listeners may have gotten a couple of bleeps there, as Ian emphasized what he was gonna do out in the car with some people.

Mark & Brian came forward on the stage to talk to the band for a few minutes.  Ray thanked the audience for coming, and mentioned John's tinnitus.   There was a commercial break, and a little bit of signing for fans going on at the front of the stage for a minute or two.

Upon return from commercial break, Ian had removed his sunglasses.  By the way, Ian was again NOT using a music stand, which has previously been a point for much discussion on lists.  

Mark prefaced band introductions by explaining that Stewart Copeland has an injury to his arm and could not play today, which led into mentioning Ty Dennis as beautifully stepping in.  

Ray introduced the new arrangement of Strange Days by saying that they are going to be recording new material to be released by the end of the year.   They are working on new lyrics with John Doe, Jim Carroll, Michael McClure, and talking with Henry Rollins ... to continue in the poetic tradition of The Doors.   I DO LOVE the new arrangement of this song; the more I hear it, the more it grabs me.   Robby's evocative bottleneck playing takes over at the end of the song ... awesome!

Robby introduced Angelo Barbera again, and also their new drummer, Ty Dennis.   New drummer?    That would be very cool ... Ty has been playing in Robby's touring band since 2001 and certainly has the songs down pat;  he is a strong and emphatic drummer, and knows where to place those important nuances.

Ray answered the questions on everyone's mind lately, by saying that they will be touring the states in April and May, hitting New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, with some Texas dates in about a month and a half.   They would be in Europe in June and July, maybe go to Japan in August, and then more US dates.   There are no specifics provided yet, but I'd bet those will begin to be released very soon, maybe after the Universal Amphitheater show on February 7.

Ray threw in a plug about making love, not war ... he said they have been talking and they would just go right into the next song, because anything after it would be superfluous anyway!   And with that:  Light My Fire.   Ian left the stage during the instrumental highlights, which included Robby's insertion of a little of My Favorite Things.   When Ian resumed the vocals, he included some of Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up" and said "you still have a voice ... don't let them take it away."

After that song ended, the band posed onstage with Mark & Brian for some photos.   Watch this link on the KLOS site; pictures will probably be posted there soon.

http://www.955klos.com/viewentry.asp?ID=200234&PT=markandbrian&FN=Mark%20&%20Brian

After the commercial break, Ray announced that as their Christmas present, Ray & Dorothy's son Pablo & his wife Sharmin informed them that they are having a baby in August, their first grandchild.  Ray said he is really looking forward to being a grandfather.

Another round of full band introductions, and then into When The Music's Over.  Robby stepped back to take a drink of water and almost missed being at the mike for his turn to sing 'we want the world' ... but he realized it & rushed back to the mike, just in time!  Pretty cute. 

This was the end of the show;  the band slapped and shook hands at the front, exited the stage and the curtains closed.  The audience got into a "one more song" chant ... finally, Ray poked his head out of the curtains and indicated that there would be no more songs.  It was a great show, no one could complain except that, of course, we all wanted MORE.

The Webmaster at www.robbykrieger.com has uploaded a whole bunch of photos from the morning's events ... follow this link to see them:    markandbrian

 Next up:   Universal Amphitheater - Friday, February 7

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by Ida    1/31/03