Robby Krieger & Friends "Door Jamz"
December 30, 2009
Waterfront Concert Theater, Marina Del Rey, CA
With hearty thanks to Beverly, here are 35 photos from the show: http://picasaweb.google.com/BeverlyJKelly/RobbyKrieger123009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMOajrHKt4rQMw&feat=directlink#
A fun, fun night. Lots going on. Once the music got underway there was too much to report on to condense into a paragraph on my home page! For fans dying to meet Robby in person, this was the perfect opportunity because pre-show he was walking around and mingling and posing for pix with fans.
The evening of music began with a two musicians doing a few blues-y tunes. The singer's name is VTA, or Vincenzo Thomas Amato. I believe he had been playing downstairs in the restaurant earlier.
At 9:25 Waylon Krieger's band took the stage. They are called Dark Room (Darkroom?) and included a drummer and bass player. I chatted with Waylon before the music began and learned that his new band will start doing some local gigs soon. I'll be listing those dates and venues on my home page as he lets me know about them. Dark Room played three songs, with the drummer taking lead vocals on the first and Waylon on the next two. For their fourth number, Robby joined the band to play 'Five To One', with Waylon again taking the vocal lead. It was great to see Waylon on stage playing and singing with his dad. That set ended at 9:40.
At 9:45, Marco Moir took over with his Howlin' Wolf set. I had no idea Marco could get so down and blues-y! Robby gave props to Marco when he introduced him, describing him as his equipment guy, his tour manager, "and more", for the last 20-30 years. Marco played guitar and was accompanied by Owen Goldman on drums, Phil Chen on bass, Robby on guitar, and other musicians on keyboards, harmonica, trumpet, and two saxophone players. I missed the name of the first song they played, then it was 'Howlin' For My Baby' and 'Back Door Man' (done original style!).
The next set was Doors music! 'Moonlight Drive' featured Evan Marshall on vocals, Owen Goldman on drums and Phil Chen on bass, a keyboard player (possibly named Nathan), and Robby. 'Moonlight Drive' incorporated 'Horse Latitudes'.
A big surprise came with 'Follow Me Down'. Robby said the song had not been played since the L.A. Forum. The same group of musicians supported Evan and Robby, along with the horn players. That was a rare treat, I have always liked that song.
Musicians came and went for the next song. 'Touch Me' had Evan on vocals, Ty Dennis on drums and Angelo Barbera on bass, along with the keyboard and horn players.
'L.A. Woman' followed with Owen back in the drum seat. Angelo remained on bass, the keyboard player stayed put, and the horn players retreated to the background and played very lightly while Evan sang and Robby rocked the guitar.
Ty Dennis replaced Owen on the drums, Phil Chen replaced Angelo Barbera on the bass, and Tom Vitorino replaced Evan Marshall at the mic to kick into 'Break On Through' with Robby and the keyboard player completing the line-up.
Those musicians stayed put for 'Not To Touch The Earth' with Tom Vitorino again doing the vocals.
Tom Vitorino announced that they would be doing a song that Ray Manzarek liked to do called 'You Need Meat'. (Back in the good old days of vinyl and 45's, that song was released as the B-side of 'Love Her Madly'.) Owen Goldman returned to the drums, Phil Chen stayed on the bass, and the horn players returned. For the purposes of this set, Tom dubbed them the 'Psychedelic Horns.'
Ty Dennis replaced Owen Goldman on drums and they launched into 'When The Music's Over' with slight horn accents coming from the rear of the stage.
Tom Vitorino called for Vincenzo to return to the stage to share vocals with him on 'Roadhouse Blues', which was augmented with horns and harmonica. As musicians were moving around and people shifting, someone asked Robby if there were horns on this one ... to which he replied "why not?" :=) Waylon also returned to the stage, trading licks with his dad. Seeing Waylon and Robby playing off each other fondly reminded me of the good old days of the Robby Krieger Band!
When 'RHB' ended, Vincenzo and Waylon left the stage. As Tom Vitorino also left the stage, he said there was going to be some cool jazz coming down. It was now 11:05 p.m. Angelo and Ty, along with the keyboards, trumpet and sax, played 'Snake Oil' from Robby's solo CD 'Cinematix' (released in 2000). This was another happy flashback to the days of the Robby Krieger Band, as it was a staple in their set.
There was now a major shifting of on-stage musicians and I'm afraid I missed catching most of their names. I will be glad to insert them later if someone provides them. I caught names of Nick Smith on keyboards and Steve Stevens on drums, described as 'real cats from East L.A., along with Brandino on 6-string bass. They began with a Herbie Hancock song called 'Chameleon'. The horn players were also in this line-up.
Robby introduced the next song as a new one that was written with Brandino. He started off playing what sounded like the flamenco intro to 'Spanish Caravan' on his custom Rick Turner guitar, and switched mid-song to his Gibson. When the song ended, Robby said this was the first time that song had ever been played.
Robby introduced the next song as 'Freedom Jazz'. During these jazz songs, all the same musicians were on-stage with Robby.
Evan Marshall, Angelo Barbera, Owen Goldman and the keyboard player took over the stage again for 'Peace Frog' and segued it into 'Blue Sunday'.
This night of music concluded with Evan Marshall, Angelo Barbera, Ty Dennis and the keyboard player taking it home with 'Light My Fire.'
Phew! Door Jamz was indeed a night of a whole lot of music and musicians with diverse styles. Robby looked like he could just keep on going, but it was 12:20 a.m. Robby had been on stage non-stop since about 9:30 when he joined Waylon for 'Five To One.'
I don't think my photos turned out due to the low lighting on the stage, but if I get some good pix, I'll share them here.
I'll insert the unknown musicians' names as I learn them.
What fun! I hope Robby makes Door Jamz a regular event!
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