Through The Fog: Loggins/Messina

But it’s Loggins and friggin’ Messina. I’m going anyway. I haven’t had a chance to see them since the mid ’70s. So now I’m in my seat about fifteen minutes before the opening act is scheduled to start. The stage is set with a riser across the full length, set back about fifteen feet. Behind where the musicians will be, there are four, erector set looking arches, pointing to a circular video screen suspended above the drummer, center stage.

The screen was running a tape loop of ads for past and current works from tonight’s artists, complete with web site addresses and twitter screen names. At the bottom of each frame were the italicized words, Available at all merch booths. Another bad sign. Maybe I should start preparing myself for a schlock-fest of oldies and rehashed soundtrack tunes. Now comes the surprise. They were everything I would have wanted from a Loggins & Messina show plus a Beatles tune! These two haven’t missed a beat in thirty years.

Let me back up just a hair. The Gabe Dixon band opened the show, right on time. Dixon is L&M’s keyboard player, but here it’s just a piano and microphone for him. Accompanied by one man band John O’Ritz (He used a guitar with no strings as a percussion instrument on more than one occasion), Dixon masterfully handled a seven song set of mostly introspective, melodic story songs.

His influences are many; Elton John, Billy Joel, Bruce Hornsby to name a few, and he did them proud. His songs are well crafted tales of woe, heartache and long distance romance, with just a touch of whimsy here and there to keep it interesting. After intermission and the subliminally implanted trip to the merch booth, I took my seat to see what the real Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina had left in them.

With cowboy hats and acoustic guitars, they took their place onstage, seated atop stools to open the set with two gems, Danny’s Song and The House At Pooh Corner. With minimal accompaniment by the rest of the band (Steve Distanislao on drums, Dixon on keyboards, George Hawkins on bass, Big Jim Wheeler on horns, Gary Oleyar on violin and Steve Nieves on sax, flute, percussion and just about any other instrument he could get his hands on) L&M led the audience sing along through the first verse of each song. Then they harmonized, like one voice, and brought that lump in the throat you get every once in a while when things come together that perfectly. They then switched to their electric guitars, lost the stools and started to party. There were so many highlights it was almost embarrassing.

Early in the set, they played the evening’s only non-Loggins & Messina song, Two Of Us by the Beatles. They picked a good one there. “You and I have memories, as long as there’s a road that stretches out ahead”. Hearing their two voices blend for this oh so poignant lyric brought lump number two. I swear they were hitting notes that I thought were difficult when we all were thirty years younger.

They switched out their guitars and passed the songs back and forth. Long Tailed Cat saw the band stretching their chops a bit for the first time, especially Oleyar’s fiddle. Wheeler and Nieves stalked the stage during Listen To A Country Song/Holiday Hotel, dueling it out center stage, one bad ass riff after another, till they finished the medley with a blues crescendo of horns that garnered them the first of many standing ovations.

After a teasingly soulful and short Georgia On My Mind acapella verse from Loggins, the band lit into Back to Georgia and boogie-woogied the crowd back onto their feet behind some of Messina’s best guitar work since the Poco days. Speaking of Poco, we didn’t hear any of their songs. Nor did we hear any of Kenny Loggins solo work, new or old. They mentioned between songs that they had new albums available at the merch booth and left it at that. There was no room for anything that didn’t bear the unmistakable sound of Loggins AND Messina.

Next up was what L&M fans refer to as ‘the Trilogy’. Just as no Led Zeppelin fan can imagine hearing Living Loving Maid without first hearing Heartbreaker, nor vice versa. While a separate song, their very essence is in their inclusion with each other, in other words, they just sound better together. Loggins & Messina’s Trilogy consists of Loving Me, Make A Woman Feel Wanted and Peace Of Mind.

Messina noodled a bit, and then the band joined in at the outset of Loving Me. The crowd rose as one, arms raised and most singing along. The band also kicked it up a notch, with the horn section again stepping in and tearing it up. MAWFW changed the tempo and had those still standing really dancing in place.

But where tonight’s trilogy really excelled was during the final tune, Peace Of Mind. With Loggins on the mellow vocal lead, Wheeler and Nieves stepped to the mike with a couple of flutes and set the mood. Throughout the song, Loggins vocals increased in intensity. The last third of the song saw Loggins on his knees, bent backwards, bringing it up from deep, deep. Like a gospel singer in rapture, Kenny scatted and filled and practically wept till the very final line. The band stops cold, Messina stepped to the mike to join Loggins for the final “Peace of mind” and the third lump appears.

After the band caught their collective breath during Be Free, they fired up Angry Eyes. For the next sixteen minutes and forty two seconds (damn right I timed it) they reminded me of why they were so much fun to see in concert. While Loggins kept a steady rhythm, Messina traded licks with pretty much each of the other musicians, giving the whole band a chance to riff off of each other.

Having been steadily playing on this tour since August, they have honed this to an intense jam full of energy. Messina changed to Mandolin for a while. There were more flutes, fiddle and assorted percussion instruments. Amazing stuff. Band intros preceded the set’s closer, You Need A Man from 1973’s Full Sail release. This they also stretched beyond the 15 minute mark before the big finish and the taking of bows. It was then I noticed, from my perch in the balcony, that the aisles were indeed full of dancers.

Since my bad back was telling me it was time to shift around, I decided to join the dancing masses, if for nothing other than a cover to get better pictures, but to also enjoy the show from where I like to enjoy shows best: Up front! I managed to get to the rim of stage right. Pulled the camera out and, with perfect timing, out came the band for their three song encore.

From either side of the stage, roadies appeared with kettle drums. Nieves to one side, Wheeler to the other, they hammered out the first notes of Vahevala. Again the jam was on, as the band clocked this one in at almost half an hour. And when that song ended, without missing a beat, they kicked into the early seventies anthemic, Your Mama Don’t Dance. A party favorite of mine since high school, this performance was equal parts intense rocker and nostalgic sing along. Loggins and Messina high fived the audience when they could reach, in between their respective solos and musical responsibilities.

The band came out one more time for a really well played version of Nobody But You. Then, with more high fives and the requisite full band line bowing, they were off for the next town in a tour that has until late November to enjoy the party. I say this because, in my new found close proximity to the performers, I could see that their smiles were every bit as wide and sincere as those on the audiences faces.

If I have a regret about this show, it’s that I didn’t bring the wife. I mean, I know the Dylan show was less than a month ago and all, and she really liked that. But she really would have enjoyed this show. Maybe not the sneaking down to the front row part (she’s more of a “I’ll stay here, you tell me how it was.” kind of gal), but definitely all of the music. Might have even sung along, you never know.

Rock On Through the Fog,

A.J. Crandall