The Doobie Brothers are on the road for their 2024 Tour, which is hitting 38 U.S. cities. On June 23, the band was joined by Grammy Award-winning blues artist Robert Cray at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA. The core members of the Doobies, Michael McDonald, Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, and John McFee, led the band through an impressively memorable performance that covered 19 tracks, including a three-song encore.
Cray opened the show and led his four-piece band through several funky, blues tracks. The sound in the arena was crisp and quite loud, plus the band was lit very well. Cray’s voice was as solid as ever, and his distinctive, wailing guitar sound cut through the venue on tracks including “Fix This,” “You Can’t Make Me Change,” and “Phone Booth.” Cray got some laughs from the predominantly Boomer audience when he quipped about that last song, “Remember those?” before providing some intricate finger picking and string bending. Cray took “Sitting On Top of The World,” the old blues standard by Mississippi Sheiks, and made it his own with a slow, sultry performance that included a cool, moody organ solo by Dover Weinberg. The band ended the set with an uplifting, fast-tempo track called “You Must Believe In Yourself.”
The Doobie Brothers came out to thunderous applause. In addition to the four core members, the band included John Cowan (bass, vocals), Marc Russo (saxophones), Ed Toth (drums), and Marc Quiñones (percussion). Quiñones spent many years in the Allman Brothers Band, and the other members also have solid pedigrees, so there was an abundance of talent on stage. Their live show, performing several career-spanning hits, made it apparent why the band has stayed popular for over 50 years and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
The core members were lit with spotlights all show and Russo often got a spotlight during his smooth and sometimes booming sax solos. The sound quality was excellent, and each artist’s vocals could be heard clearly. Since the band is so well known for their impressive vocals and harmonies, it was a pleasure to realize that they all still have the ability to sing so well. Another enhancement to the show was the big screen behind the musicians that displayed an array of interesting videos to accompany the songs. The coolest videos were authentic, grainy, old concert footage of the band that was synchronized to the live performance.
Some of the amazing vocals and harmonies could be heard during the opening song of the show. They came out firing as all four core members, along with bassist John Cowan, sang during Kim Weston’s “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While).” Pat Simmons blasted an impressive guitar solo to finish the song. He, Johnston, and McFee showed off their guitar chops all set with complicated but unpretentious solos. “Depending On You” featured Simmons again on lead vocals and another excellent guitar solo that led to an expressive McFee solo. Tom Johnston took over on vocals and blasted a scorching guitar solo during “Rockin’ Down the Highway.”
Some of the loudest applause occurred whenever Michael McDonald took over on lead vocals. His husky, distinctive voice is still powerful, and he showed it off on hits including “Here to Love You,” “You Belong to Me,” “It Keeps You Runnin’,” and “What A Fool Believes.” McDonald and Russo seem to have a special connection. Often, McDonald would open one of the songs with a complex piano intro while Russo would join in with a pulsating sax accompaniment.
The latter part of the set was a sequence of huge hits that got many in the crowd up and dancing. McDonald tickled his organ during “Minute By Minute,” and McFee ripped another solo. The Art Reynolds Singers cover “Jesus Is Just Alright” featured amazing harmonies, another McDonald’s organ solo, and a marvelous Simmons guitar solo. Johnston led the way on “Long Train Runnin’” and encouraged the audience to chant the chorus response “without love” through the song. McFee broke out his harmonica for the recognizable riff before Quiñones and Toth did a short percussion duet that transitioned into the set-closing “China Grove.” Johnston again led on vocals and got the audience singing along before contributing a screaming guitar solo to end the show.
Once the band came back out to loud applause for the encore, Johnston said, “you people tear the roof off this sucker.” He and Simmons used acoustic guitars while McFee played violin for “Black Water” with Simmons on lead vocals, everyone harmonizing and the audience joining in. Simmons and McFee did a sweet instrumental duet before the band went back to the melody and let the audience sing the chorus. The next song opened with everyone back on electric instruments and a bluesy McDonald/Russo intro that led to McDonald singing “Taking It To The Streets” and concluded with another extensive Russo sax solo. Johnston asked the audience to help the band close the show by singing along during “Listen To The Music.” Johnston led the way while the other vocalists and the crowd joined in. The party finally came to an end with smiles and goodbye waves from all the band members as the happy audience shouted loudly and cheered the band off the stage.
2 Responses
Can’t wait to see this! I am seeing them in North Carolina in July. Stevie Winwood is opening for them
My husband and I were there. This article is 1000000% accurate!