The quest to see as many classic acts as possible continues with Daryl Hall and Glenn Tilbrook

April 1

Warner Theater, Erie, PA

As part of my quest to see as many older musicians as possible I saw Daryl Hall with special guest Glenn Tilbrook in April.  This undertaking is not that easy where I live, on the edge of nothing except Lake Erie.  Major cities are several hours drive away and Buffalo doesn’t tend to be on the tour schedule for a lot of acts these days like it used to be decades ago.  There was a time when Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, Syracuse and Binghamton were frequented by major performers but those days are mostly long gone.  

When I saw the announcement back in the fall that these two were headed my way I jumped at the chance to see them and I was not disappointed.  I wrote before about my love for smaller music venues.  The Warner in Erie is the perfect size, IMO, for a concert.  There are no bad seats in the house. There is a very large women’s restroom with virtually no line – key for us gals-and several concession areas with a good variety of wine, beer and liquor. And you can bring your beverages into the theater if you purchase an adult sippy cup.  I have several! Parking is relatively easy, and free if you can snag a spot on the street, or only $5 in one of the two or three ramps that are close by.  There is a decent brewery across the street for dinner pre-show if you are inclined.  Food is average but the draft selection is pretty good.  The only problem is that the place is only open later in the week and there are not many other places within easy walking distance of the theater.  Luckily this evening we stumbled upon a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant. The owner/hostess was a little off-putting- I don’t think she anticipated a rush of people for the dinner hour but we were able to slide in and get a bite to eat. The food was yummy despite the odd atmosphere and chilly reception. 

The show started right on time.  Glenn Tilbrook opened and he was fantastic.  Smartly dressed in a plaid suit and backed by Daryl Hall’s band, he sounded great, voice strong and guitar skills killer.  He completely engaged the audience and appeared to be having fun. He played a fun set of his own music intermixed with a bunch of well known Squeeze hits including Black Coffee in Bed, Tempted and Hourglass. These took me right back to my college days in the mid-eighties when Squeeze was everywhere, all the time.  Particularly on the quad of Hobart College, in the sunshine, watching a rugby game or at Folk Fest, drinking beer from Solo cups in the sunshine.  The older crowd was extremely enthusiastic.  The one thing about going to older performers that is kind of a bummer is that there are very few young people in the audience. I wish that the music industry was such that more people were exposed to more music rather than just what they curated on Spotify or Apple Music.  I wish there was an easier way to hear all different kinds of stuff all the time. Despite my love of Gen X era music, I’m always on the hunt for new sounds too, so send suggestions my way please.

Anyway, here’s Tilbrook’s full setlist, songs with both Squeeze, The Fluffers as well as Difford and Tilbrook.

Parallel World

Little Ships

Black Coffee in Bed

You Get the Feeling

Still

Love’s Crashing Waves

Through the Net

Happy Disposition

 He finished his set with Tempted and Hourglass

All the Squeeze fans in the audience were absolutely primed and pumped for those two, Hourglass resulting in a lot of enthusiastic 80s style dancing! IYKYK, lol.

After about a twenty minute break the man of the hour,  a fedora topped, guitar strapped Daryl Hall took the stage.  The audience was ecstatic. He played several songs off his new album and I have to say they sounded really good.  They were definitely written to suit his aging voice.  He sounded stronger on those than on some of the Hall and Oates songs I have to say.   He moved to the piano for most of the rest of the show.  I was not sure what to expect.  I had heard that he was not very warm or audience friendly but he was quite chatty. I know he must have pissed off some members in the audience when he briefly alluded to his disdain of the current presidential administration, but there were a lot of people clapping and cheering his comments. 

The set list:

• The Whole World’s Better
• Dreamtime
• Foolish Pride
• Can’t Say No To You
• Kiss on My List
• Private Eyes
• One of my personal and all time favorites, Rich Girl.  That old video of him singing this song while wearing sunglasses and a full fur coat is just so damn scrumptious.
• Walking Between Raindrops which I’d never heard before and really loved.
• He talked about being a fellow Pennsylvanian before performing I’m in a Philly Mood.
• Too Much Information
• Every Time You Go Away, which was written by Hall but made more famous by Paul Young and included an absolutely soulful sax solo by longtime band member Charlie DeChant.
• The always classic Sara Smile.
• He closed out the set with I Can’t Go For That.

For the encore, he brought Tilbrook back out for three songs, One on One, a rockin’ Pulling Mussels from a Shell that had people back on their feet dancing,  and a fantastic cover of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ Bad Luck.

He sent everyone home happy with the closer, the hit You Make My Dreams.

I’d had Hall and Oates on my list of performers to see before it was too late.  They played at CMAC in Canandaigua about six years ago, but the cost of the tickets was what even for me, who’s paid a shit load of money to see some shows, really exorbitantly out of line so I skipped it.  When I saw that Hall was scheduled for Erie I jumped at the chance and the tickets were about average for a show of this size in this market. It’s unfortunate that he and Oates have had such a contentious relationship for what seems like years, and it would have been great to see them perform together.  Maybe I’ll have a chance to see Oates some time, but I am so glad I went to this as part of my quest.

On to the next show!