Review: Neville Bros. and Dr. John

This was heritage weekend in Kansas City. Three of the weekend's biggest shows involved headliners and performers with hall-of-fame statures: B.B. King and Buddy Guy at the Midland on Friday; Bobby "Blue" Bland and guests at the Midland on Saturday; and the Neville Brothers with Dr. John at the Ameristar casino on Saturday.

There's still a big demand for the legends and the music they made famous: Nearly 4,000 tickets were sold among the three shows. The performances, were a mixed bag at best, including the Nevilles show at the Grand Pavilion. 

About 800 people showed up for the "Mardis Gras Mambo." Dr. John and his three-piece Lower 911 band opened the evening. He is 69 years old, but Malcolm John Rebennack is still a charismatic performer and master of the piano and keyboards. During "Let the Good Times Roll" he showed what he can still do on the electric guitar.

His set, which lasted a few minutes beyond 30, was the usual brew of taproot New Orleans music: blues, funk, jazz. It included "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," a new one that decries off-shore drilling called "Save Our Wetlands," "My Buddy," "Lay My Burden Down" and his best-known song, "Right Place, Wrong Time." That one aroused one of the evening's biggest responses; unfortunately, it aptly describes the rest of the night.

After a 30-minute break, the Neville Brothers took the stage. This touring version of the band was without Cyril Neville, who has been touring with Galactic (who was in Lawrence on Friday). The Nevilles were last in town in April, when they opened for Neil Young at the Sprint Center. The size of that place diminished their muscle and charm; the smaller Star Pavilion seemed like a warmer, more intimate environment for them. And it was. But that didn't solve another issue: The show was short and failed to stay in high gear.

There were some bright moments, most involving Aaron Neville and his transcendent voice: when he sang his 44-year-old hit "Tell It Like It Is"; when he led the band and the room through a jaunty pep-rally version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" -- which turned into a "Who Dat" tribute to the 2010 Super Bowl Champs; and when he led the lovely, hymnal rendition of "Amazing Grace." That one, however, turned out to be the last song, which came as a mild shock to many in the crowd: It ended less than 45 minutes after the set started.

Other than that, save for some outbursts of enthusiasm from drummer Willie Green, the vibe was pretty room temperature and paint-by-numbers. This was the final night of an 11-show/15-day tour. Maybe fatigue was an issue. Or maybe it's a casino thing: Make it quick and get the crowd out and onto the boat (the Vince Neil show last week in the same room was over and done in an hour). Either way, my ticket was $55 -- for roughly 80 minutes of music. Right place, wrong time indeed.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[Steve]

It's Aaron Neville that sings Tell It Like It Is. Ivan is Aaron's son, the one that played with Keith Richards et al. and who currently leads Dumpstaphunk.

[Tim Finn]

my duh. thanks for the cx.

[db]

Ole Farts can't stay up late any more? Music was great, good sound. Wished this was a dance concert... maybe that had something to do with energy and time involvement of both bands. I really expected them to collaborate and "get down" together.
Scary seeing all that grey in the audience's & entertainer's hair... tho the crowd was plenty excited to see these entertainers. Way too short a performance. No time to even get warmed up. Braved the weather and got home early. Bummer.

[Cat]

That is interesting, I do not recall you ever mention your ticket price before.

Did it say $55, or did you pay $55 yourself?

I am only curious it is not good or bad either way, but I thought you were always comped. Or is this something about the casino going cheap, and the artist feeling that, and thus short shows? I am only curious.

[tim finn]

Bought a ticket with the star credit card. Mentioned the price because it was an average or typical price for a show that was unusually short.

[Cat]

Thank you Sir, I was curious.

Any artist whom performs for less than 90 minutes is full of crap, and they should be (have been by me) fired (unless there is a good reason). They supposedly love doing what they do, so when an artist is paid to performance they should perform for at least 90 minutes( and I think 2 1/2 hours with a 15 minute break is the way to go) and forget opening acts, open for yourself.

I usually make an evening out of concerts/shows/etc and when the show is short, it blows the deal. The number of times we lool around after a 55 minute show and ask WTF??? it is 9:30.

ps
I never a trust an act which starts on time. 10-15 minutes late and then a 2 1/2 show is perfect.

PPS
SOBER ROCK STARS SUCK!!

[MiWeb315]

Good seeing you Tim but agree with your critique of the show. In fact, you were kinder than I. Wasn't expecting the Nevilles to reprise the feeling of seeing them in New Orleans so many times but my gosh, they underachieved.

Art has the history with the Meters & Aaron has a singular voice but in recent years, Cyril drove that train. Not only did I miss his drums & backing vocals on "Fever", I missed his showmanship.

Except for Willie Green, I didn't know any of those guys in the band but it was telling that Art now requires a second keyboardist. Bless his heart, he looked absolutely geriatric up there.

I wish the Nevilles nothing but the best & if casinos are paying the bills, I hope they have all they need. But I'll keep my memories of those hot nights at Tipitina's intact & not see them again.

As you noted, Dr. John was great ... for the 30 minutes he was up there. Deducting the opening & closing vamp, I'm actually not sure he was even on that stage for 30 minutes. Rather than getting two headliners, it felt far more like we got two opening acts - who happen to be legends.

Had not seen a concert at Ameristar but had a bad feeling I'd encounter too many high rollers who'd been comped & didn't really care about the music. That concern was validated & first thing I did was strip the Ameristar dates from my calendar on my phone. We'll catch Willie somewhere else.

Very Best, Mike W

[Jimbo]

Tony Bennett and Leonard Cohen both put on better shows and had a lot better case for taking it easy.

I really liked the music at the Mardi gras mambo. There just wasn't enough of it.

JRB

[MiWeb315]

Yoko Ono turned 77 last week & I saw her in Brooklyn with the current incarnation of the Plastic Ono Band. She was incredible, tireless - best show I've seen in years, including ones by her late husband's former cowriter.

So yeah, age isn't everything but indeed health is & Art just didn't look well. I believe I saw two people sort of helping him from the stage afterward. If was ill, it would almost make sense of the rest of it.