“The Apollo Theater is the closest thing I have to Church,” Boz Scaggs said after the jazzy “Runnin’ Blue” opening song at his concert Tuesday night. “This is Church”. But who goes to Church in 2013? About the same amount of people who made it to Scaggs misjudged set at the half empty Apollo, a cavernous hall when this quiet and it ate his show up and spit it back.
Pushing his fine new album Memphis, the former Middle Of The Road soul and disco man from the 1970s sold it hard but to little avail. The man is the Perry Como of rock and roll, in a slim barely 90 minute no opener concert, his muso demeanor was all calm shards but his 68 years had caught up with him and his lack of hits sunk him. Two covers early in the set didn’t much help either, both of them from a wake he had performed in and both felt it.
Since Scaggs won’t perform Steve Miller songs, he is left doling out “Lowdown”, “Lido Shuffle” and “What Can I Say” (the latter a big crossover disco hit in the UK) and nothing much else. Imagine if Scaggs had performed at BB Kings, where he belongs, the proximity of an audience and a full house might have woke him up, throw in “The Joker” and “Fly Like An Eagle” maybe that will give some songs he can dole out, keep “Rainy Day In Georgia” and “Corinna Corinna” and hold the set highlight, a galvanized “Big Sun” though putting it closer to the middle. My friend Sherry Davis added that he should have done “Slow dancer”.
In BB King’s that would have changed a bad set to a good set. With Boz’s fine voice leading the way and with just the surge of bodies in a full out club, it would have been fun. But the pace Tuesday night was deadly and thye songs echoed, thee sound system destroyed “Lido Shuffle” and even fave “What Can I Say” which is given a smart and sincere going over with the bass holding the hook, just as disco should, but never quite flies.
Early on I knew we were in trouble when a stand out from Memphis, Willy Deville’s excellent “Mixed Up Shook Up Girl” stalled on him. The band are being held back, everything felt it was being held back, and the lovely calypso bottom failed to hold. That was the third song and basically me and my friend Sherry both realized it wasn’t going to happen. The Memphis album is an unassuming and brilliantly sang collection in that granulated voice. A sleight of soul covers plus a couple of excellent originals. There is no reason I can think of for this to fail to ignite on stage.
Three of the four covers were bad ideas. “Thank You Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again” was a dreary disaster and “Time” was sung by his back up singer and still didn’t go far enough. Nothing quite happened right. Boz is an old timer and I am assuming he got creamed by a half empty Apollo and a wonky mic and sometimes it is hard to excite in those circumstances. And I really enjoyed the album (less now of course) and recommend it but this was not a good evening. Next time a smaller venue.
Grade: C