KC & The Sunshine Band Concert :

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....great summer for music ....

http://host.engagedmedia.net/~midstate/pages/3054/

I'll be at this one ! :D 8)



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Attended the KC & the Sunshine Band's free outdoor concert at the Midstate Fair tonight ( Los Lonely Boys Weds. night) . I am jotting down notes and hope to post some comments about it tomorrow ...

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KC & the Sunshine Band at the Mid State Fair 2005


Brief summary :

The concert started at 7:30 p.m. ….. which was much too early to get down “tonight” , Sun hadn’t set ..it was hot yet ( 103 degrees that day ) …still light out … The crowd was mulling about not settling in for the show .. .. It was not a big crowd …. hundreds of people … not thousands.

One of the problems with a free show like this is that everyone ….. no make that anyone shows up ..not necessarily fans or people with as much interest as those who are willing to pay admission . Many are the kind who wouldn’t turn down any show ….as long as its free ….. When you get in to a show , just because you showed up or happened to be at the fair anyway, it makes for quite a deluted quality of audience ….
Since this is the state fair … …the calves that will be auctioned off the next morning are just beyond the stage. In pen after pen are these closely caged calves…. ( yes they create a noticeable smell ….and nothing remotely resembling a dance club!!)

So the band comes out energetically, and fills the stage ….two percussionists …. Two guitarists …four horn players .. A keyboardist …. Nine so far … not a bad ensemble !

Then out comes KC and the first song is :
“SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE “ and the crowd is pleased even if its still daylight and KC is singing directly into the setting sun … with the glare in his eyes. Two fine young ladies come out during the song and start gyrating around …. Then two more …. These two somewhat older … but also jumping around …and shake, shake . shaking….

KC followed that with a brassy Kool & The Gang styled tune and some of the clueless in the grandstand were now whispering to their husbands “Come’n Daddy , let’s go and look at the sheep …” Which is fine with daddy because he didn’t want to sit through a concert no matter who was on stage anyway . So some of the “anything for free” crowd filtered out …while other still filtered in . The crowd remained modest ( remember this is midway between LA and San Francisco ......Toby Keith would pack them in at this same stage two nights later …
There were lots of young people though …and KC said this to them….. He told the young kids in the audience that when their moms’ were thirteen he was like their Mom’s Nsync ….and he said “ take a good look at me kids …. .. Because this is what Justin Timberlake will look like in thirty years !!! “ :D :D ….
KC was very conversational and his banter went over really well ….joked that he’d been doing this for 27 years .. “ About the same time as Cher started her farewell tour “ …. KC said this was his final tour too …. through 2015.... “ maybe 2020 if the money is good !” …
At one point he spotted someone in the crowd talking on a cell phone .... pointed them out and with surprising forgiveness said .“ Tell them KC said ‘hello‘ ” …. :D

KC performed “Yes I’m Ready” ( he did not the last time I saw him ) … co sang it with a female singer and KC mentioned Teri Desario as his “ good friend" and someone he’s known since the age of nine ..then this same female co-singer sang the Manhattan’s “ Kiss And Say Goodbye” (very well too ) while KC rested ( he drank a lot of water that evening ) and then KC answered back with “Please Don’t Go” …. Now, I would pay entry just to hear him do this song alone ...and amongst all these people and as a parade of uncontrolled children ran up and down the isles … I sat there undeterred as I listened to this favorite just as the warm day was becoming dusk ……..an unavoidable lump in my throat … :roll:


It is now getting darker … when the boogie badness in all of us starts to come out . It got much more party like as it darkened and the stage lights became more effective …
KC did a great “ Keep It Coming Love” during which he went into another whole different funky groove sort of too abruptly just as the crowd was really getting into the groove of “Keep It Coming Love“ ..until finally the band unexpectedly brought it around and went back into to “Keep It Coming Love “ again …very clever.

The band itself was great .... Very energetic, lots of movement …. very show offish … very EW&F…..some great solos including an outrageous Jimi Hendrix type jam in the middle of “ That’s The Way I Like It “ …And a great deal of excellent T-Connection styled percussion throughout the concert and a couple of wonderfully long creative drum breaks ......

One of the dancers who shook it around the most turned out to be the singer for Company B so she sang ( briefly) her big hit…. "FASCINATED" .

KC wore sequined denim and had his boogie shoes on ....but as the girls did the same steps along with him with ease .... he struggled .... like he didn’t want to lose his balance….Still, he knew the planned moves .... If he’d lose not even ten pounds he’d have a much better stage appearance …
Did “Brick House” which the crowd loved and I wouldn’t be surprised if half the idiots there thought that was one of his own hits .. Oddest moment ---- for a brief period he went into Rod Stewart’s “D Ya Think I’m Sexy ’ …not sure why …. they also did a War tune … … KC did a nice upbeat version of “Love The One Your With “ which he said was his favorite song of the sixties.. Listening to the band play it…. .it had a disco feel to it ….. it had that uplifting energy as well as that “ go for it” attitude of the disco era and that KC incorporated into his own lyrics. It made sense that this song might have influenced him .


Other songs performed : “I Get Lifted”, “ Boogie Shoes” “Give It Up“ as well as a good mix of non -hits too ..
…I moved to one of the empty side grandstands that flank the stage on each side ( I’ve seen them full at other concerts) and was able to be pretty close watching the stage from the side ..from this angle looking out from the stage toward the crowd … the audience looked much better … more full .. So I hope KC felt the turnout was adequate…. .. Country folk …. so they got down that night as best they could …. which is to say some even briefly got up from their seats ... but this was not a dancing in the aisles crowd overall ...

Finally “Get Down Tonight” was performed .... done very well too … then goodnight Paso Robles ….. and no encore .

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