Labor of Love
By Patricia Moorhouse
HLN Today Reporter
It was the start of the long Labor Day weekend. The air was thick. The sky filled with ominous clouds. At times a glimmer of sunshine would break through. There was occasional drizzle with thunder and lightening in the distance. The humidity was as high as the temperature. But nothing was as hot or bright as Huey Lewis and the News' performance to a full house at the Fraze Pavilion.
The crowd was warmed up not only by the weather but for 45 minutes by the talents of a popular local Rock and Roll singer, Henry Lee Summer. He had the crowd on its feet singing, swinging and shouting for more. By 9:30, the crowd was pumped up and anxious to continue rocking with the true heart of Rock and Roll, Huey Lewis and the News.
To the thunderous applause and cheering of the audience, Huey sauntered on stage to open the show with "Some Kinda Wonderful" which was immediately followed by "My Other Woman Got Another Man." Huey then spoke to the audience saying that in addition to the "new" songs, they also wanted to please the crowd with the old standards. So with the cue "Let's Rock" the band broke into "The Heart of Rock and Roll" followed by "Doin It All for My Baby" and "Power of Love."
To show off the great horn section, the group then played a newer standard tune, which as Huey says requires audience participation, "Plan B." The audience was treated to a utterly fantastic sexy solo by Rob Sudduth, the "story" by Marvin McFadden, the cool sound of Ron Stallings and the dynamic drum solo of Bill Gibson. This great jazzy song was followed by an always requested "If This Is It."
The audience, or should we day the females of the audience, was treated to the great acappella version of "60 Minute Man" which was followed by an old song done by the Jarmels - "Little Bit of Soap."
Stef Burns demonstrated his phenomenal guitar skills with his solo in "He Don't Know. Huey then showed his talents on the glockenspiel with the hit "But It's Alright." Stef again showed his talents in the HLN classic "I Want a New Drug." The true HLN devotees knew that the concert was coming to a close when the band started to play "Not Here for A Long Time, But Here for a Good Time."
In response to the applause of the audience HLN did an encore of "Stuck With You" and appropriately for the Labor Day weekend, "Working for A Living."
As the audience continued to scream for more HLN came out again for a second encore. Huey told the audience that he was doing a new version of an old song for those of us who have been to over 20 concerts - the new rendition of "Do You Believe in Love?" As the group joked about how late it was getting, they finished the night with "Back in Time."
As usual HLN's performance was a labor of love on the beginning of this Labor Day weekend.
