Huey Still Stars in Texas
By A.R. "Drew" Collins
HLN Today reporter
22 May 2004, Fort Worth, TX - May 22nd was another eventful night at Billy Bob's Dance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Billy Bob's has been known to host great acts such as Willie Nelson, Ringo Starr, and ZZTop. But this particular night, Huey Lewis and The News were the big act. The show started around 10:30 in the evening and lasted for about an hour and half. Huey and his band opened with the first cut off of their latest album, Plan B, entitled "We're Not Here For A Long Time (We're Here For A Good Time)". The full list included numerous hits for them such as:
- Do You Believe In Love (encore)
- Workin' For A Livin' (encore)
- The Heart Of Rock and Roll
- Heart and Soul
- Bad Is Bad
- I Want A New Drug
- If This Is It
- Jacob's Ladder/Small World
- Doing It All For My Baby (encore)
- It's Alright
- But It's Alright
- The Power Of Love
- My Other Woman
- Thank You #19
- When I Write The Book
Although the horn section lacks the technical proficiency of the Tower Of Power, which toured with the News for many years in the 1980s, the "News Brothers" possess a style of their own that any band would be proud to display. Also added to the lineup are relative newcomers John Pierce on bass (who replaced Mario Cippolina) and Stef Burns (who recently stepped-in for Chris Hayes on lead guitar). Burns, like his predecessor Hayes, adds jazz-influenced guitar solos that would make any guitar player jealous. For the guitar players: Stef favors a custom-made banana yellow Fender Stratocaster and a somewhat older model Telecaster. In the 1980s Chris Hayes primarily used a Frankenstein-version of a Gibson Spirit and late 70s model black Fender Stratocaster, both of which were somewhat retired in the 1990s. In essence, the tones are different but the style is very similar, which brings back a lot of memories for older Huey Lewis and The News fans.
Pierce, the other newest member to the band, may not wear black leather or chain smoke like his predecessor, but adds tasty bass licks to the ensemble, adding to their recipe for a tight sounding band. Then there's the rest of the rhythm section: Bill Gibson (drums/vocals), Sean Hopper (keyboards/vocals), and Johnny Colla (rhythm guitar/tenor saxophone/vocals). From the very beginning, Colla has also done the band's vocal arrangements, which resemble that of Beach Boy Brian Wilson's.
At nearly 54 years old, Huey Lewis is still the star of the show, and still drives the audience as well as he ever has. The highlight of his own personal performance came at the beginning of "The Heart Of Rock and Roll", when he leapt down off stage onto a table where the front row was sitting. There he played an opening harmonica solo that lasted several minutes, leaving his fans in awe of his talent. Unfortunately, the show had to end, but did so with their 1986 classic "Doing It All For My Baby". After that Billy Bob's Dance Hall seemed to resume business as normal as Huey Lewis and The News fans, old and young, headed to their cars assured that "the heart of rock and roll is still beatin'".
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