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A HOT NIGHT IN POMPANO BEACH

PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 8:40 am
by bocanut
On Sat, I went to see the triple billing of PPL, POCO and Firefall.

Sadly, Rusty's and POCO's efforts were very uneven at best and rude at times. The crowd was smallish (about 50%) of capacity. Rusty wants to play his new music, and the casual fans of POCO don't know who is or is not in the group and want to hear the "hits and near hits". Think AGFTK. Rusty didn't like the crowds reaction to both his new music and his his desire to play it and his reaction was a man who was quite unhappy.

For good or for bad, POCO is an oldies group. POCO still gets bookings based upon its name. Richie and Paul, for example have a higher road to climb to get similar bookings, because they play as the RFB and PC bands.

On the same night, the EAGLES played a Dodger Stadium, all oldies, with one original Eagle. Henley may be something of an ass, but, he knows what the fans will pay to see. POCO fans come to see POCO play their favorite POCO songs.

I look forward to Rusty's new CD. I hope it does well. If Rusty doesn't wants to tour, play and promote the new CD, maybe he should do that as the "Rusty Young Band".

Re: A HOT NIGHT IN POMPANO BEACH

PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:02 am
by marc
At this point the Eagles are nothing but an oldies band. Poco and Rusty are still putting out new music.

One of my favorite philosophers; Ricky Nelson, said a long time ago, "If memories are all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck."

Marc-

Re: A HOT NIGHT IN POMPANO BEACH

PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:09 am
by mcdtj
Tough to play S.Florida outdoors as part of a triple bill in July--it's typically a very hot and humid evening at this time of year. (Big part of why we spend late May - late October in NE Ohio now that I'm retired.)

Also tough to be in the audience under these circumstances. I can see why performers and audience both might get a bit testy if their expectations (play new music vs. hear the old songs) are not met.

Re: A HOT NIGHT IN POMPANO BEACH

PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 3:07 pm
by rick5iron
I wasn't there but an ol pro like Rusty should be able to shrug it off. Look forward to his new album hope it does well

POMPANO BEACH review

PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:17 pm
by Jiff
I'd be happy to hear some new songs in a Poco show, of course I've heard the old songs more than enough. "The Rusty Young Band", yes, with the band playing only Rusty songs, both from Poco and his new album.

A Pompano show reviewer calls playing three new songs in a row "incredibly self indulgent":
https://www.pompanofun.com/blog/Fun-Things-to-Do-In-Pompano-Beach/Pure-Prairie-League-Poco-Firefall-Pompano-Beach.html

Re: A HOT NIGHT IN POMPANO BEACH

PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:37 pm
by wheland
I don't totally agree with the reviewer but he does have a bit of a point. It might have been better for Poco to do a single new song since they were doing such a short set.

It's an old conundrum with bands that have been around for a long time - do you play only the "hits" or do you mix in a number of new tracks. A mix is often hard to do when much of the audience is there because of the history of the bands and expects / hopes the band will play that one or two songs they are most famous for. I'm glad I don't have to decide what to do in a situation like this.

Dennis

Re: A HOT NIGHT IN POMPANO BEACH

PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:59 am
by randall
I was at the show in Pompano as well. Pure Prairie League opened the show and sounded pretty good. Donnie Clark has a real good voice and David Call still is an excellent steel guitar player. Poco was second and Opened with Call it Love. Not my favorite Poco song live. 45 Minutes of Poco is never enough and in reading some posts on Facebook was prepared to hear new songs from Rusty. He played Friends which I thought sounded pretty good live for a new song. The second song I had not heard (since I received the 4 songs in purchasing the new CD). Was good as well. As the reviewer states the 3rd song was All fired up, which is not a new song but a new song to the novice that probably had no idea that Poco even had a newer CD out. Other than Call it Love the other classics were Heart of the night, Rose of Cimmaron, & Call it Love. Firefall was on fire. They sounded amazing and better than I can remember ever hearing them before. The crowd on hand that I saw was about 2/3 full of capacity. While the amphitheater itself offers permanent, stadium style seating for up to 2600 guests, the overall capacity of the venue with The Pompano Beach Ampitheatre and Grounds combined, is closer to 5000.It appears to be only 50% capacity but a lot of people hang out near the back of the venue close to the bar. Overall the show was good and always good to see Rusty & Poco

Re: A HOT NIGHT IN POMPANO BEACH

PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:07 am
by wheland
Randall,

Thanks for the review. Glad you enjoyed the show. I should have pointed out that the reviewer was wrong about "All fired Up" but like you said it is a "new"
song to most casual fans of Poco.

I like it when a band plays some different songs but even I sometimes want certain songs when I see a band- especially if I don't expect to see them again anytime soon.

I'd venture to say that most performers have a love / hate relationship with some of their best loved songs. They may love to make the fans happy but hate to play a tune for the 10,000th time live. They want to do new or different music quite often but are constrained by reality.

Dennis