Kweevak.com Rock Report: Peace, Love and Cowbell? Hippiefest 2009 (Concert Review)

James Kennedy - Instrumental Guitar from the Heartland

Peace, Love and Cowbell?
Hippiefest 2009 Rocks L.A.
A Kweevak.com Rock Report by Deborah Rose

Peace, love, tie-dye, and 60s music were the spirit of Hippiefest '09 at the Gibson Amphitheater on Friday, July 31.

Flo and Eddie of the Turtles were the friendly hosts of the evening, welcoming the mostly baby boomer crowd and asking how many had gone to concerts in the 60s and remembered hearing the line, "More cowbell?" Of course, this was a reference to the Saturday Night Live skit with Blue Oyster Cult playing "Don't Fear the Reaper," with Will Ferrell playing cowbell.

Although the event's title implies the far-out music of the hippie days, the show focused more on the pop sounds of the era featuring Flo & Eddie of the Turtles, Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals, Chuck Negron formerly of Three Dog Night, Leslie West, Corky Laing and Rev Jones of Mountain and Joey Molland of Badfinger.

Discovered by the Beatles' Apple label, Liverpudlian Joey Molland opened the show backed by John Conte on bass, Vinny Santoro on drums and Godfrey Townsend on lead guitar. He played several Badfinger hits including, "Baby Blue," "Come and Get It," written by Paul McCartney, and "No Matter What," with Townsend doing the George Harrison lead guitar, and ended with "Day After Day."

Introduced as the blue-eyed east coast soul singer, Felix Cavaliere played keyboards while singing the Rascals tunes, "Lonely Too Long," and "Groovin" and he also covered several favorite oldies including, "Midnight Hour," "Mustang Sally," "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie," and "My Girl." Midway he asked everyone to say a prayer to bring our sisters and brothers home from overseas before going into "People Gotta Be Free," and finished the set with the Rascals' hit, "Good Lovin."

Dressed in black leather, Chuck Negron was the most captivating performer of the night, strutting up and down the stage with confidence and gratitude stating, "I am so happy to be here tonight. It's like a gift from God." His voice sounded pure and strong as he sang several familiar Three Dog Night hits including "Shambala," "Celebrate," "Mama Told Me Not to Come," Easy to Be Hard," "Eli's Coming," "One," and "Joy to the World."

Doing double duty, Flo & Eddie took to the stage again, this time to sing the hits they made popular with the Turtles such as "Elenore," "You Showed Me," "She'd Rather Be With Me," and the joyful, "Happy Together." Clowning around at one point Flo did a Jim Morrison impression while singing a portion of the standard, "I Love Paris." As the audience enthusiastically clapped and sang along with their set, Flo commented, "It sounds like a Jonas Brothers concert!"

Mountain, who played Woodstock in 1969, was the final act of the evening, showcasing their harder, bluesier sound featuring lead singer and guitarist Leslie West, Corky Laing on drums and Rev Jones on bass. They covered the classic, "People Get Ready," the Stones "Paint It Black," and Cream's "Crossroads," with West interjecting the guitar riff to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and saying, "God bless you, Michael wherever you are." As he played the song, "For Yasgur's Farm" West yelled out, "I know you were louder at Woodstock." Throughout the set, Laing was constantly throwing out drumsticks to the audience and Jones was mesmerizing to watch as he swung his long ponytail braids around like the blades of a helicopter as he played. They ended with their hit "Mississippi Queen," and Joey Molland joined them for a finale of Steve Winwood's "Gimme Some Lovin."

The enthusiastic crowd gave every act a standing ovation, showing their appreciation for the chance to go back in time, remember their youth, and experience great music, great energy and actually ... plenty of cowbell!

Related Links: For more information on Hippiefest and the other organizations mentioned please visit the following links -- Hippiefest.net

Originally Published: 09/09/2009 on Kweevak.com

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