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If you are fans of Huey Lewis, the news was rather grim following his performance at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Friday night.
The smooth singer who was a hit-making machine during the heydays of the 1980s focused his first five six songs on the R&B, jazz sounds for some upcoming album to a crowd that was quickly losing patience even as the singer pleaded, “Do You Like Soul Music?”
Finally, after the first five songs, Lewis stated, “We’ve got a new record coming out. We like to do that every 10 years. Hopefully, you will own your very own copy. This is for the hard core fans.”
Those fans basically stayed glued to their seats, finally coming to life when Lewis — who played harmonica and was in relatively fine voice despite a shaky start — told the crowd, “Here is one dedicated to the veterans” before going into “Walking on a Thin Line.”
Then, the crowd got going as Lewis — with old bandmates in drummer Bill Gibson, keyboardist Sean Hopper and guitarist/saxaphone player Johnny Colla — struck a chord with “I Want A New Drug,” a chart-topper and heavy feature in MTV’s video rotation. Lewis moved on to the slower “Small World” before changing things up with some great a capella songs, the classic “So Much in Love” and another oldie Lewis called “beach music.”
“All right, Wilkes-Barre, let’s rock!” Lewis shouted.
The crowd couldn’t wait as Lewis fired off classics “The Heart of Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Heart and Soul.”
That one-two punch turned out to be the major highlight because the set was basically over at that point, just when the crowd was finally ready to rock.
Lewis and the band returned for encores “The Power of Love,” “Do You Believe in Love” and the age-appropriate “Workin’ for a Livin’”
As one fan who saw Huey Lewis and the News 24 times remarked after the show, “this was 24th of 24.”
It’s a shame too.
Lewis owned this crowd but by not starting off with some high-energy rockers, the show lost steam on a humid night when it should have really sizzled.
Not such good news for fans.
If you are fans of Huey Lewis, the news was rather grim following his performance at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Friday night.
The smooth singer who was a hit-making machine during the heydays of the 1980s focused his first five six songs on the R&B, jazz sounds for some upcoming album to a crowd that was quickly losing patience even as the singer pleaded, “Do You Like Soul Music?”
Finally, after the first five songs, Lewis stated, “We’ve got a new record coming out. We like to do that every 10 years. Hopefully, you will own your very own copy. This is for the hard core fans.”
Those fans basically stayed glued to their seats, finally coming to life when Lewis — who played harmonica and was in relatively fine voice despite a shaky start — told the crowd, “Here is one dedicated to the veterans” before going into “Walking on a Thin Line.”
Then, the crowd got going as Lewis — with old bandmates in drummer Bill Gibson, keyboardist Sean Hopper and guitarist/saxaphone player Johnny Colla — struck a chord with “I Want A New Drug,” a chart-topper and heavy feature in MTV’s video rotation. Lewis moved on to the slower “Small World” before changing things up with some great a capella songs, the classic “So Much in Love” and another oldie Lewis called “beach music.”
“All right, Wilkes-Barre, let’s rock!” Lewis shouted.
The crowd couldn’t wait as Lewis fired off classics “The Heart of Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Heart and Soul.”
That one-two punch turned out to be the major highlight because the set was basically over at that point, just when the crowd was finally ready to rock.
Lewis and the band returned for encores “The Power of Love,” “Do You Believe in Love” and the age-appropriate “Workin’ for a Livin’”
As one fan who saw Huey Lewis and the News 24 times remarked after the show, “this was 24th of 24.”
It’s a shame too.
Lewis owned this crowd but by not starting off with some high-energy rockers, the show lost steam on a humid night when it should have really sizzled.
Not such good news for fans.
