Dr Hook show wows crowd
Any show that starts with an all-in singalong by nearly 1000 people is going to be a crowd-pleaser.
And so it was for the full house at the Invercargill Civic Theatre on Saturday who came to see and hear Dennis Locorriere, the lead singer of American country/rock band Dr Hook on so many massive hits of the 1970s.
From the moment the effervescent Locorriere bounded on to the stage to sing Walk Right In the crowd was up for a party.
Supported by a seamlessly tight six-piece band, Locorriere proved to be a charming and witty storyteller who entertained and engaged the audience with his stories from the road.
Disappointingly, there were a couple of socially dysfunctional groups in the house who talked loudly throughout the show and, as Locorriere acerbically pointed out, seemed to be having a good time despite the fact he was on the stage. For the vast majority, though, this was a memorable night of music and nostalgia, and a rare chance to see an American music institution up close and personal.
Unlike the vastly inferior Ray Sawyer incarnation of the band that performed at Gibbston Valley in 2011, this was the real deal – great songs sung the way we know them by the man who sang most of them originally.
Locorriere thanked the audience for waiting until he was nearly dead to come and see him. He was being disingenuous. There was plenty of life in the 65-yearold, and his instantly recognisable voice had lost none of its power or grit. As his excellent band picked up the more up-tempo songs and gave them wings, Locorriere cavorted around the stage, carried away by the music, dancing and hopping like a whirling dervish, ocassionally blowing a mean harp but mostly strumming a guitar.
The set list was like a history of rootsy American rock, traversing country, rock, pop, ballads, blues and soul, many of them wellknown radio hits penned by the extraordinary songwriter, poet and author Shel Silverstein, who Locorriere acknowledged repeatedly throughout the morethan-two-hour show.
Sylvia’s Mother and The Cover of the Rolling Stone were just two of Silverstein’s chart-toppers, but Locorriere sang plenty more of his great songs, among the best More Like The Movies, Queen of the Silver Dollar and The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
The Dr Hook hits kept coming: Sharing the Night Together, Better Love Next Time, Sexy Eyes, When You’re In Love With a Beautiful Woman, A Little Bit More and Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk, finishing with the heart-achingly poignant Years From Now.
But it was one of Locorriere’s own songs that was my favourite. The bluesy, cruisy If I Had a Nickel, off his first solo album Out of the Dark, showcased the warm husky tone and impressive range of his voice and with his band adding a wall of harmonies it came on like a gospel anthem. A great song from a clearly impressive songwriter in his own right.
As Locorriere joked earlier in the show, the audience would have left the theatre feeling a little more love than they did when they arrived. What more can anyone ask?