JoeCocker

TourBusLive.com Road Diary Vol. 10

Joe Cocker, with special guest LeRoy Bell

Humphrey’s by the Bay, San Diego

June 6th, 2009

There is something so nostalgic about summer. As a kid, it always meant freedom (although I was the nerd who loved going back to school in the fall), riding your bike until your legs gave out, and basking in the warm glow of the summer sun.

For most adults, summertime still means fun in the sun…but for us, more importantly, it means the arrival of the outdoor concert season!

And what better way to kick off our outdoor summer tour this year than to spend an evening in paradise on a date with the front row at Joe Cocker (and a chance to put another notch on our “saw-that-legendary-performer-live” ever-expanding belt).

For the first time since last October, Gary and I made a trip to what is now, in our opinion, the best concert venue in San Diego County: Humphrey’s by the Bay. We love this venue because they offer a great calendar of artists that covers just about every type of music you might be interested in hearing, and they serve it up with a beautiful ocean view, a gourmet restaurant, and an intimate concert venue.

Alas, we were torn by not seeing Mr. Cocker perform the night before at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles with our friend (yes, our friend) Edgar Winter as his opening act, but traffic is always a little more forgiving when traveling south, and this show, being on a Saturday night, meant that Humphrey's won the toss.

In trade, Cocker’s opener for our show was Seattle-based singer/songwriter LeRoy Bell and band, who really gave the crowd a top-notch performance. I only found out later that Bell, thirty years ago, co-wrote a Grammy-nominated song for Elton John, so this was no small-time opener.

Lucky break for us, as the trio really got the show started with the right vibe, charming the crowd with their wonderfully soulful collection of original songs, skillfully using only one guitar, an electric bass, and a single snare drum (a requirement by the venue who could only offer the opening act a few sparse channels of sound after the upcoming lead act used the rest for their larger entourage). Bell’s intelligent lyrics, mostly about politics, love, and a bit of the common human struggle, were raw and emotional, and you couldn’t help but get into the groove with him as he really poured his soul out on the stage for his short set.

Aptly warmed up by Bell, a short time later, as the sun left the sky and the mild San Diego summer evening air settled on our shoulders, Grammy winner Joe Cocker and his band took the stage.

It’s been 40 years (almost to the month) that Cocker, then mostly unknown in the U.S., walked onto the stage at the Woodstock Festival.

Today, at 65, he is no longer the image you might have burned into memory from your YouTube visits to that 1969 performance of The Beatles’ classic tune “With a Little Help from My Friends”, but the voice has not changed much in the four decades since. Still gutsy, still gritty, and still full of the blues that reflect this survivor’s ups and downs, Cocker’s every note hit its mark as he sang through a nearly 90-minute set. With more than 25 albums and over 400 songs in his catalogue, he surely had to work at selecting what little would fit into one show (be sure to see the evening’s full set list on our website – something given to me by an incredibly thoughtful security guard shortly after the show. I didn’t even have to beg!).

A humorous part of the evening was when I noticed Joe’s pianist taking a long look at the audience when the band began to play “You Can Leave Your Hat On”, a song made famous in the ‘80’s movie Nine ½ Weeks. Moments later, I realized why he was expectantly looking out into the crowd – apparently it’s a nightly occurrence for the band on their tours…he was waiting for the usual sprinkling of women throughout the audience who were helplessly possessed into standing up at their seats and trying their best at performing the movie’s sultry scene-stealing dance by actress Kim Basinger. Oh, and try they did! So many women gyrating to the steamy song, leaving their hat on…as the song says…well, at least thankfully leaving their clothes

Yet interestingly, despite the distractions of the would-be strippers, the multitude of musicians and back-up singers on stage, and the starry skies above, I mostly found myself locking my gaze on the man in black at center stage with the microphone. It was mesmerizing watching Joe Cocker. Although no longer wildly and convulsively moving his body like the endearing parody John Belushi did of him on Saturday Night Live back in 1975, Cocker still appears to really feel the music in his bones, but now only moderately air-guitaring along with the solos, and sometimes even smiling with what seemed to be great satisfaction as the audience broke into appreciative applause each time the next song was revealed.

And perhaps that’s it. Perhaps it’s satisfaction that Joe Cocker now feels – some 40 plus years into his turbulent but unparalleled career. He’s really made his mark on music history and he seems to finally be enjoying it.

For the fans, there’s no other way to say it…he really lifts us up where we belong.

TourBusLive.com is a website created by Jill and Gary, Southern California residents who take the cake for rockin’ an unbeatable local concert calendar! With more than 60 shows a year, they surely know the ins and outs of getting what they want out of a show—music, memorabilia, and just plain old fun. The website was created originally to share their incredible photos with other fans of live music, but then took on a life of its own! Check out their latest adventures on their website, add to their fan forum, or simply peer into the lives of these avid concert junkies… if you see them at a show, be sure and stop them to say hi! They’ll gladly give you their “business card” guitar pick. Take a photo with them and they may just put you on their website!