A tradition continues Saturday in the Region. The “Salute To The Sixties” concert which annually rocks Northwest Indiana celebrates its 30th anniversary.
“This year it’s back, only at a new location,” said Charlie Blum of CB Entertainment. “This year, it’s at The Venue at The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond.”
Blum had always presented it at Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, but with that concert hall now closed, a new place had to be found. “It’s still close by for the people who used to come see the show at Star Plaza, there’s still plenty of free parking and it’s still a beautiful theater and big stage,” Blum said.
Saturday’s concert at The Venue will star Herman’s Hermits featuring Peter Noone; The Buckinghams and The Grass Roots.
“The Star Plaza was home and we’re all sad to see (that) it closed, but mostly adults attended these shows, so I don’t think moving to a (21 and older) casino will impact attendance much,” said Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams.
“It will be different not having youngsters at the show this year,” said Mark Dawson, lead singer/bassist for The Grass Roots who open the triple bill. “It’s always been a pleasant surprise to see parents influencing the younger generation’s musical playlist,” Dawson said. He agrees attendance should not be impacted by the move.
“This show is nothing but hit after hit from start to finish,” said Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits. “It’s a high energy, non-stop show filled with all the songs people remember from the radio while growing up,” Noone said.
It may sound cliche’, but all these songs take people back to different times in their lives,” added Giammarese. “They hear us sing ‘Don’t You Care’ or hear Peter sing ‘A Kind of Hush’ and they are taken back to a special time or place in their lives. After the shows, when we all come out and sign autographs and talk to fans, that is the most common thing I hear from people, how this song or that song reminds them of an old girlfriend or being somewhere with friends. The music brings it all rushing back again.”
“The fans of this genre of music are extremely loyal,” added Dawson. “I think what amazes me most are the memories and the stories they share with us about how our songs have touched them.”
Noone, like Giammarese, still loves singing the 50-year-old songs that made him a teen pin-up idol in the 1960s, when at 14-years-old, he was the youngest star of the British Invasion. All these decades later, Noone retains that “cute and cuddly” quality girls squealed and screamed over back in the day. Many former teen queens-turned grandmothers still swoon for Noone.
As the youngster of the scene (along with his only slightly older Hermits band mates), Noone recalled how the older guys in The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who and other Brit groups watched out for them. “They were like big brothers really,” he recalled.
“I love doing shows with The Buckinghams and The Grass Roots,” Noone said. “We do shows together all over the U.S., so we’re good friends and it’s always fun to hang out with your friends.”
Dawson added, “I think the Hermits, the Buckinghams and the Roots together is a great combination for a variety of reasons. We get along really well and each group is distinctly different in their sound and their own set of hits.”
The Buckinghams and Grass Roots report an average 40 to 50 concerts in a given year, while Noone loses count.
“People come to this show to hear the songs they know and love, so that’s exactly what we give them, just the hits,” said Giammarese.
“Occasionally, we’ll pull out a deeper album cut, like ‘The Runway,’ or ‘Something About You,’ but on a multi-bill show like the one this weekend it’s just the hits,” Dawson added.
The Grass Roots open this show and with 14 charted Top 40 hits to their credit — “Sooner Or Later,” “Temptation Eyes,” “Two Divided By Love,” “Midnight Confessions,” among them — there is no shortage of songs. Dawson said “Let’s Live for Today” is the band’s shout out and thank you to Vietnam veterans, and another highlight of the show for him.
A Chicago native, Dawson first sang for The Grass Roots when original front man Rob Grill took ill, eventually taking center stage full time when Grill passed away. “Rob and I first met back in 1978,” he recalled. “Rob repeatedly complimented me on how much he liked my voice. Talk about being flattered — ‘Wow! Rob Grill likes my voice?’ Years later, when Rob was contemplating retirement, he talked to me about filling his role and keeping the Grass Roots’ music alive. Initially, I would fill in a few days here and there while Rob was in the hospital, but it has turned into 10 plus years now and here I am, still here!”
The Buckinghams feature co-founders Giammarese and bassist Nick Fortuna and also have no shortage of material. “We sometimes include one or two of the cover songs (“I Go Crazy,” “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” etc.) we recorded at Chess Studios when we first got started,” said Giammarese. Naturally, all their Top 10 hits — “Don’t You Care,” “Kind of a Drag,” “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song), “Susan,” among them — are performed.
Noone has the audience in the palm of his hand while busting out some of the Top 40 radio hits he racked up as “Herman.”
Herman’s Hermits sold over 50 million records with hits like “There’s A Kind Of Hush,” “Can’t You Hear The Pounding Of My Heartbeat,” “No Milk Today,” “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter,” and the infectious “I’m Henry The VIII (I Am).”
Slip into bell bottoms and Beatle boots and join these former pop stars in saluting the ’60s.
Tom Lounges Correspondent – NWI Times