Concert Review - Eddie Money

The local classic-rock radio station and an area amusement park have long been partners in what they call the "Classic Concert Lineup" in which one can hear classic rock groups from decades past for the price of park admission. And since Southern Man has season passes to that particular amusement park, it is his intention to fully avail himself of this auditory treat this summer. The season kicked off last night with Eddie Money.

While Southern Man isn't really a big Money fan, the man did sell thirty million records and his obligatory "greatest hits" CDs are full of tunes he knows and enjoys, so he was looking forward to a good show. It was a beautiful Southern Man Land evening and the crowd was a good mix of both young and - er, Southern Man's own particular demographic. Southern Man was a bit taken aback when Mr. Money appeared armed with a tambourine and a cigarette. And Money's voice was no longer the smooth pop-rock sound of his records but betrayed evidence of far too many of those cigarettes and probably a fair amount of whiskey as well. But he opened with a crowd pleaser (Two Tickets to Paradise) and his voice seemed to smooth out after a while. And he made up for that silly tambourine when he pulled out the saxophone and harmonica later in the concert; he proved to be quite the showman on both. His lovely daughter took the stage for vocals on Baby Come Back and then sang lead on a terrific cover of the Allman Brother's Midnight Rider. Over the next ninety minutes Money and his band covered most of his hits, a few of the songs from his newer CDs, a couple of additional covers (including CC Rider, an fine old blues standard that gets covered by just about everyone), and used his brief encore to pull out a few more crowd-pleasers ending with the popular Baby Hold On. He also stressed his Southern Man Land connections (two of his bandmembers are from the state), sang a well-recieved tribute to our men and women in uniform (Can't Keep A Good Man Down, singing "America" for "good man"), waxed nostalgic about the seventies and eighties (his new CD is entitled "Wanna Go Back"), and talked about the charities in which he was involved and that sales of his merchandise supported. After the concert he came right down to the merchandise tent to chat and sign autographs. Southern Man is now a fan and will get that "greatest hits" CD ordered right away.

All in all, it was a fine concert and a fun evening. At the end of the show the food vendors dumped their remaining goods for next to nothing (so Southern Man got an ear of roasted corn for a buck) and the park was still open for a couple of hours (so Southern Man took advantage of that and rode some roller coasters that he hadn't yet been on this year). Next Saturday night's concert is Three Dog Night...