Editor’s note: The Doobie Brothers are on a 50th reunion tour that will hit St. Louis in late August. One teen checked them out in Texas to see if the band had cross-generational appeal.
The Doobie Brothers were not made for 15-year-old girls. Being the sole teen in a venue filled with 70-year-old boomers was an experience. Not exactly like seeing Taylor Swift or Harry Styles.
Last month at Fair Park in Texas, a band that was on the front end of America’s rock ’n’ roll scene returned as part of its 50th year reunion tour. Michael McDonald, Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons, John McPhee and Marc Russo took the stage at 8:30 p.m.
and blew through their 19-song set in about one hour and 45 minutes. Entering the venue, my expectation was that the Doobie Brothers was a washed up, small country band consisting of a few semi-high grandpas. “China Grove” and “Black Water” sound like book titles my dad falls asleep reading.
The Doobie Brothers are good, I just didn’t know it before that night. Unlike the standard pop concert, the Doobie Brothers walked on the stage without a countdown. There was no confetti at the end.
They didn’t sing “Happy Birthday” on a giant floating moon. There were no outfit changes. It was just a concert.
Just music. A nostalgia-fest for people old enough to remember when everybody on the stage, and in the audience, were in their 20s. That was forever ago.
The only “lavish production” were video clips from their younger days performing .